EIA of Hydropower Projects –An Analysis

Abstract

Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) can broadly be defined as a study of the effects of a proposed project, plan or program on the environment. The legal, methodological and procedural foundations of EIA were established in 1970 by the enactment of the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) in the USA. On January 27, 1994, the Union Ministry of Environment and Forests (MEF), Government of India, under the Environmental (Protection) Act 1986, promulgated an EIA notification making Environmental Clearance (EC) mandatory for expansion or modernisation of any activity or for setting up new projects listed in Schedule 1 of the notification. Since then there have been 12 amendments made in the EIA notification of 1994. The MoEF recently notified new EIA legislation in September 2006. In this project, a review of EIA of hydropower projects in Himachal Pradesh has been made considering the recent natural hazard in Uttarakhand in 2013 and subsequent Supreme Court order to review all hydropower projects located in Hilly Areas. Analysis was made on the National and International Procedures on EIA of hydropower projects. Also new procedures were evaluated while analysing the case studies of Hydropower Projects. Measures are evaluated in Microsoft Excel and appropriately suggested.