[sustran] FW: What's new at CSE, India
Paul Barter
geobpa at nus.edu.sg
Tue Jul 17 14:57:42 JST 2001
Forwarding transport-relevant items from the latest "What's new at CSE,
India" bulletin. Paul.
-------------
What's new at the Centre for Science and Environment (CSE), New Delhi,
India.
... irrelevant stuff snipped ...
POLLUTION FREE TRANSPORTATION
The Global Environmental Facility has approved grants for the use of fuel
cell buses (FCBs) in India and China. The formidable cost gap between the
FCB and diesel bus is a major source of worry when the pollution free
buses are heading for Delhi. More at...
http://www.cseindia.org/html/dte/dte20010715/dte_srep.htm
... snip ...
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CITY'S WITHOUT CARS
A utopian idea of the 1960s to drive out cars from the city centers is
snowballing into a small movement in Europe. The movement aims to restore
the inner cities, fight pollution and improve quality of urban life.
http://www.cseindia.org/html/dte/dte20010715/dte_analy.htm
... snip ...
-------------------------------------------------
A message from the Chairperson, Anil Agarwal:
SPREADING MESSAGE
COSMETIC CONCERN
Petroleum minister Ram Naik typifies everything that is wrong with our
political system today - a system which formulates public policies not
because of public good but because of political lobbies. In the last few
days, newspapers have carried articles by Ram Naik praising the use of
ethanol as a blend for petrol and possibly even for diesel. This step
will help sugar farmers, the sugar industry, foreign exchange outflows
(by cutting down on imports) and will also be environment-friendly, Naik
tells us as glibly as he can. Naik talks about Brazil having used ethanol
in petrol since 1931. So why did the government not find all these
virtues in ethanol before? Naik tells us that four committees and six
technical studies have been at the subject since 1977. So what has
changed so suddenly? Naik's foresight? The answer is simple: The sugar
lobby has found a new ally in the Sangh Parivar which has been breathing
down the necks of the petroleum ministry. And Naik and his babus have
basically caved in to this lobby. Not that this good policy decision was
taken on the basis of good judgement. Just convenient politics. At an
official meeting, long before Naik decided to go public on ethanol, a
joint secretary admitted that the use of ethanol now looked inevitable
"because of the power of the sugar lobby".
About six months ago, we had supported the use of ethanol in petrol
because of environmental and public health reasons but had run into a
wall. Unleaded, low benzene petrol needs an oxygenate to help the fuel
burn smoothly. An oxygenate that Indian public sector oil companies,
which have nothing but disdain for public health, are using is methyl
tertiary butyl ether (MTBE). This substance has an extraordinary capacity
to travel through groundwater. A teaspoon of MTBE put in an Olympic size
swimming pool will make it stink within seconds. It has also been found
to be a carcinogen in animals. Since its use started in the us nearly ten
years ago, thousands of wells supplying drinking water have been
contaminated with MTBE. California is the worst affected state - it uses
the maximum petrol - and it was the first to ban the use of MTBE and now
the Clean Air Act is being amended to ban it across the country. At a
time when usa is banning MTBE, Indian public sector companies, with the
blessings of the petroleum ministry babus, are promoting its use. This is
what you call foresight in Indian babudom.
The Centre for Science and Environment, therefore, raised this issue with
the Ministry of Environment, especially as groundwater is a very
important source of drinking water in India, and increasingly so even in
cities. The then secretary of the ministry, Vishwanath Anand, asked us to
make a presentation. The people present included the secretary himself,
two additional secretaries, several joint secretaries and the chairperson
of the Central Pollution Control Board. The meeting unanimously decided
to recommend a ban on MTBE and use of ethanol, an excellent oxygenate
which is being contemplated also for use in the us in place of MTBE. But
the petroleum ministry dismissed the letter from the ministry of
environment and continues to allow the use of MTBE. This further
confirmed the belief, commonly shared by most people, that the Indian
government does not function and public health can only be protected by
court intervention.
So what was the point of resistance? The price of ethanol and its
uncertainty. At the moment, petrol prices are high so ethanol can compete
- petrol prices need to be above Rs 20 per litre to allow ethanol
blending at competitive prices - but what happens in the future? In
addition, the petroleum babus argued that the price of MTBE is cheaper
than ethanol and that the sugar industry could reduce prices further and
was wanting to make a fast buck. Thus, for price reasons, the ministry
was against the use of ethanol and was totally disregarding any concern
for public health. This was less than six months ago. But now there is a
somersault and Naik is even talking about the possibility of blending
ethanol with the lowly-priced diesel to save foreign exchange. Won't this
increase the price of holy diesel, which no politician wants to touch?
It's amazing that all these wonderful arguments of saving foreign
exchange and helping sugar farmers were as valid even then but it's just
that the Sangh Parivar has now got into action as elections in Uttar
Pradesh are nearing. Now the same ethanol has become so virtuous that
minister Naik has to sing paeans about it himself in signed articles in
newspapers. Good decision but for wrong reasons. And MTBE continues to be
used. If this be the quality of leaders that Indian democracy is going to
throw up, then God bless this billion people country called India.
It really galls me to read Naik writing that "The added advantage of
ethanol is that it is a renewable source of energy and also environment-
friendly." This coming from a man whose ministry has done everything to
sabotage the Supreme Court order to move Delhi's buses to CNG. Why can't
Naik just be honest and say that ethanol use today is politically-
friendly rather than giving us all this junk about farmer-friendliness
and environment-friendliness which he cares two hoots about? But then
when were politicians known for being straightforward.
At a time when USA is banning MTBE, Indian public sector companies, with
the blessings of the petroleum ministry babus, are promoting its use
- Anil Agarwal
(This article is also available online at
http://www.cseindia.org/html/dte/dte20010715/dte_edit.htm
*************************************************
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... snip ...
Past archives of this bulletin are available at
http://www.cseindia.org/html/au/au6.htm
*************************************************
Sucheta Sharma
Website Unit
Centre for Science and Environment
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