TN asks Great Eastern Energy to stop coal bed methane project

Firm won't be allowed to continue operations until it was ensured that there would be no damage to farmers' properties

Tamil Nadu Chief Minister J Jayalalithaa today ordered authorities to put on hold the multi-crore Coal Bed Methane project by Great Eastern Energy Corporation Ltd in the delta districts.

The decision comes due to growing protests by the farmers in the delta districts. The state administration has suspended the exploration activties by the company.

In a statement today, the Chief Minister order the suspension of the exploration activities of Great Eastern Energy Corporation Limited (GEECL) for its proposed Mannargudi Coal Bed Methane project.

The firm will not be allowed to continue its operations until it was ensured that there would be no damage to the farmers' properties.

The Chief Minister also constituted a committee of experts to study the project and its consequences and it will have experts from Anna University, Indian Institute of Technology (Madras), Tamil Nadu Agriculture University and M S Swaminathan Research Foundation. The Committee will also have officials from the Tamil Nadu Pollution Control Board, Agriculture and Tamil Nadu Industrial Development Corporation.

"The panel will submit its report in three months," the Chief Minister said in the statement.

Union ministry of environment and forests granted environment clearance in September 2012, subject to certain conditions, nowever, Tamil Nadu Pollution Control Board is yet to grant sanction to the firm to drill the borewells, Jayalalithaa said.

Referring to GEECL’s report, which said the CBM bed in Thanjavur and Thiruvarur was similar to the Powder River Basin in Wyoming and Montana states in the US, the Chief Minister said “one of the reports on the project said some of the chemicals used to extract coal bed methane are toxic, soluble in water and have radiation.”

It may be noted, the previous DMK government entered into a memorandum of understanding with GEECL in 2010, and petroleum exploration licence was granted to the firm in January 2011.

GEECL has proposed to take up exploration, testing of wells and commercial exploration and exploitation of methane gas at the Mannargudi CBM block, covering an area of 691 sq km.