The New Nation - Internet Edition

CHEVRON, a US energy giant, suspended its three-dimensional (3D) seismic survey following a fire incident at the Lawachhara national forest in Moulvibazar district on Saturday. The survey is being conducted on an area of 150 sq km of which the Lawachhara forest covers nearly 16 percent. According to Petrobangla, the fire broke out for unknown causes from an adjacent area. Environmentalists blamed Chevron for the fire but a high ranking official of Petrobangla, echoing the opinion of Chevron, claimed that normally the seismic survey does not cause fire as very small quantities of explosives are used at a depth of 22 metres from the earth's surface. Investigations are on to indentify the causes of the fire.

The outbreak of fire at Lawachhara national forest is not the first such incident in Bangladesh. Before this a devastating explosion at the Magurchhara gas field caused heavy damage that ultimately led to the abandoning of the field. There were two gas field blowouts also at Tengratila. Occidental Limited was involved with the first blowout and Niko wih the second and the third. Before taking up any development project detailed environmental impact assessment is mandatory. Safety of lives and properties should be ensured and damages to the environment avoided. But, in case of the fire at Magurchhara such assessments were not made and mitigation measures were not taken. The Tengratila cases were also not dealt with adequate care. Primary forests are normally spared all over the world when survey operations and gas exploration are carried out. Bangladesh has only 9 percent of its land area covered as against 25 percent needed for a healthy environment. So, protection of forests demands utmost attention. Further damage to forests will have serious negative impacts on environment, ecology, human health and the national economy.