CMPDI EIA/EMP OF CLUSTER - XI CHAPTER-IV ANTICIPATED ENVIRONMENTAL IMPACTS AND MITIGATION MEASURES 4.1 INTRODUCTION The impacts (both beneficial and adverse) of mining and its allied activities of the project have been assessed and presented in respect of air, water, noise, blasting vibration, socio-economic profile, flora & fauna, land resource, traffic movement and visual/aesthetic aspect in this chapter. The control measures to mitigate various environmental impacts are also highlighted in this chapter for carrying out mining operation in an environmentally compatible manner. Further, all provisions of Coal Mines Regulations and Directives shall be followed in this project. 4.2 IMPACT ASSESSMENT & POLLUTION CONTROL MEASURES FOR AIR The impact assessment has been carried out. Appropriate air pollution control measures will be taken to contain the air pollution for maintaining the ambient air quality within the stipulated standards besides making the mining operation eco- friendly in this project. All provisions of Coal Mines Regulations and Directives shall be followed. Sources of Dust Pollution Coal dust is generally course and a significant portion of dust generated due to mining activities settles down within a short distance. Only very fine coal dust generated from grinding of fallen coal on coal transport roads under the wheels of heavy vehicles as well as at crushers in coal handling plants can become airborne and be carried longer distances by wind. Vehicular exhaust from dumpers ferrying coal from the mine to the railway siding is another reason for air pollution. These exhausts contain CO, SOX, NOX and small quantities of un-burnt IV-1 CMPDI EIA/EMP OF CLUSTER - XI fuel apart from some heavy metals like lead, nickel and arsenic. Air pollution due to coal transportation can be controlled to a great extent by regular sprinkling on roads by mobile water sprinklers. Wetting of coal before transportation and transportation of coal by covered trucks will help prevent spillage, thereby, reducing the quantum of dust. Dumpers employed for coal transportation require good maintenance. Several such provisions have been suggested to keep the ambient air quality much within the permissible limits. Coal Flow on Surface For UG Mines The coal raised to surface through the mineshaft or incline in mine cars is tippled directly into tippers which ferry the coal directly to the railway siding where it is unloaded and then loaded onto wagons by payloaders. For proposed OC Mines The blasted coal will be loaded into 35 te dumpers and will be brought to surface depot by haul road where it will be unloaded and subsequently loaded into 15 te dumpers for transport to railway siding where it will be loaded onto wagons by payloaders. Alternatively, the coal may be loaded into 15 te dumpers at the coal face itself and transported directly to the railway siding. The latter will be true for the small patches proposed (< 10 Ha). A coal flow chart along is given as Plate – 18. Production and Dispatch Since all the mines in the cluster are UG mines, the only major activity contributing to air pollution is transport of coal from the mines to various Railway Sidings by road. Present production & despatch of coal from all mines taken together is around 0.748 MTY & 2267 TPD. However, it is proposed to augment the production from the UG mines to 4.21 MTY (normative) and 4.78 MTY (peak). Further, 4 OC patches are proposed to be operated which will yield a normative production of 6.0 MTY and a peak production of 7.45 MTY. However, the life of these OC mines is around 2 to 8 years after which there will be coal IV-2 CMPDI EIA/EMP OF CLUSTER - XI production from UG mines only. The production and despatch figures from the various mines within the cluster after considering the various scenarios are shown below – Present Scenario (Only UG Future Scenario – 1 (after Future Scenario – 2 (OC mines operating at present adding production from OC patches are exhausted and production levels, ie actual patches to A) UG mines producing at for 2011 - 12) envisaged capacity A B C Actual 2013 – 14* Normative Peak* Normative Peak* 0.748 MT 6.748 MTY 8.198 MTY 4.21 MTY 4.78 MTY 2267 TPD 22267 TPD 27100 TPD 12757 TPD 14485 TPD *Air Quality Impact Prediction Exercise done for these scenarios IV-3 CMPDI EIA/EMP OF CLUSTER - XI Rationalisation of Road transport of Coal At present, coal from the mines is being transported to Andal, Bahula and Bankola Railway Sidings. In future, it is proposed to transport coal from all the mines to Bahula Railway Siding as shown below: Sl Name of the Mine Railway siding to Distance of Railway siding to Distance of Change in Distance (Kms) No. which coal is Railway siding which coal is Railway During period After presently being from mine (Kms) proposed to be siding from of operation of Exhaustion of transported transported as per mine (Kms) proposed OC OC patches (A) Env Plan (after Patches (C) commissioning of (B) proposed railway siding) 1 Krishnanagar UG - - Bahula 6.0 - (+) 6.0 2 Haripur UG Bahula 9.0 Bahula 9.0 0.0 0.0 3 Chora Block Incline UG Bahula 1.5 Bahula 1.5 0.0 0.0 Chora 7, 9 & 10 Pit UG Bahula 3.5 Bahula 3.5 0.0 0.0 4 Bonbahal OC Patch (25ha) - Bahula 4.5 (+) 4.5 - - OC 5 Shankarpur / CL Jambad OC Exhausted and backfilling is under process Patch/mine (52 Ha) OC 6 New Kenda UG Andal 15.0 Bahula 3.0 (-) 12.0 (-) 12.0 7 W Kenda OC Patch/Mine - Bahula 4.5 (+) 4.5 - - (49 ha) 8 New Kenda OC Mine (240 ha) - - Bahula 3.0 (+) 3.0 - 9 Lower Kenda UG Bahula 1.0 Bahula 1.0 0.0 0.0 10 Bahula UG Bahula 0.5 Bahula 0.5 0.0 0.0 11 C L Jambad UG Bahula 8.0 Bahula 8.0 0.0 0.0 12 Siduli UGP Bahula 11.0 Bahula 11.0 0.0 0.0 13 Khandra UG Bankola 5.0 Bahula 11.0 (+) 6.0 (+) 6.0 14 Shankarpur UG Bankola 7.0 Bahula 10.0 (+) 3.0 (+) 3.0 15 Shankarpur OC Patch/mine - Bahula 10.5 (+) 10.5 - - (42 ha)* Total 61.5 87.0 (+) 19.5 (+) 3.0 Total Increment / Decrement in Distance of transportation (in %) (+) 4.87 The present and proposed dispatch routes are shown in Plate – 19. IV -4 CMPDI EIA/EMP OF CLUSTER - XI Air quality modeling Air Quality Model The quantum of SPM at the receptors is influenced by concentration of pollutants and their dispersion in the atmosphere. Air quality modeling is an important tool for prediction, planning and evaluation of air pollution control activities besides identifying the requirements for emission control to meet the regulatory standards. The efficient management of air quality requires the use of modeling techniques to analyze the patterns of pollutant concentrations from many individual sources of air pollutants operating simultaneously. Models for regional concentration patterns are based on "emission inventory" data for the region, and on standard meteorological observations assumed to be representative of the entire region. Various attempts have been made to establish empirical relations to predict the dust emission characteristics for mining operations. These relations may give only a rough estimate of the total dust emission and provide no information about the contour of the dust distribution. The generation rate of the contaminant for most mining operations cannot be precisely determined by empirical relations because there is a high degree of variance in the way such operations are conducted in different mines. Nevertheless, the empirical relations provide the first hand information to the health workers, administrators, planners, and engineers for the development of dust control strategies. The dust emission levels from mining operations for the purpose of this modelling have been based on USEPA publications and paper on emission factors written by Prof SP Banerjee and published in Minetech Magazine. Air Quality Prediction The Air Quality Impact Prediction has been done by using the FDM version 90121 Air Quality Model of USEPA. Estimation for increase in TSP, NOX and SO2 at the Baseline Ambient Air Quality Stations has been done with the help of the above model. The model was run to predict the incremental TSP concentrations from future mining activities. The contribution of TSP from the present mining activities is already included in the baseline data generated at the stations. The quantum of such contribution from the present mining activities was determined by running the model for the present IV-5 CMPDI EIA/EMP OF CLUSTER - XI scenario only (Scenario A). The model was run again for predicting contribution from proposed mining activities (Scenarios B & C separately). The difference between the contributions from the present and proposed mining activities is the incremental impact. The increment over and above the baseline concentrations found at the AAQ stations is the likely level of future TSP concentrations taking into account all the activities. The following stations were chosen for baseline data generation for ambient air quality – SI.No. Location Name Location Code Remarks Core Zone 1. Krishnanagar, Mine Office A2 500 m from Mine Pit top 2. New Kenda, Mine Office A3 -do- 3. Lower Kenda, Sub. Office A4 -do- 4. Chora Pit Mine Office A5 -do- 5. Haripur, Sub. Office A6 -do- 6. Bahula, Mine Office A7 -do- 7. Chora UG, Mine Office A8 -do- C.L. Jambad UG, Mine A9 -do- 8. Office 9. Siduli, Agent Office A10 -do- 10. Shankarpur UG, Mine Office A11 -do- 11. Khandra, Mine Office A12 -do- Buffer Zone Kept as Control Station 12.