Cement Energy and Environment

ENVIRONMENTAL ASSESSMENT SYSTEM HAS FLAWS: Ramesh Admitting that the present system of preparing environmental assessment report is flawed , environment and forest Minister Jairam Ramesh on 19th March 2011 said the ministry would now seek third-party op1n1on to evaluate the projects. He also informed that the ministry would soon map the wetlands areas in the country to formulate a better definition of the same. He said the present system of preparing environmental assessment report is flawed and the ministry itself would take third party opinion on environment in projects like coal, power and construction of ports. 'We have done the satellite mapping of all wet lands in the country. We have wetland atlas of every state which will be released by month– end. So far we did not follow scientific approach of wetland management as in revenue record , wet land is recorded as waste land. All these are legacies of the past. We will clean up the system," Ramesh told reporters on the sidelines of Green Landscape Summit-2011 organized by Cll. He also ridiculed the present system of preparing the environmental assessment report by the company itself which is proposing to set up a project. "Environmental impact assessment report is bit of joke. I admit it publicly. In our system the person who is putting up the project will be preparing the assessment report. I have been very concerned about this. Supreme Court has also expressed its concern ," Ramesh said . He said the ministry has accredited more than 200 consu ltants who are authorized to prepare environmental assessment reports and the government would accept their assessment. He, however, cautioned that if the government finds that there are misrepresentations in the consultants' report, they would cancel the accreditation. "We have blacklisted three consultants for producing fraudulent environmental assessment report," he said. Replying to a query, the minister said the government had issued notices to East Coast Energy and Nagarjuna Constructions , which are setting up projects in Srikakulam District and received their replies. "We had asked for certain information which has been provided . If the law is violated, there is no questioning of condoning the violations ," he said. On Polavaram project in Andhra Pradesh, he said Chhattisgarh and Orissa Governments have to conduct public opinion and soon there will be an official level meeting among the State governments and ministry. Courtesy: FIMI (Federation of Indian Mineral Industries) News Bulletin,1 5 r April2011, Pp29-30. Waste to Wealth & Waste Recycling RESEARCHERS IN VIETNAM TRYING TO USE RICE HUSK AS CEMENT EXTENDER Researchers in a Vietnam university are using waste products such as rice husks, straw, and coconut fiber as cement inputs. They hope that by adding 10 per cent of rice husk into cement production, it can reduce prices by just as much. First, the sample was picked clean of impurities, dried, fired at a temperature of 950°C to remove all carbon-containing components in the sample. Then, they mixed the sample with cement, sand and water to produce mortar building form and check if this form is as durable as the materials used in conventional construction . After many trials, they found that rice husk ash replaced 10 per cent of the total weight of cement mortar needed to build casting form which can be used to plaster walls and ceilings, the report said. Courtesy: Civil Engineering & Construction Review, Vol. 24, Jan. 2011, P52. India Country Profile STEEL SECTOR GROWING FASTERTHANECONOMY The steel industry in India was growing faster than our economic growth, remarked a senior Steel ministry official. The steel industry is growing at the rate of around 9 - 10 per cent while our economic growth rate is around 8 - 9 per cent, said Additional Secretary in the Union Ministry of Steel, S Machendranath. India. at present ranks as the fourth largest producer of steel, he added. Machendranath, who was inaugurating a three-day International Seminar on "Mineral Processing Technology" (MTP-2010) at National Metallurgical •Laboratory, said 69 million tonnes of steel have been produced so far · against the targeted capacity of 73 million 32