[Assam] What have you been doing for the last 40 yrs APCB? Apply tight time frame NOW to stop pollution to the accepted International Standard and if the standard is not met, SHUT all activities down.

[Bartta Bistar]

*Oil industry blamed for polluting Assam state***

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http://www.iol.co.za/index.php?set_id=14&click_id=143&art_id=qw1167321602773B253
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    December 28 2006 at 06:20PM





By Biswajyoti Das

Joypur - Oil companies in India's north-eastern state of Assam are
responsible for polluting rivers and destroying rainforests and have been
told to clean up their act or face closure, authorities said on Thursday.

Following an investigation in August, Assam's Pollution Control Board found
the oil industry had for over four decades been destroying resource-rich
areas through deforestation and preventing tree regeneration by not cleaning
up spillages.

Pollution control officials also found that oil companies were contaminating
groundwater by dumping sludge in ponds and polluting a major river by
discharging untreated effluents, posing health risks to millions of people.

"For more than 40 years, oil companies have been polluting the state like
anything," said Jawahar Lal Dutta, chairperson of the Assam Pollution
Control Board.

Assam produces about 15 percent of India's onshore crude - with state-owned
exploration companies, Oil India Limited and Oil and Natural Gas Corporation
Limited supplying crude oil to state-run Indian Oil Corporation's
refineries.

Dutta said the investigation found refineries were discharging bio-chemical
waste such as oil and grease, phenolic compounds and sulphide into the
Brahmaputra river and its tributaries, well above permissible limits.

The Brahmaputra, home to the endangered Gangetic dolphin and other marine
life, originates in Tibet and runs through Assam and Bangladesh before
flowing into the Bay of Bengal.

India's economy has been growing at an average 8 percent over the past three
years and the country is hungry for more energy, leading to state oil and
gas firms stepping up exploration efforts in new areas.

Conservationists are concerned about new moves into Assam's rainforests by
oil companies and say trees are felled by the industry to construct roads
and access drilling sites.

They say the forest canopy is rapidly being destroyed, adversely affecting
birds and primates like the Hoolock Gibbons.

Oil industry officials admit that they have been responsible for some of the
damage but say they are trying to clean up pits and are also modernising to
stop hurting the environment.
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