National Green Tribunal
Dr A Rajagopal Kamath vs State Of Kerala & Ors on 20 December, 2022
Item No. 10 (Court No. 2)
BEFORE THE NATIONAL GREEN TRIBUNAL
PRINCIPAL BENCH, NEW DELHI.
(Through Physical Hearing with Hybrid VC Option)
Original Application No. 574/2022
Dr. A. Rajagopal Kamath ...Applicant
Versus
State of Kerala & Ors. ...Respondents
Date of hearing: 20.12.2022
CORAM: HON'BLE MR. JUSTICE ARUN KUMAR TYAGI, JUDICIAL MEMBER.
HON'BLE DR. AFROZ AHMAD, EXPERT MEMBER.
Applicant: None.
Respondents: Mr. Jogy Scaria, Advocate for KSPCB.
Application is registered based on a letter petition received by Email.
ORDER
1. Dr. A. Rajagopal Kamath resident of H. No. 7/628-A, Chakrapani Lane, Opposite SBI Eroor Branch, Eroor Sourth, Tripunithura, Kerala has sent the present letter petition by email, which is treated and registered as original application. The grievance in the application is regarding immoderate smell of petroleum products emitted from refinery at Kochi. The applicant has submitted that he lives at a distance of 4 kms from the refinery but smell of Benzene enters his house in the morning and evening and persists there for hours together which poses serious health problems to residents including toddlers and the aged.
2. Vide order dated 07.09.2022, this Tribunal constituted a Joint Committee comprising of representative of CPCB, Kerala State Pollution Control Board (KSPCB) and Collector, Kochi and directed the same to verify O. A. No.574/2022 Dr. A. Rajagopal Kamath Vs. State of Kerala & Ors.
-2-the factual position and submit its report within one month and to send copy of its report to the concerned project proponents and Statutory Authorities in case of violation of environmental norms for remedial action.
3. In compliance thereof, report of the Joint Committee has been submitted by Ms. Geetha P., Senior Environmental Scientist (Nodal Officer), Central Laboratory, KSPCB, vide email dated 17.12.2022. Relevant part of the same is reproduced as under:-
"REPORT OF THE JOINT COMMITTEE CONSTITUTED BY HONOURABLE NATIONAL GREEN TRIBUNAL IN THE MATTER OF OA 574 OF 2022 x x x x x x 2.0 Joint Committee meeting and deliberations The matter pertains to the alleged odor nuisance reported by an email petition by Dr. A. Rajagopal Kammath, resident of H. No. 7/628-A, Chakrapani Lane, opposite SBI Eroor Branch, Eroor South, Tripunithura, to the Honourable NGT and this email was considered Suo Motu as original application by the Tribunal. The grievance in the application regarding immoderate smell of petroleum products emitted from refinery at Kochi which persists in the applicant's house situated 5 Km from the Kochi Refinery (M/s. Bharat Petroleum Company Ltd., Ambalamugal, Kochi) in the morning and evening hours.
Smt. P. Geetha, Senior Environmental Scientist, Central laboratory, KSPCB, Ernakulam(Nodal Officer) convened the first online meeting of the joint committee on 13-10-2022. The applicant Dr. A Rajagopal Kamath was also intimated to brief his contentions before the committee to gain insight into the actual issues of odour nuisance alleged by the applicant.
Though the applicant was instructed to present his grievances before the joint committee, he could not attend the meeting due to personal reasons. During the first committee meeting Shri. Dinesh K S, Environmental Engineer, KSPCB, District Office-2, Perumbavoor explained the details of the industries and the related industrial units in the meeting. He also added that some of the units of the refinery are under annual shut down for a month. The committee members suggested that if the preliminary monitoring is conducted during the shutdown of the refinery the results may shed some light on the fugitive emissions of petroleum products from industrial units other than refinery and the monitored values can be used to compare with the monitoring to be carried out after refinery resumes full operations.
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As suggested by Dr. Renu Raj, IAS, District Collector, a physical meeting was arranged on 14th October, 2022 at the Central Laboratory, Ernakulam with the applicant/complainant Dr. Rajagopal as he could not brief before the joint committee in the meeting held on 13-10-2022. Dr. Deepesh joined the meeting through video call and discussed the grievances of the complainant in detail. The complainant shared his account of the grievances as given below.
Dr. Rajagopal narrated his ordeal of unhealthy ambient air quality experiencing at his residential area at Eroor and he feels that ambient air is filled with a mixture of hydrocarbons especially in the late evening and persists till early morning around 4 am. He clarified that the smell he is sensing is the characteristic burnt smell of petroleum products. He claimed that his house is situated around 4 km from the refinery and he resides in a double storeyed building. The area is a highly populated residential area and there are multi storied flats near to his house. He is apprehensive of the serious health issues due to this unpleasant smell to him and the people of the entire area if it continues. During the winter season black dust particles were seen on the terrace/ surfaces and he complained of black particles in his sputum in the morning. He added that an enquiry was conducted by M/s. BPCL earlier on his complaint against them and verified the possible leakage of any hydrocarbon compounds like benzene but nothing found abnormal. He complained that the ambient air quality in his area has deteriorated and suspected that the gaseous pollutants are getting concentrated in Eroor area at night time due to reversal of wind direction towards west. Most of the industries are in the eastern side and during night, pollutants are being emitted towards the west. He also specifically complained about the flare stacks of the refinery and shared his observation that flame coming from the stack is abnormally huge. He also shared his observation that the flare stacks sometimes go flameless/ or burn with reduced flame accompanied with thick black smoke emissions and he shared a few photographs also. He also informed that the intensity of burned petroleum product smell has reduced for about two weeks. Applicant specifically emphasized his experience of the specific 'burnt' smell and he is apprehensive that the smell may be due to the flare stacks of M/s. BPCL, Ambalamugal, Kochi. He also informed that flare stacks often burn with huge flame in the night creating noise, light and odour issues.
During this interaction it was understood that the applicant is sharing his apprehension on the flare stacks of the refinery/ oher industries in the area. Flare stacks are for combustion/burning of off-specification products, undesirable intermediates generated during process disturbances/ unplanned events/ safety events and these undesirable materials are flushed out with an inert gas and combusted along with fuel in the flare stack. Situations like flameless black emissions from flare stacks are not usually encountered in refineries/industries and if it is noticed, then it has to be assumed that the flare systems are not operated properly or the process disturbances are of much higher magnitude that can be managed by the existing flaring systems..
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As per the first joint committee meeting, it was decided to have a preliminary visit to the applicant's house and to conduct monitoring for Volatile Organic Carbons (VOCs), fine particulates using Respirable Dust Sampler (RDS) for measuring PM 2.5 particles and gaseous pollutants to assess the factual position of complaint raised in this matter. The joint committee meeting concluded that the next meeting can be conducted after site visit and monitoring/ sampling at the applicant's residence in the presence of committee members and concerned officials from the KSPCB, District Office. The detailed minutes of the first joint committee meeting is annexed as Annexure-II.
3.0 On site monitoring and analysis In this matter the applicant specifically alleges that the odour nuisance experienced by him is from the Kochi Refinery (M/s. BPCL, Kochi) though there are many other petroleum installations and industries in the vicinity. Hence, the primary objective of this joint committee is to trace down the source of the alleged odour pollution experienced at the applicant's dwelling place. It was decided to do a site visit and on-site monitoring to get a glimpse of the ground realities. In order to assess the odour issues from petroleum related volatile compound like Benzene, the ambient air sample has to be sampled for the presence of Volatile Organic Compounds (VOCs). As narrated by the applicant, the 'burnt' smell can also be due to incomplete combustion of the hydrocarbons during flaring and the hydrocarbons and soot from the flare stack can form minute aerosol droplets when moisture in the air condenses during night time.
These minute aerosol droplets usually form a part of the particulate matter (PM 2.5). Thus it was decided to monitor PM 2.5 also and to do further investigations on the PM 2.5 sample using Attenuated Total Reflection Fourier Transform Infrared (ATR-FTIR) spectroscopy and by Gas Chromatography-Mass Spectrometry (GC-MS) screening for qualitative identification of potential pollutant markers specific to petroleum installations.
First on-site monitoring was carried out by the KSPCB environmental surveillance team on 21-10-2022 and a sample for VOC was drawn using a low volume air sampler. The second on-site monitoring was done on 03-11-2022 in the presence of the joint committee members from KSPCB and CPCB and monitoring conducted for PM 2.5 and VOC during night. However, nothing unusual was found to corroborate the alleged odour nuisance from the petroleum installations. Applicant also informed that he has not experienced any odour issues as alleged in his petition during the two occasions of on-site monitoring conducted on 21-10-2022 and 03-11-2022.
Two instances of VOC monitoring and analysis have not indicated the presence of volatile petroleum products/ hydrocarbons. The respirable particulate matter (PM 2.5)concentration on 03-11-2022 night is 32 μg/ m3. As per the ATR-FTIR analysis report of the exposed PM 2.5 sample filter media spectra yielded no match for the potential hydrocarbons/ solvents/ polymers except for the PM 2.5 filter media (Polytetrafluoroethylene-PTFE). Further in the GC-MS screening of the extract generated from the exposed filter media, no specific chemical signatures/ markers specific to petroleum O. A. No.574/2022 Dr. A. Rajagopal Kamath Vs. State of Kerala & Ors.
-5-installation/ refinery obtained in the qualitative screening of potential chemical indicators.
4.0 Observations and conclusions From the google maps, the aerial distances from the location of the applicant's house to various installations/ industries/ potential sources of pollution are approximately:
● 0.09 Km from Eroor main road ● 1.3 Km from BPCL- Irumpanam installation ● 1.9 Km from IOCL Cochin Terminal ● 2.5 Km from HPCL terminal/ LPG bottling plant, Irumpanam ● 2.5 Km from FACT Ambalamedu ● 2.8 Km from Kochi refinery Phase-1 ● 3.0 Km from common TSDF managed by M/s.KEIL ● 3.8 Km from Brahmapuram Solid waste treatment facility ● 3.8 Km from Cochin SEZ, Kakkanad ● 4.2 Km from BPCL, PDPP Project, ● 4.6 Km from HOCL, ● 5.0 Km from Kochi Air Products, ● 5.1 Km from BPCL LPG bottling plant, ● 5.5 Km from BPCL-MSBP Project Therefore, there are many petroleum installations/ industries/ waste management facilities towards the west of the applicant's house. Based on the narrative of the applicant, the matter could be the odour issues from random events of excessive flaring/ incomplete combustion product from the flares/ excessive emission from industries due to random process disturbances. However, the site visit and on-site monitoring could not yield anything to corroborate the claim that the odour pollution is from the refinery due to petroleum products.
To get more insight into this issue, proper monitoring should be carried out when such odour issues recur in the future and the surveillance team of the KSPCB should be equipped to carry out monitoring on short notices. The surveillance team shall conduct monitoring when the odour nuisance is reported in the future by the applicant.
Flare stacks of the industries are erected as per the guidelines of OISD (Oil Industry Safety Directorate) which is a technical directorate under the Ministry of Petroleum and Natural Gas that formulates and coordinates the implementation of a series of self- regulatory measures in petroleum/ natural gas installations and other allied industries. Flare stacks are designed to flare/ burn undesired products resulting from process disturbances, purged out petroleum products during startups/ shutdown/ maintenance routine. The operational records of the flares shall be maintained by the industries and these records may shed light on the operation of flares and unusual flaring scenarios. There are other public complaints regarding the operation of flares from M/s. BPCL, Kochi and the concerned district office has been instructed to obtain the details of flares and its operational data."
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4. None has appeared for the applicant today and the correctness of the report of the Joint Committee is not disputed by anyone.
5. We have heard the learned Counsel for the KSPCB and gone through the material on record including report of the Joint Committee.
6. In the present case, the applicant complained about immoderate smell of petroleum products emitted from refinery at Kochi. We appreciate the dedicated efforts made by the Joint Committee for redressal of the grievance of the applicant. However, the site visit and on-site monitoring by the Joint Committee did not yield anything to corroborate the claim that the odour pollution is from the refinery due to petroleum products. The Joint Committee has recommended proper monitoring when such odour issues recur in the future. We accept the recommendation of the Joint Committee and accordingly direct the KSPCB to carry out proper monitoring, when the odour nuisance is reported in the future by the applicant or any other person, through its surveillance team equipped to carry out such monitoring on short notices.
7. In view of the above, we are of the considered view that no further action is required to be taken by this Tribunal on the present application which is disposed of with no order as to costs.
Arun Kumar Tyagi, JM Dr. Afroz Ahmad, EM December 20, 2022 AVT