Fracking is going to happen. And once it has started, the operations should be monitored every inch of the way, says Max du Preez.
It is time the good people opposed to hydraulic fracturing or fracking in the Karoo change tactics. Fracking is going to happen. The government believes fracking could be a game changer for the economy and Royal Dutch Shell and others are bristling to start. We can’t stop it any longer.
Those of us who are deeply concerned about the potential environmental and social impact of fracking should now focus all our energies and resources on making sure that every possible guarantee that the impact will be as small as possible is written in stone before the drilling starts.
And once it has started, the operations should be monitored every inch of the way to make sure the oil companies stick to the rules.
This will take a lot of resources, organisation and people.
We’ll need to start preparing for this now. A well-funded foundation with good credentials and good standing with the government and the international community, representing all concerned citizens, should be established.
People – preferably locals from the affected Karoo areas – should be trained to be local monitors. Farmers and townspeople should be educated to be watchdogs in their immediate areas.
We should not only be scrutinising pollution, the impact on the quality of groundwater and the ways the oil companies are going to get rid of polluted water; we need also to look at who gets employed by the oil companies, where and under what conditions they are going to live, how they will be looked after in terms of education and health, and what impact the new workforce could have on local communities.
We also need experts to analyse the financial side of the enterprise. Many billions of rand will be involved in this long-term undertaking.
The state has, through recent legislation, an automatic 20 percent stake in fracking enterprises but could claim up to 100 percent. What will happen to the revenue so generated and who will benefit from it? We need the hard questions now, not later.
What impact will the new roads have on the region, and the hundreds and hundreds of trucks needed to transport water to the fracking sites?
What emergency steps will be taken when the first evidence surfaces that surrounding groundwater has indeed been contaminated with methane gas and other toxic chemicals?
Who will do the final environmental impact studies after the exploratory fracking has been done, and exactly how will this be open to debate?
What will happen after a decade or two, three, when the resource has been depleted?
The advantage we in South Africa have is that we can look at the mistakes made in other countries where fracking activities have been going on for years.
Groundwater and surface water contamination are known to have led to serious illnesses in humans and cattle.
We also have the advantage that we know very well how big oil companies behave when they’re not closely watched every single step of the way.
Perhaps we should demand that our ministers and top bureaucrats in the mining and the environment departments pay a visit to the Niger Delta first and witness the catastrophic environmental and social effects of oil exploration in Nigeria over the past few decades.
Fracking in the Karoo is probably going to be more risky than any existing fracking activities elsewhere.
The depths of the gas-bearing shale rock layers range between 4 000m and 6 000m, much deeper than in the US.
Most of the Karoo is extremely arid, and yet fracking needs many, many billions of litres of water.
Some of the chemicals mixed with this water being pumped deep under the surface are toxic and carcinogenic.
The Treasure Karoo Action Group and others have done splendid work in researching and mobilising around the fracking issue.
They need to combine their efforts with other civil society organisations and lobby groups in order to step up the awareness campaign.
Fracking needs to be moved from an issue that is perceived as of interest only to the elite, to a burning national question that every citizen should be concerned about.
The Karoo is a national treasure and no citizen should shrug their shoulders and look the other way if there is a danger that fracking will permanently damage this precious and pristine part of our country.
Every South African citizen, especially the younger generations, should be made aware of the huge risks of fracking.
When things do go wrong, they will be conscious enough to help pressure the government into swift and decisive action.
We need to make sure that if fracking is indeed going to be a game changer, it will be a game changer beneficial to all of South Africa, and not one we will regret for generations to come.
* Max du Preez is an author and columnist.
** The views expressed here are not necessarily those of Independent Newspapers.
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