인도의 친환경 연료 계획, 농민들의 물 부족 우려와 충돌

India, which imports 80% of its oil and gas, has made ethanol central to its clean energy plans and, as war in the Mideast impacts the price and supply of oil, its energy security.

Protests are rippling across rural India against proposed ethanol plants that ⁠could ease the country's dependence on oil and gas imports, but many in the countryside worry the sites put pressure on their water supply, land and health.

India, which imports 80% of its oil and gas, has made ethanol central to its clean energy plans and, as war in the Middle East impacts the price and supply of oil, its energy security.

Delhi increased the amount of ethanol blended into petrol from 1% in 2014 to 20% last year. But most ethanol is made from maize and sugarcane, crops requiring significant amounts of land and water, and has triggered resistance in several rural ​regions.

One example is the small town of Tibbi in the northwestern state of Rajasthan where hundreds of farmers marched against a proposed ethanol plant late last month.

"This factory will take ‌away our ‌water. No one asked us before starting the work," said Madan Dugesar, a farmer involved in a series of protests against the plant.

The unrest ​had been building for months. Residents said police arrested protest leaders in dawn raids in November and cleared a demonstration near the plant, actions that backfired and drew more angry people out onto the streets.

Tibbi villagers said they only realized a large ethanol plant was being built when heavy machinery arrived and deep drilling began last year.

Some of the farmers traveled to ⁠the neighboring state of Punjab to learn about the impact of a similar plant there and how protests had led to the state government closing down an ethanol distillery.

"Underground water got polluted. People started falling sick, ⁠and that is when protests began," said Roman Brar, a farm leader in the town of Zira, the focus of the Punjab protests.

Residents there staged sit-ins, blocked roads and appealed to the National Green Tribunal, India's top environmental protection body, which is now considering the case.

"We are not against industry," Brar said. "We are ​against industries that pollute our water and land."

In Tibbi, villagers oppose ⁠what they say is a water-intensive project in a region dependent on canals and groundwater for irrigation.

Tibbi resident Mahangu Singh Sidhu said the water-table was rapidly falling and an ethanol plant would deplete it further, competing with crops for water and polluting supplies.

Residents formed a protest ⁠group and petitioned the local government in April last year, ​but said they received no response, leading to a permanent protest at the site by August.

In December, thousands gathered ​and marched toward the plant. Residents said police carried out a baton charge when crowds reached the site, after which parts of the plant's boundary wall were ​brought down. Construction was ‌later halted.

A district official wrote to the state government recommending that work be stopped due to the public sentiment, according to official documents.

The district administration and the Environment Ministry did not respond to requests for comment.

Similar protests have surfaced in other states, including Telangana, Maharashtra and Uttar Pradesh, as ethanol expansion moves into water-stressed regions.

POLICY PUSH MEETS LOCAL RESISTANCE

Villagers in Tibbi said their exclusion from decision-making over the plant was one of the key issues angering communities.

Under a 2021 amendment to environmental rules, India allowed grain-based ethanol ‌distilleries to bypass detailed impact assessments and public hearings, if they supply ethanol for national blending targets and meet zero liquid discharge (ZLD) norms.

ZLD is a water treatment process that recycles and reuses all wastewater, ensuring no liquid waste, full of acids and heavy metals, leaves the facility.

Villagers and activists, however, say such safeguards are not always trusted.

In Zira, Brar said untreated waste was diverted underground. Authorities later found evidence of illegal disposal practices, including pumping effluents into underground water, according to local media reports.

To sustain its ethanol blending, India may need an additional 4 million to 8 million hectares of land for maize by 2030, ​according to ​an analysis by the Center for Study of Science, Technology and Policy, a Bangalore-based think tank. This is roughly seven times the size ​of New York City.

Researchers say this could intensify competition between fuel and food crops and add pressure on water resources.

Narasimha Reddy, an environmental policy expert based in Telangana, said the protests reflected deeper ⁠concerns.

"Villagers are not opposed to development that is negotiated, they are opposed to being erased from decisions that will reshape their lives," he said.

He said communities feared losing access to water and fertile land. "Beneath the protests lies a deeper fear that in the rush to produce fuel, the nation's food-producing capacity is being quietly traded away."

BALANCING CLIMATE AND COMMUNITY

The government says its ethanol policy has saved 1.06 trillion rupees ($12 billion) in crude oil imports and avoided 54.4 million metric tons of carbon emissions over the decade to 2025.

To ​achieve this, India is diverting record amounts of sugarcane, maize and rice to make fuel, reducing the availability of grain for people and cattle, and shifting land use away from food crops, analysts say.

Farming and processing these crops to make ethanol may generate more emissions than fuel, according to a 2022 study funded by the U.S. Department of Agriculture and a 2020 review published the Royal Society.

As India expands its biofuel program, the dispute in Tibbi highlights the risks of pushing large projects without local support.

"We are not against development," said Dugesar from Tibbi, adding, "But not at the cost of our land, water and health."