Proceedinqs of the Environmental Public Hearinq of M/s.PFH Oil & Gas for the proposed for Work over of I Abandoned Well & Development Drilling of 5 New Wells and Subsequent Gas Production in Bhimanapalli. Nanqavaram. Sanavalli of Uppalaquptam Mandal & Lakshmivada, Bantumilli. Uppidi of Katrenikona Mandal of East Godavari District. In accordance with the Notification No.S.0.1533. Dt.14.09.2006 of Ministry of Environment & Forests. Government of India, New Delhi, the Environmental Engineer, Andhra Pradesh Pollution Control Board, Regional Office, Kakinada published Notification in two leading Telugu & English newspapers for conducting Public Hearing and inviting suggestions, views, comments and objections from the Public on the proposed for Work over of 1 Abandoned Well & Development Drilling of 5 New Wells and Subsequent Gas Production in Bhimanapalli, Nangavaram, Sanavalli of Uppalaguptam Mandal & Lakshmivada, Bantumilli, Uppidi of Katrenikona Mandal of East Godavari District. The Public Hearing was held on 23.11.2018 at 10:30 AM Gram Panchayat Office, Bheemanapalli Village, Uppalaguptam Mandal, East Godavari District. The proceedings of the above Public Hearing are as follows: The following Panel of Public Hearing was present and recorded the proceedings: 1) Smt. S.V.S. Subba Lakshmi District Revenue Officer & Addl. District Magistrate East Godavari District. Chairperson of the Panel. 2) Sri A. Ramarao Naidu Environmental Engineer, APPCB, Regional Office, Kakinada. Member Convener, The attendance of the Public Hearing is kept as Annexure CA'. At the outset, the Environmental Engineer, A.P.Pollution Control Board, Regional Office, Kakinada, welcomed the District Revenue Officer &. Addl. District Magistrate, East Godavari District for the proposed pubic hearing. He also welcomed the public representatives and the general public to the Public Hearing. He informed to the public that M/s.PFH Oil & Gas approached A.P. Pollution Control Board on 09.10.2018 on the proposed for Work over of 1 Abandoned Well & Development Drilling of 5 New Wells and Subsequent Gas Production in Bhimanapalli, Nangavaram, Sanavalli of Uppalaguptam Mandal & Lakshmivada. Bantumilli. Uppidi of Katrenikona Mandal of East Godavari District with Terms of Reference (TORs). Copy issued by Ministry of Environment & Forest and Climate Change, along with required number of copies of draft EtA, Executive summaries and requested for conducting Public Hearing as per procedure laid down in Environment Impact Assessment (EtA) Notification, 2006. The District Collector, East Godavari District, Kakinada has nominated the District Revenue Officer & Addl. District Magistrate, East Godavari District as Chairperson of the Panel for conducting the Public Hearing. The Collector & District Magistrate, East Godavari District, Kakinada suggested, date, time and venue for conduct of Environmental Public Hearing. After approval and fixation of the same by the Member Secretary, A.P. Pollution Control Board: the Regional Office, Kakinada issued a Paper notification and the same was published on 23.10.2018 in The New Indian Express & Sakshi daily news papers. He also informed to the public that in the paper notification people are requested to attend the public hearing to express their views, suggestions, objections, comments etc. The required information i.e. Draft EtA report and Executive Summary in Telugu & English both hard & soft copies were kept in the respective places for public access at the offices of District Collector; Zilla Prasishad; District Industries Centre, Kakinada; Revenue Divisional Officer, Amalapuram: Tahsidar, Uppalaguptam; Tahsildar, Katrenikona; Panchayat Secretary, Nangavaram, Sanavalli, Bhimanapalli of Uppalaguptam Mandal & Lakshmivada, Bantumilli & Uppidi of Katrenikona Mandal, East Godavari District and also requested for wide publicity about the Public Hearing in the area. The information was also communicated to the Joint Director, MoEF&CC, Regional Office, Chennai: Regional, Zonal, Head Offices of A.P. Pollution Control Board as per the procedure laid in the EtA Notification, 2006 inviting views, objections, suggestions from the public. He also informed that the APPCB on 16.11.2018 addressed letter to the concerned Panchayat Secretary i.e. Nangavaram, Sanavalli, Bhimanapalli, Lakshmivada, Bantumilli & Uppidi for giving wide publicity about the proposed Public Hearing by way of Tom Tom/through Public address system. He requested the District Revenue Officer, East Godavari District and Chairperson of the Public Hearing panel to start the proceedings. The District Revenue Officer & Addl. District Magistrate, East Godavari District welcomed the general public to the public hearing on the proposed for Work over of 1 Abandoned Well & Development Drilling of 5 New Wells and Subsequent Gas Production in Bhimanapalli, Nangavaram, Sanavalli of Uppalaguptam Mandal & 3 Lakshmivada, Bantumilli, Uppidi of Katrenikona Mandal of East Godavari District. She also informed to the public that the stake holders i.e. representatives of the industry would explain the project details and opportunity would be given to all the general public attended from the proposed six villages to express their doubts, suggestions. It is an open forum to express views of the public independently. She requested the project authorities of the proposed project to explain about the proposed project in detail. The Environmental Engineer, A.P. Pollution Control Board requested the project proponent to explain the proposed project in detail. Sri Syam Sundar, Environment Consultant M/s.Bhagavathi Ana Labs explained that the Government of India has allocated marginal fields in this area to PFH Oil & Gas for exploration of Oil & Gas. ONGC explored 2 wells in way back in 1984, out of which Uppidi-I was temporarily closed for non-viability and same would be reopened and rework out by PFH Oil & Gas, besides this 5 Nos. of new wells proposed to be explored by M/s.PFH Oil & Gas. There were no archeologically impartment & endangered places within 10KM radius from the project area. However, Gowthami Godavari is flowing at a distance of about 3KM from the project site and Bay of Bengal is existing at about 3.5KM and Mada Forest at about 7.2 KMs, and Pandikuppa Reserve Forest at 5.8KMs. The area of the block is about 18.2 Sq.Kms. About Rs.10.0 Crores required for drilling of each well, about 1.0Ha. of site is required for drilling of each well. The proposed well would fall in Bhimanapalli, Nangavaram, Sanavalli of Uppalaguptam Mandal & Lakshmivada, Bantumilli, Uppidi of Katrenikona Mandal. The exact location of the wells would be finalized after detailed survey. The drilling of wells would be carried out, without disturbing the existing greenery, water storage tanks, in best possible way. The permissions required for acquisition of land would be obtained on temporary basis either from private person or Government land_ Drilling of wells would be carried out for maximum period of 40-60 days only. If any hydrocarbon oil, gas available, the wells would be closed with throat preventer temporarily. If no Oil & Gas is available, the wells would be closed completely and no further work would be carried out. The Government of India has issued TORs to the proposed project in March, 2018 under EIA Notification 2006 to carry out the Environmental study. As per TORs, draft EIA report was prepared. For the proposed drilling of wells water based Red Mud would be used. About 25KL/day/well of water would be required for preparation of water based mud. For each camp site, 2.5 MW power is required and same would be met from DG Set. About 20-40 people would be employed from locals during the drilling of 4 wells. As per primary Environment Impact Assessment, the ambient air quality in the area is within the standards of CPCB norms. The ground water quality in study area is as per B1S105054. As per study report, no endangered species existing in study area. Water sprinkling would be carried out during dry season, in order to prevent dust nuisance. The machinery proposed to be used for carrying out drilling activity, would be maintained properly in order to avoid sound and dust nuisance during the drilling activity. While carrying out the drilling of wells, blowout preventer would be installed at well mouth, so as to prevent impact on Environment. All the machinery would be well maintained, in order to decrease the noise pollution. Except drilling activity, all the other works would be carried out to the extent possible in day time only. Personal protective equipment would be provided to all the employee working at drill site. About BKLIday of wastewater would be generated due to drilling at each site, and same would be released to HDPE lined pit only, and they would not release outside at any circumstances. The drill mud/drill cuttings generated would also be stored in HDPE lined pits, and same would be sent to nearby TSDF for final disposal. After completion of drilling activity, the sites would be brought back into its original shape, for which they would take all measures such as greenery development, removal of temporary constructions, waste material & machinery. If any gas I oil is available, the site would be fenced and a security ground would be deployed. If no gas/oil is available, the site would be given back to the land owner after taking all the measures to bring it to its original shape. If any greenery is disturbed during drilling activity, native species of saplings would be planted. Small quantity of solid waste generated would be disposed off as per the norms of APPCB & MoEF&CC, Gol to the recognized recyclers only. Service activity would be developed in this area due to Oil & Gas production. Locals would also be benefitted by way of employment generation. Gas based small scale industries may also come such as ceramic industries just beside these wells. Due to production of Oil & Gas locally, the burden of import of Oil & Gas will decrease, and the gap between oil production & utilization will also come down. Due to the proposed Oil & Gas production, the Central Government would get 42% revenue & State Government would get 12%royalty on oil production and 10% royalty on gas.