Cement, Energy and Environment July-Sep 2002

to cut diesel engine emissions by mandating a reduction in sul phur content ofdiesel fuel from 500 parts per million to 15 ppm for on-road vehicles. The rule will apply to heavy-duty highway engines and vehicles s~arting with model year 2007. The National Stone, Sand & Gravel Association vvarns th at mines using both-on-and off-road vehicles may need two se parate types ofdiesel fuel. Off-road sulphur content is not covered under the rule. Courtesy: Rock Products. Ju11 02, Vol !05 No.6 P6. Fax: 3 121726-.J/07 t'mail: markleJ(ijJprimediabusiness.com lfleh: wtvtv.rockproducls.com ORISSA EXCLUDED FROM PANEL ON \HNERAL ROYALTY Business Standard Bhuhaneswar, 03.07. 2002 Orissa is excluded from the Study Group set up by the Centre for revision of mineral royalty rates desp ite being known as a front rank ing state as far as deposits of major minerals are concerned. The 12 members Study Group on revision of royalty rate and dead rent on major minerals (other than coal, Iign ite and sand) constituted recently under the chairmanship of add iti onal secretary, union mines department, has mines secretaries of different sta tes like Rajasthan, Karnataka, Chhattisgarh, Madhya Prades h and Jharkhand and representatives of various government departments and organizations as members. Courtesy: Cement Ne ll'S Digest, 0 I - 05 July 2002, P-14, Fax: 022 - 20./0582 £mail: cmabb@bom3 vsnl. net. in lf'eb: www. cmaindia.org m CLEAN-UP ACT The California Ai r Resources Boa rd (CARB) has recen tl y approved stricter standard s for checking particulate matter (PM) in the state. C/\RB calculations show that realisation of the new standards would redu ce 6,500 premature deaths every yea r. "Thi s is an important s tep because these particles serious ly impact human health, particularly infants, children, the elderly and those with heart or lung problems,"CARB chairperson Alan Lloyd is reported to have sJ id . Paniculatc India Cal1l'ornia California Matter (Jtg/cum) (Jtgicum ) new standards (rq;/cum) 24-huur 200 50 50 mc~m Annual 140 30 20 mean (PM 10) Annual No 12.20 Mean existing (I'M 2.5) stnndard Courtesy: Down to Earth, July 31, 2002 Fax: 11-6085879 £ mail: chifra(Zfj ,cseindia.org Web: 11'11'11'. cseindia. org NEW POWER TARIFF POLICY \VITI-liN 3 MONTHS: PRABHU The Hindu Business Line New Delhi, 06.06.2002 A new power tariff policy is being put in place withi n the next three month s, the Minister for Power, 1\/,r. Suresh Prabhu, announced at New Delhi on 05.06. 2002. Speaking to newspersons on the sidelines of a conference on power organi zed by the Independent Powe.r Producers Associat ion of lnd ia ( IPPAI ), Mr. Prabhu said: .. The draft policy is ready after consultations wi th all stakeholders, especially the States. We have now sent the policy for comments to an ind ependent organ ization" . Thi s - th e rev iew by an independent body - has been done to ensure that the interests or a ll the s takeho lders are tak en into cons ideration. The Vlini s ter , however, refused to id entify the organization that has been entrusted with the task of scrutinizing the draft policy. When approved, the new power tariff pol icy wiII form the model or broad framework based on whi ch the state power regulators wil l be fixing the tariffs for their respective states. In its absence, as of now, the tariff being charged by the States are nowhere near being uni form. The fre sh reform initiative comes c lose on the hee ls of the measures taken at the instance of Mr. Prabhu to bring the power distribution sector back on track. In th is regard, the Ce ntra l Electricity Regulatory Commission (CERC), it may be reca ll ed , had earli er announced th e new 'ava il abi lity based tari ff (ABT) no rms wh ich have s in ce been impl emented by va ri ous power generators and states. Earlier, inaugurating th e seminar, Mr. Prabhu called for the use of new tec hnology in the di stribution sector to make the power sector commerciall y viable Mr. Prabhu noted that while his Ministry was taking initiatives to bring new technology into the sector, large investments in power - a must for boosting economic growth - was not coming as it was unviable.