Environmental experts and academics are up in arms against the onshore oil and gas development and production proposed by Vedanta Limited (Cairn Oil & Gas Division) at 35 locations in the Kaza block in Krishna district in the Krishna-Godavari basin (KG Basin) of Andhra Pradesh.
The Vedanta group has proposed to drill 35 hydrocarbon wells to produce 30,000 barrels of oil per day and 30 million metric standard cubic feet of natural gas in the Kaza block with an investment of ₹650 crore.
According to an official document of the MOEFCC, the exploration will be done up to 10 years in a phased manner beginning from 2021 in the block that spreads in 114.93 sq. km.
According to the Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) report submitted by the Vedanta group, each well pad would be spread in 9 hectares and 10 hydrocarbon processing facilities would be set up as part of the onshore oil and gas development and production project. The land would be initially gathered on the lease basis during the exploration. The Union government was encouraging oil exploration and gas production under the Discovered Small Fields (DSF) Policy, it said.
‘Hiding data’
Geologist and Andhra University retired professor Krishna Rao pointed out that the EIA report did not speak on the land subsidence, which earlier occurred due the oil and gas exploration in East Godavari district.
Various studies by Andhra University on the KG basin, IIT-Banaras on Vedanta group’s Ravva fields had exposed land subsidence, he claimed. The air pollution data shown in the report were far from the ground reality, he alleged.
Public hearing
The Andhra Pradesh Pollution Control Board would conduct an environmental public hearing on the project at Tarakturu village in Guduru mandal in Krishna district on December 17. As many as 35 villages would be affected by the project in the four mandals of Movva, Guduru, Kalidindi and Machilipatnam.
AP Human Rights Forum group comprising its State secretary Y. Rajesh, Krishna district convener P. Amar and co-convener G. Rohit launched a campaign creating awareness of the hazards due to “fracking method” in the oil exploration.
“We have already covered the entire stretch of Guduru and Machilipatnam mandals, where people are unaware of the consequences of oil exploration and its impact on the groundwater source, prospects of agriculture in the Kaza block in future,” said Mr. Rajesh.
