Skip to main content

Reliance Power's Sasan plant: US taxpayers' $900 million "used to support dirty, dangerous coal project"

By Our Representative
In a move that would create flutter in India’s corporate sector, several influential independent organizations based in the US -- Sierra Club, 350.org, Carbon Market Watch, Pacific Environment, and Friends of the Earth US -- have released a new report detailing what they call “catastrophic human rights, labour, and environmental violations at Reliance Power’s Sasan coal-fired power plant and mine in Singrauli, India.” Available details suggest, the main reason behind releasing the report is that the US Export-Import Bank (Ex-Im) financed over $900 million for the project, “using" American taxpayer dollars to support the "dirty, dangerous coal project.”
Titled The U.S. Export-Import Bank’s Dirty Dollars, a statement issued by the Sierra Club on the report says that it “includes accounts from more than 25 local residents who were the victim of relocation, violence, and disappearances and have suffered negative health effects as a result of the coal plant’s construction”. The report particularly takes objection of the fact that “the US Export-Import Bank Office of the Inspector General (OIG) completed its first trip to Sasan last week, where they refused to meet with the affected people in their communities”.
Sierra Club is America’s influential grassroots environmental organization, with a claimed support of 2.4 million. 350.org is a global climate movement active online and in the field organizing mass public actions. Carbon Market Watch has a network of 800 members in 70 countries, and  carbon markets and advocates for fair and effective climate protection. Pacific Environment, headquartered in San Francisco, works to protect the living environment of the Pacific Rim. And Friends of the Earth US fights to create a focuses on clean energy and climate change.
The Reliance's Sasan Power project is one of the several ultra mega power projects (UMPPs) planned by the Government of India. The report states, "UMPPs are a series of power projects planned by
the Government of India, each with a capacity of 4,000-megawatts or higher. Of the six initial sites proposed, only two projects are currently functioning — Tata Mundra and Sasan — and both have raised serious human rights and environmental concerns." The Tata Mundra in Gujarat UMPP, funded by the International Finance Corporation, a World Bank arm, is under sharp attack for failing to take care environmental and livelihood concerns (click HERE to read).
"In late 2012, India’s Comptroller Auditor General’s office (CAG) released an audit report on the UMPPs, condemning the government for letting project developers dictate the terms of construction. Instead of providing oversight, the government has been simply tracking the projects’ progress, allowing large scale violations to continue unchecked. In addition to discrepancies in land use, the CAG’s report also found that a lack of transparency and fair play has dogged the projects from start to finish", the report points out.
“Indian civil society organizations and US-based groups have repeatedly alerted Ex-Im to the grave human rights violations taking place at Sasan, but the Bank has continually turned a deaf ear. The affected communities will not be silent. These are the stories Ex-Im and the OIG attempted to mute,” said Nicole Ghio, a campaign representative of the Sierra Club’s International Climate Programme and one of the report’s authors, immediately after the release of the report.
“This report exposes the dangers of coal and investments in it in India. Reliance's repeated transgressions and Ex-Im bank's blind eye to them is totally unacceptable. The impacted people of Sasan and their families are demanding justice," added Payal Parekh 350.org's Global Managing Director who partook in the fact finding mission to Sasan earlier this year.
“Despite the shocking evidence presented in the fact-finding report, the Sasan coal power project remains registered with the United Nation’s carbon offsetting mechanism designed to reduce emissions and contribute to sustainable development. The findings of this report need to be addressed in the upcoming climate change conference in Lima,” underlined Eva Filzmoser, director of Carbon Market Watch.
“Despite these allegations, the coal project is shrouded in secrecy. Ex-Im has repeatedly refused to provide monitoring documents for Sasan, disregarding its own due diligence procedures and federal legislation requiring that these documents be made available upon request”, the Sierra Club’s statement insisted.
Meanwhile, the Sierra Club has submitted a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request to gain access to all records pertaining to Environmental and Social Management Plans for Sasan. “This includes the supplemental environmental reports -- encompassing both the remediation or mitigation plans and related monitoring reports -- Reliance Power is required to submit for each coal project. Ex-Im has 30 days to respond to the request”, the statement said.

Comments

Anonymous said…
US NGOs Report on Sasan UMPP - What's the hidden agenda ? read my blog http://profsatishrai.blogspot.com/2014/10/us-ngos-report-on-sasan-umpp-whats.html

TRENDING

Importance of Bangladesh for India amidst 'growing might' of China in South Asia

By Samara Ashrat*  The basic key factor behind the geopolitical importance of Bangladesh is its geographical location. The country shares land borders with Myanmar and India. Due to its geographical position, Bangladesh is a natural link between South Asia and Southeast Asia.  The country is also a vital geopolitical ally to India, in that it has the potential to facilitate greater integration between Northeast India and Mainland India. Not only that, due to its open access to the Bay of Bengal, Bangladesh has become significant to both China and the US.

Swami Vivekananda's views on caste and sexuality were 'painfully' regressive

By Bhaskar Sur* Swami Vivekananda now belongs more to the modern Hindu mythology than reality. It makes a daunting job to discover the real human being who knew unemployment, humiliation of losing a teaching job for 'incompetence', longed in vain for the bliss of a happy conjugal life only to suffer the consequent frustration.

Buddhist shrines were 'massively destroyed' by Brahmanical rulers: Historian DN Jha

Nalanda mahavihara By Our Representative Prominent historian DN Jha, an expert in India's ancient and medieval past, in his new book , "Against the Grain: Notes on Identity, Intolerance and History", in a sharp critique of "Hindutva ideologues", who look at the ancient period of Indian history as "a golden age marked by social harmony, devoid of any religious violence", has said, "Demolition and desecration of rival religious establishments, and the appropriation of their idols, was not uncommon in India before the advent of Islam".

'BBC film shows only tip of iceberg': Sanjiv Bhatt's daughter speaks at top US press club

By Our Representative   The United States' premier journalists' organisation, the National Press Club (NPC), has come down heavily on Prime Minister Narendra Modi for recent "attacks on journalists in India." Speaking at the screening of an episode of the BBC documentary “India: The Modi Question,” banned in India, in the club premises, NPC President Eileen O’Reilly said, “Since Modi came to power we have watched with frustration and disappointment as his regime has suppressed the rights of its citizens to a free and independent news media."

Chinese pressure? Left stateless, Rohingya crisis result of Myanmar citizenship law

By Dr Shakuntala Bhabani*  A 22-member team of Myanmar immigration officials visited Rohingya refugee camps in Cox's Bazar to verify more than 400 Rohingya refugees as part of a pilot repatriation project. Does it hold out any hope for the forcibly displaced people to return to their ancestral homes in the Rakhine state of Myanmar? Only time will tell.

China ties up with India, Bangladesh to repatriate Rohingyas; Myanmar unwilling

By Harunur Rasid*  We now have a new hope, thanks to news reports that were published in the Bangladeshi dailies recently. Myanmar has suddenly taken initiatives to repatriate Rohingyas. As part of this initiative, diplomats from eight countries posted in Yangon were flown to Rakhine last week. Among them were diplomats from Bangladesh, India and China.

Natural farming: Hamirpur leads the way to 'huge improvement' in nutrition, livelihood

By Bharat Dogra*  Santosh is a dedicated farmer who along with his wife Chunni Devi worked very hard in recent months to convert a small patch of unproductive land into a lush green, multi-layer vegetable garden. This has ensured year-round supply of organically grown vegetables to his family as well as fetched several thousand rupees in cash sales.

Over-stressed? As Naveen Patnaik turns frail, Odisha 'moves closer' to leadership crisis

By Sudhansu R Das  Not a single leader in Odisha is visible in the horizon who can replace Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik. He has ruled Odisha for nearly two and half decades. His father, Biju Patnaik, had built Odisha; he was a daring pilot who saved the life of Indonesia’s Prime Minister Sjahrir and President Sukarno when the Dutch army blocked their exit.

Hillary Clinton, Al Gore, Ban Ki-moon, others ask Bangladesh PM to 'protect' Yunus

Counterview Desk  A campaign has been launched to support Bangladesh-based economist, micro-finance guru and Nobel laureate Muhammad Yunus, seeking signatures from citizens across the globe in order to “protect” his work, life and safety.

Electricity sharing opens up new window for India’s eastern neighbourhood engagement

By Sufian Asif* Today, challenges like climate change, pandemics, energy reliance, economic crisis, and many more are concerning us. No nation can overcome these obstacles without the assistance and collaboration of other nations. Most importantly, many of these problems have international repercussions. South Asia is facing much more difficulty when compared to other regions. In South Asia, we have some regional organizations, but they are ineffective.