The owner of the LG Polymers plant in
Interviews with officials and legal experts indicate that the plant was likely operating in a legal grey area, with the environmental clearance required under federal regulations but the enforcement of those requirements left up to states. While there has been no indication that the lack of such a clearance played a role in the
“There are many such industries operating without an EC," environmental lawyer
LG Polymers is facing charges following the disaster, which involved styrene gas, a neurotoxin, leaking from a storage tank as workers prepared to restart operations idled during India’s coronavirus lockdown. In addition to the dead, more than 1,000 people were sent to hospitals.
Police have charged LG Polymers with culpable homicide, including negligence in handling toxic substances. lndia’s top environmental court has also asked the company to pay a
The court is also considering a plea filed by an environmental activist and former federal bureaucrat that raises questions about how state authorities allowed the company to function without federal clearance.
Choi said the company couldn’t comment on an ongoing investigation but would cooperate with Indian authorities.
Things get murkier after that, however, due to new federal rules that came into force requiring companies in industries including petrochemicals to obtain a federal environmental clearance every time they expanded a plant or changed what they manufactured.
Choi said when the federal rules changed in 2006, the company consulted with the ministry and was told that no environmental clearance was required.
“We have been operating the company while abiding environmental regulations even before the laws on environment clearances were made,” Choi said.
Environment Secretary
LG Polymers appears to have never been asked for a federal clearance until 2017, when it approached the
The request was denied and the company was told it would need the federal clearance.
There are no indications, however, that the state told the company to stop operating the plant.
In 2018, when LG Polymers wanted to expand its manufacturing capacity of polystyrene, a plastic used to make bottles and lids, the company finally applied for its first environmental clearance, documents show.
LG Polymers then withdrew the application and instead applied for a retroactive clearance that the
“While we were not required to retroactively apply for an EC, we did apply for the EC under the central government policies and the application is currently under review,” Choi said.
Choi said each of the times the company expanded the plant it did so under approval granted by its state permits.
State authorities issue two permits in
Mehta, the environmental lawyer, said that each time LG Polymers renewed that permit, the state pollution board, the authority charged with enforcing federal environmental law, had the power to fine the company or deny it a permit until it received federal clearance.
It never did so.
Asked why the state kept renewing the plant's permits despite it not having the federal environmental clearance,
Compared with state permits, the federal environmental clearance takes a broader approach: assessing the potential impact of the project on people, their livelihoods and the environment while ensuring that precautions are built in to prevent accidents.
The federal clearance “looks at those risks, how hazardous materials are being handled and stored, what plans are there to prevent and deal with disasters,” he said.
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