- Norochcholai substandard coal emissions cited in calls for stronger CEA oversight
The Centre for Environmental Justice (CEJ) is urging the Government to remove or significantly curtail the regulatory powers held by the Provincial Environmental Authority of the North Western Province (PEA-NWP), arguing that the existing structure has created serious enforcement gaps and weakened accountability surrounding environmentally sensitive projects, including the Lakvijaya Coal Power Plant in Norochcholai.
The calls come in the wake of the recent Supreme Court ruling on the Nakolagane Purana Rajamaha Viharaya case, which found multiple State institutions guilty of failing to protect the environment and ordered several agencies, including the PEA-NWP and the Central Environmental Authority (CEA), to publish public apologies in national newspapers.
Environmentalists said the judgment exposed longstanding weaknesses in the country’s fragmented environmental governance framework.
Speaking to The Sunday Morning, CEJ Chairman Hemantha Withanage claimed that the North Western Province had effectively become an environmental exception zone due to the existence of a separate provincial environmental authority operating under its own statute.
“The North Western Province is the only province that has its own environmental charter and authority. What has happened over the years is a distortion in the implementation of environmental law,” he said.
Under the 13th Amendment to the Constitution, environmental conservation is a devolved subject shared between the central and provincial administrations. However, Withanage argued that the separate framework operating in the province had resulted in jurisdictional conflicts and weakened enforcement of national environmental standards.
According to him, the provincial authority has repeatedly maintained that certain provisions of the National Environmental Act do not apply within the North Western Province, creating legal uncertainty and limiting the protections available to affected communities.
“As a result, people in the province have lost the protection afforded by national environmental standards. We have seen this particularly in relation to sand mining, industrial pollution, and shrimp farming,” he alleged.
Withanage also pointed to the Lakvijaya Coal Power Plant in Norochcholai as a key example of institutional and technical shortcomings within the provincial regulatory framework, particularly following the recent controversy surrounding substandard coal imports.
The PEA-NWP is currently responsible for issuing Environmental Protection Licences (EPLs) for the power plant. However, the CEJ alleged that the authority lacked the technical capacity required to monitor several hazardous pollutants included within its own licensing conditions.
“They include limits for substances such as arsenic and mercury in the licences, but they do not have the equipment or technical expertise to measure them,” Withanage claimed.
He further alleged that when environmental concerns emerged, both the provincial authority and the CEA frequently avoided taking direct responsibility. “When pollution issues arise, one institution passes the responsibility to the other. Meanwhile, affected communities continue to suffer,” he said.
Meanwhile, CEA Chairman Prof. Tilak Hewawasam acknowledged that the CEA’s powers within the North Western Province remained legally limited due to the existence of the separate provincial authority.
“The CEA generally does not intervene in matters concerning Norochcholai, and there is a specific legal reason for that. Under a separate statute, the North Western Province has established its own PEA, which holds exclusive jurisdiction within the province,” Hewawasam said.
“It is the PEA that is responsible for issuing the EPL for the Norochcholai coal power plant and for monitoring its ongoing environmental compliance,” he added.
However, he said that the CEA had continued independently monitoring air quality around the power plant and would intervene if national standards were exceeded.
Multiple attempts to contact PEA-NWP Chairman I.M.I. Ilangakoon, Environment Minister Dr. Dammika Patabendi, Deputy Minister of Environment Anton Jayakody, and Ministry Secretary K.R. Uduwawala for comments were unsuccessful.