Indian Ocean - South-East Asian Marine Turtle Memorandum of Understanding

Wildlife group opposes Orissa drilling

23 Nov 2005

The Wildlife Society of Orissa (WSO) has strongly opposed the Ministry of Environment and Forests' (MOEF) decision to permit two Indian companies to carry out offshore drilling in the Bay of Bengal, off the Orissa coast, during the turtle season.

WSO Secretary Biswajit Mohanty said the permission in favour of Oil and Natural Gas Corporation of India Limited (ONGC) and Reliance Industries Limited (RIL) to go for exploratory drilling of 23 wells was in clear violation of the Supreme Court guidelines.

Mr Mohanty said the Precautionary Principle laid down by the Supreme Court clearly stated that where there are threats of serious and irreversible damage, lack of scientific certainty should not be used as a reason for postponing measures to prevent environmental degradation.

The court had also held that it would be appropriate to place the burden of proof on the person proposing the activity which was potentially harmful to the environment.

The WSO Secretary said the decision of the Ministry also contradicted the recommendations of the Multi-Disciplinary Expert Group (MEG) set up by the MOEF to assess the likely impacts of the offshore exploratory drilling activities on the migration and congregation of the Olive Ridley sea turtles in Orissa.

The expert group had recommended that no drilling be carried out in the offshore waters of Orissa coast during the turtle season from November to May till studies are carried out on sea turtle activity.

He regretted that before any studies on the sea turtles were carried out, the Ministry has permitted drilling which would severely damage the migratory routes and congregation zones of the sea turtles.

Search the IOSEA Website for other news and information on turtles in Orissa

Source:	http://news.webindia123.com
Actual link:	http://news.webindia123.com/news/showdetails.asp?id=169947&cat=India

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