Reflections of the Lamu Coal Plant Case

The National Environment Tribunal (NET) in Kenya cancelled the license for a 1050MW coal power plant in Lamu County due to inadequate public participation and the omission of a climate change assessment in the Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA).

• The National Environment Tribunal (NET) set aside the license issued by the National Environment Management Authority (NEMA) to Amu Power for the Lamu Coal Fired Power Plant, ordering a new Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) study.
• The legal challenge concerned a proposed 1050MW coal power plant located in the Kwasasi area of Lamu County.
• The Tribunal's ruling was primarily based on the failure to ensure meaningful public participation, rejecting a 'check-box approach' and emphasizing that NEMA must provide sufficient information to affected populations.
• The court determined that the EIA report was inadequate and incomplete because it omitted a climate change assessment.
• The ruling highlighted the necessity of a Strategic Environmental Assessment (SEA) to evaluate alternative project locations at a policy level.

APA

Martens, C. (2019). Reflections of the Lamu Coal Plant Case. Natural Justice. https://naturaljustice.org/reflections-of-the-lamu-coal-plant-case/

Chicago

Martens, Claire. Reflections of the Lamu Coal Plant Case. Natural Justice, 2019. https://naturaljustice.org/reflections-of-the-lamu-coal-plant-case/.

Wikipedia

{{cite report |last1=Martens |first1=Claire |title=Reflections of the Lamu Coal Plant Case |publisher=Natural Justice |date=25 July 2019 |url=https://naturaljustice.org/reflections-of-the-lamu-coal-plant-case/ |access-date=17 August 2026 |via=Climate Insights Directory}}

BibTeX

@techreport{martens2019reflections, author = {Martens, Claire}, title = {{Reflections of the Lamu Coal Plant Case}}, institution = {Natural Justice}, year = {2019}, month = jul, url = {https://naturaljustice.org/reflections-of-the-lamu-coal-plant-case/}, urldate = {2026-08-17}, note = {Indexed by Climate Insights Directory} }