CAPE TOWN - Another application to stop oil multinational Shell’s seismic survey along South Africa’s Wild Coast is expected in the Grahamstown High Court in Makhanda on Friday.
The Legal Resources Centre (LRC) and Richard Spoor Attorneys – supported by Cullinan & Associates and Natural Justice – brought the application on behalf of the Amadiba, Cwebe, Hobeni, Port Saint Johns and Kei Mouth communities.
Two weeks ago the same court dismissed an application by activists to stop the survey on the basis that “irreparable harm” to marine species had not been not proved.
Shell on Tuesday confirmed that the survey was under way and “everything is on track”.
The new application argues that Shell does not have the necessary environmental authorisation in terms of the National Environmental Management Act (NEMA) to lawfully undertake seismic exploration activities in the area.
The LRC said in a statement: “Both the Minerals and Petroleum Resources Development Act (MPRDA) and NEMA render Shell’s activities prima facie unlawful. Moreover, Shell’s Development of Environmental Management Programmes (EMPr) – which the company claims mitigates harm caused by the seismic survey and is the same as an Environmental Authorisation – contains no consideration of the cultural, spiritual, or heritage issues relating to the ocean, despite the way in which both the sea and its sand are held in reverence by the different communities along the coast.”
Shell contends that it consulted communities, but the applicants say this is not the case.
Shell spokesperson Pam Ntaka said: “A full stakeholder consultation process was undertaken as part of the development of the EMPr for this project in 2013. This was also fully aligned with the requirements of the MPRDA and EMPr guidelines as part of the National Environmental Management Act.
”Furthermore, the Environmental Authorisation was obtained for this project in 2014. An Environmental Compliance audit was undertaken in 2020 by independent specialists to confirm that the controls and mitigation measures outlined in the EMPr were still sufficient and valid.”
In the founding affidavit for the applicants, Reinford Sinegugu Zukulu, director at non profit Sustaining the Wild Coast, and resident of of Baleni village said: “The EMPr says very little about communities on the Wild Coast. Our land and sea are central to our livelihoods and our way of life. Over generations we have conserved them, and they have conserved us. This is not merely a matter of nutrition and income, though it certainly is that. Some of our ancestors reside in the sea, and our traditional healers and pastors use the sea to heal us and to connect us with God.”
They further added that the concerns raised by the communities were echoed by local and international experts in the fields of behavioural and acoustic ecology of marine animals, marine scientists, ichthyologists and fisheries consultants, whose reports have been filed as part of this application.
“Overall, the experts highlight harm to populations of endangered species and physical damage to marine life due to the noise as highly likely,” LRC added.
In response, Ntaka said: “I would like to reassure the public that if this was not safe to do we wouldn’t do it.”
Cape Times