Environmental Impact Assessment studies are increasingly undertaken before a project is cleared by the Government. Discuss the environmental impacts of coal-fired thermal plants located at coal pitheads. (UPSC 2014)

Coal-fired thermal plants at pitheads cut transport costs, but they intensify environmental stress in mining belts, making impacts cumulative.

• Air pollution: Emissions of PM2.5, PM10, SO2, NOx and mercury worsen smog, acid rain and health risks; old plants without flue-gas desulphurisation emit more sulphur.
• Water stress: Cooling and ash slurry require large water withdrawals, competing with local users; mine drainage and effluents can contaminate rivers and groundwater with heavy metals.
• Ash and land impacts: High-ash Indian coal creates large fly-ash dumps; poor disposal or mine-void filling may pollute aquifers. Open-cast mining, ash ponds and transmission lines degrade land, fragment habitats and forests.

Thus, pithead plants create a concentrated coal-belt syndrome and need strict EIA, pollution control and water-efficient technology before clearance.