Green cause versus greenfield projects

India’s green gladiators sure enjoy their moment in the sun when they shoot down big industry and infrastructure projects. A panel comprising retired forest officer Devendra Pandey, environmental researcher Urmila Pingle, and Madras high court lawyer
V Suresh, appointed by the ministry of environment and forests, gave the thumbs down to the Posco integrated steel plant in Orissa. They want the project to be scrapped in its present form.
There was a lone note of dissent. The head of the panel, former environment secretary Meena Gupta, disagreed with the majority, but not wholly. She too favoured additional conditionalities and compliance on the part of the South Korean steel giant before the project was allowed to go ahead. So, what is the major difference
between the three members and its head? It is over details, and details are indeed crucial.

The members made a clear observation that the environmental clearance process for the Posco project has been a farce. They said that Posco suppressed information, the Orissa government fabricated evidence and the ministry of environment and forests altered records to facilitate clearance. These are indeed serious allegations and indicative of the shortsightedness of both industry and its cheerleaders in government who want fast-paced development. By trying to circumvent the law, they have not done themselves any favour. They will have to learn to accept the green guidelines not under duress but in the long-term interests of all stakeholders. Industry will lose out, not just in terms of public goodwill, but in real economic terms, if it does not nurse the environment.

These are serious violations in the Posco project and it would not do to cover them up through general arguments about the need for ultra-mega projects like steel plants to pull the region and its people out of abysmal poverty. The either/or argument has to end.

We need both the steel plant and a good environment. Needless friction is being created by industry and government, on the one hand, and environmental zealots, on the other, that development and environment cannot go together. The green warriors believe they are battling on behalf of poor tribals, but one doubts if the tribals are happy to wallow in poverty in the name of environment.
There is a strong, realistic case for protecting the environment. What we need is a set of transparent green protocols. Ecological factors need to be assessed non-ideologically, and tradeoffs need to be clearly stated upfront.