Coal to liquid projects sparks row

Orissa's ambitious plans to go ahead with two mega Coal-to-Liquid (CTLs) projects has come in for sharp opposition given the highly polluting nature of such industries which are believed to emit high volume of green house gases, responsible for environmental degradation.

The fact that both these projects are set to come up in the Angul-Talcher industrial belt, a critically polluted cluster, has only added fuel to fire, sparking resentment among locals.

Ashok Mishra, former chairman of Orissa State Handicraft Corporation and Orissa State Warehousing Corporation, has urged the state Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik to scrap these two CTL projects in the interest of locals.

Stating that several countries have already banned CTL projects, Mishra said that the proposed establishment of the two CTL projects has created havoc among the inhabitants of Angul and Dhenkanal districts. "The general people are afraid of their lives and limbs due to these two proposed CTL projects. Presently, the temperature of the Angul-Talcher area has already reached 50 degrees celsius in peak summer. After establishment of these these two projects and other industries proposed in the region, the area will ultimately become a desert and will not be fit for human habitation", Mishra wrote in a letter to the Chief Minister.

Production of liquid fuel out of coal is fraught with environmental risk. Like other forms of coal energy, green house emissions are enormous in case of CTL. Producing a gallon of liquid coal emits over six times as much carbon dioxide as produced by a gallon of conventional fuel.

Two ambitious CTL projects promoted by Jindal Synfuels Ltd, a subsidiary of Jindal Steel & Power Ltd (JSPL) and Strategic Energy Technology Systems Ltd, a joint venture of Tata Group and South African firm Sasol got the nod of the High Level Clearance Authority (HLCA) headed by the state Chief Minister. Orissa is the first state where these two CTL projects will be implemented. Both the CTL projects have already been allocated coal blocks by the Government of India.

Jindal Synfuels Ltd has lined up an investment of Rs 42,000 crore in setting up a CTL project at Durgapur in Angul district with a capacity to produce 80,000 barrels of petroleum products per day. The company would also set up a 1100 MW captive power plant (CPP). The project needs around 4000 acres of water and 90 cusecs of water has been allotted from the Mahanadi river. This CTL project has the potential to generate employment for about 6000 people.

Similarly, another CTL project being developed by Strategic Energy Technology Systems Ltd is coming up at an undecided location in Dhenkanal district at a cost of Rs 45,000 crore. This CTL project too, would have a production capacity of 80,000 barrels per day and create about 6400 direct jobs. The project needs about 4000 acres of land.