Assam: Gauhati High Court Seeks Clarification on Proposal for ERD inside Dibru-Saikhowa Park

Staff Reporter

Guwahati: The Gauhati High Court on Wednesday asked the central government to clarify whether the Union Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change (MoEFCC) has rejected the proposal for Extended Reach Drilling (ERD) inside the Dibru-Saikhowa National Park. The court asked for any such decision to be placed on record.

The division bench of Chief Justice Vijay Bishnoi and Justice Suman Shyam issued this direction while hearing in a public interest litigation case (PIL/35/2020) filed by two litigants challenging the legality and validity of the environmental clearance/approval dated June 11, 2020 granted by MoEFCC to Oil India Limited (OIL) for extension drilling and testing of hydrocarbons at 7 (seven) locations under the Dibru-Saikhowa National Park (DSNP) area. The petitioners pleaded that the Dibru-Saikhowa is a national park as well as a biosphere reserve and was designated as such in July 1997. The park is situated on the south bank of the river Brahmaputra in the extreme east of Assam.

The counsel for the petitioner submitted that though a similar issue is pending before the Supreme Court of India till date, it appeared from newspaper reports that the MoEFCC has rejected the proposal for Extended Reach Drilling (ERD) inside the Dibru-Saikhowa National Park. It is submitted that the said news is published on August 5, 2024.

Taking into consideration the above fact, the court directed the counsel for the central government to clarify whether the Union MoEFCC has rejected the proposal for Extended Reach Drilling (ERD) inside the Dibru-Saikhowa National Park and if there is any such decision, the same be placed on record. For that purpose, the court granted four weeks of time to the counsel for the central government.

It should be mentioned here that, as per notification dated September 14, 2006 of the Ministry of Environment and Forests (MoEFCC), Government of India, prior environmental clearance and public consultation were mandatorily required for all offshore and onshore oil and gas exploration, development, and production projects. However, by way of an Environment Appraisal Committee recommendation dated February 28, 2017 for extension drilling and testing of hydrocarbons at 7 locations under Dibru-Saikhowa, a public hearing for the proposed projects by OIL was dispensed with on extraneous grounds.

Further, the Ministry made an amendment to the EIA notification dated September 14, 2006 by which all onshore and offshore oil and gas exploration have now been categorized as “B2 Project” from “A Project,”  thereby exempting public hearings and consultations for all offshore and onshore oil and gas exploration, development, and production projects.

A Supreme Court directive prohibits mining within National Parks and Wildlife Sanctuaries and a one-kilometre radius of their boundaries. OIL, therefore, intended to use Extended Reach Drilling Technology (ERD), enabling OIL to drill for hydrocarbons without drilling inside the National Park or even entering the National Park. The ERD, a state-of-the-art technology, is extensively used to intersect hydrocarbon targets far from the surface or areas of the reservoir that are otherwise difficult to access. Through ERD technology, the drilling will reach the target depth of around 3.5 km beneath the surface of the National Park without carrying out any drilling activity inside the national park. The drilling will take place at an average of more than 1.5 km outside the demarcated area of the national park, OIL stated earlier.

Also Read: Assam Floods: Major Cause of Concern for the Wild Horses of Dibru Saikhowa (sentinelassam.com)

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