Cape Town - The stage is set for fracking to go ahead in the Karoo with the gazetting of final regulations to control the exploration and production of oil, gas and hydraulic fracturing.
The publication of these regulations means the government can now process applications to explore for shale gas.
But the Department of Mineral Resources’ regulations, which prescribe standards and practices for oil and shale gas exploitation, have come under fire from environmental groups, which say the regulations are largely inadequate to control fracking.
They also say the South African regulations are based on those of the oil and gas industry in the US, and so favour the industry at the cost of the natural environment and affected communities.
Jonathan Deal, from the Treasure the Karoo Action Group, said it was well established that these regulations had been developed from a set of standards published by the American Petroleum Institute, an industry-funded group in the US. These focused on keeping the costs down at the expense of the environment and community.
Fracking regulations should have been based on a broad, science-based platform, he said. Deal also criticised Mineral Resources’ gazetting the regulations now, instead of waiting for the findings of the government’s two-year strategic environmental assessment into the potential negative consequences of fracking.
The assessment, launched jointly in May by the departments of Environmental Affairs, Science and Technology, Energy, Water Affairs and Sanitation and Mineral Resources, is intended to be an aid for decision-makers on the issue of fracking.
Headed by the CSIR, it is examining a wide range of issues, including the effects of fracking on biodiversity, water, air and waste to economics, health, spatial planning, heritage and “sense of place”.
Stefan Cramer, science advisor to the SA Faith Communities’ Environment Institute, said almost all the public comments made on the draft fracking regulations had been ignored in the final version.
He said the regulations failed to address any of the points criticised in the draft version. In some cases one could see there had been inputs from the Department of Water and Sanitation, but even the apparent tightening of the rules for groundwater monitoring and protection remained “vague and arbitrary”.
In some cases, the final version was even poorer than the draft. Fracking well sites were allowed to be just 500m from an existing water borehole, instead of 1 000m in the draft.
Regulations governing standards for fracking well construction referred exclusively to standards issued by the American Petroleum Industry. Financial liabilities were not established for operators in the case of damage to property or the environment.
The Department of Mineral Resources was asked to comment on Wednesday, but did not reply.
Cape Times