Posted: 24 July 2011
Attempts by FTSE 100 mining company Vedanta to overturn an Indian government decision blocking a proposed bauxite mine and expansion of an alumina refinery in Orissa, India, should not be allowed to succeed, according to a new report from Amnesty International today (24 July).
The report, entitled “Generalisations, Omissions, Assumptions”, is launched ahead of Vedanta’s UK AGM in London on 27 July, and reveals that the company has failed to adequately consider the human impacts of its proposed projects in Orissa.
Peter Frankental, Amnesty International UK‘s Business and human Rights expert, said:
“Vedanta’s mine and refinery expansion projects must not be allowed to go ahead. The company is trying to overturn the Indian Environment Ministry’s decision to block the plans, claiming they have taken into account the impact on the local people and environment. What this report shows is that their Environmental Impact Assessments were wholly inadequate.”
“Villagers were given scant and misleading information about the potential impact of Vedanta’s proposals. Today they are living with a massive refinery in the middle of their community, the air is choked with dust and huge lorries full of raw bauxite hurtle down their roads. The refinery and its toxic waste pond are right beside the local river, so people are now unsure whether their main source of water is safe to use.”
“Vedanta’s investors, and the Indian government, should not be hoodwinked into thinking that Vedanta has complied with environmental regulations. The reality is very different indeed. Nor should Vedanta’s onslaught of legal action be allowed to mask the truth about the project.”
Vedanta Aluminium was earlier this week thwarted by the High Court of Orissa in its attempts to overturn the Indian Government's decision to deny clearance for refinery expansion. But there are further legal avenues open to the company. Its joint venture partner for the mining project, Orissa Mining Corporation, has challenged the government's decision to deny clearances for the proposed mine in the Supreme Court of India. And Vedanta’s subsidiary that would manage the project, Sterlite Industries, has challenged the Ministry’s denial of environmental clearance at India’s National Green Tribunal.
Amnesty International’s report is based on close analysis of the Environmental Impact Assessments (EIAs) undertaken by Vedanta for the purpose of obtaining clearance for the proposed bauxite mine in the Niyamgiri Hills and the expansion of an alumina refinery in Lanjigarh. The report concludes that the EIAs are fundamentally inadequate and fail to meet India’s regulatory requirements.
Areas in which the EIAs are inadequate include a failure to consider the impact of lorries transporting tones of bauxite through rural villages; failure to acknowledge dust and odour as potential pollutants; failure to assess the cultural significance of the Niyamgiri Hills to the Dongria Kondh indigenous people who live there; lack of inadequate information on water usage and failure to disclose design criteria of ‘red mud’ waste ponds, which are located next to the Vamsadhara river and have already reportedly spilled into the river, which is a primary water source for local people.
Vedanta report - Generalisations, omissions, assumptions: The failings of Vedanta's Environmental Impact Assessments for its bauxite mine and alumina refinery in India's state of Orissa
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