THIS country, having developed double-standards into a fine art for almost 64 years, has gradually realised that hypocrisy wastes time.

After doing wrong, we spent ages attempting to conceal it, pretending we were genuinely interested in human welfare and compliance with law.

We have now decided to throw caution to the winds, and do whatever we want, no matter who is watching. After all, what can anyone do about it?

In 2006, Pakistan's Liquefied Natural Gas (LNG) Policy was floated, outlining a strategy for the development of the energy sector, the optimisation of the energy-mix, the maximisation of indigenous energy, regulatory/institutional private sector capacity-strengthening, the development of infrastructure and the improvement of technical expertise. The conservation of gas was ignored.

The policy stated that gas then accounted for more than 50 per cent of the country's energy supplies, and that accelerating economic growth would spawn gas shortages by 2010/11. This, it said, would increase substantially in subsequent years if imports did not supplement indigenous supply. After five years of thumb-twiddling, escalating 'shortages' have now peaked with the shutdown of industries and power-plants and increased load-shedding.

Aside from dicey overland pipelines through unstable regions (from Turkmenistan through Afghanistan, from Iran through Balochistan), the alternative solution is LNG import. As proposed by Pakistan Gasport Ltd (PGL), gas-tankers will sail past residential localities, fishing villages and port/fishing traffic to a floating re-gasification vessel (berthed near Karachi's Korangi Fish Harbour, flanking the approach channel to Port Qasim), which will convert liquefied gas to high-pressure fuel for injection into the SSGC network.

Such a practice has numerous environmental downsides, being fraught with the hazard of LNG escape (accident or sabotage) and of forming a vapour cloud whose heat and fire (and asphyxiation properties) that could devastate shipping, small-craft, habitations and structures miles away.

The Institute for Analysis of Global Security highlighted the energy-security link: “When LNG tankers approach a port in the US, six tugboats direct the ship's movements while two others provide state-of-the-art fire-fighting equipment. Coast Guard crews board and inspect the ship before it enters the harbour. As many as half a dozen armed Coast Guard vessels accompany the ship through the harbour. Also present are state and local police boats. The restrictions remain in force during the 12-hour unloading process.”

A 2004 Congressional Research Service report to US Congress warns: “Proposals for new LNG import terminals are numerous, but LNG imports pose significant safety challenges. LNG is inherently hazardous and its infrastructure is potentially attractive to terrorists.”

Pakistan's LNG Policy mandates compliance with World Bank guidelines, Pakistan's Environmental Protection Act 1997, “and consistency with the best international LNG industry practices”. Further, “LNG-terminals shall be surrounded by safety-zones … to ensure protection of neighbouring communities and shipping traffic.”

Additionally, the “government may also specify the requirement of a security escort through Coast Guards at the expense of the [proponent].” The terminal operator must conduct site-specific hazard and risk-analyses based on population/demography, land-use, medical, law-enforcement and fire-protection capabilities, exclusion-zone distances, the need for remote siting, significant community concerns and environmental considerations.

At the end of 2008, Sindh's environmental protection authority conducted an environmental impact assessment (EIA) hearing for PGL's terminal. Concerned citizens and NGOs complained about inadequate information in the report (no technical evaluation of adverse effects of the re-gasification process on seawater or marine flora/fauna, no details of international safety studies, no location alternatives, etc), and were perturbed that the terminal would perilously be sited at the main channel, adjacent to major shipping and fishing vessels, within two and a half miles of human habitation. Additionally, an LPG-extraction plant was dangerously placed on the beach/reclaimed tidal-flats in violation of the public trust doctrine.

Against its better judgment and under political pressure, the Sindh Environmental Protection Agency (Sepa) issued a no-objection certificate in July 2009, using its standard impotent, meaningless, generalised terminology, vaguely requesting the proponent to 'do good and avoid evil'. Sepa disregarded the concerns and intelligence reports of the Sindh administration regarding aborted terrorist attacks and beefed-up security in recent years at oil-terminals at Karachi Port.

On Oct 5, 2010, the Oil and Gas Regulatory Authority (Ogra) issued a controversial 'conditional license' to PGL and earlier this month, on a 10-day notice, held a public-hearing in Islamabad on the final grant of the terminal license. As the procedure was not well-advertised, interested groups could not participate. However, apprehensions and objections were subsequently sent to the chairman. A decision is awaited.

The press recently reported that the Parliamentary Sub-Committee on Petroleum & Natural Resources detected the presence of “foul play” and “violation of rules, underhand dealings and corruption” in the award (by SSGC) of an LPG-extraction contract to PGL's sister-firm, Jamshoro Joint Venture Ltd (JJVL), and (by OGDC) of LPG quotas to the friends and relatives of JJVL's managing director. A year ago, the federal Public Accounts Committee exposed JJVL's largesse (the granting of lucrative LPG quotas) to heavyweights in the corridors of power. Press people have also benefited from the gifting of 'JJVL/LPG laptops'.

The intrinsic problem is that despite expert studies on the safety implications of LNG, too many unidentified variables and unanswered questions remain. Remote siting is the primary safety factor. By placing such facilities away from dense populations, superior protection is obtained against the inevitable uncertainties inherent in large-scale use of technologies and the vulnerability of LNG facilities to natural disasters and terrorism.

Such situations attract the 1992 Earth Summit's Principle 15: “In order to protect the environment, the precautionary approach shall be widely applied by states according to their capabilities. Where there are threats of serious or irreversible damage, lack of full scientific certainty shall not be used as a reason for postponing cost-effective measures to prevent environmental degradation.” Our Supreme Court upheld this 'precautionary principle' of the Rio Declaration in the 1994 landmark Shehla Zia judgment.

Karachi needs no more danger. Ogra: exercise prudence and relocate the LNG terminal far from the city and the shipping channel.

arfc@cyber.net.pk