ENVIRONMENTALISTS have accused the government of using strong arm tactics to push through a plan to essentially place “primary use” of South African seas for oil and gas seismic surveys, exploration and development in the hands of multinational and smaller local gas and oil companies.
Their ire was raised when Forestry, Fisheries and Environment Minister Barbara Creecy gazetted a Draft Offshore Oil and Gas Sector Plan: Input for Marine Spatial Planning for public comment, on March 10.
The public were given 60 days to raise concerns, a period which ends on May 10.
The decision by the Department of Mineral Resources and Energy (DMRE) on April 17 to grant French oil and gas giant TotalEnergies the go-ahead to drill as many as five exploration wells in a petroleum block between Cape Town and Cape Agulhas has caused them more consternation.
Those opposed to the decision had 20 days, from April 20, to state their intent.
Currently there are 20 active exploration and seven production rights over various offshore petroleum blocks.
If Creecy’s proposed plan is eventually endorsed as law, environmentalists warned it would have a wide range of “catastrophic consequences” for the ecosystems of the country’s seas - the transport, tourism and other sectors that flourish in a healthy ocean.
It would be “open season” for oil and gas companies as the majority of the blocks in the country's seas were earmarked for hydrocarbon mining.
The affirmation would enable them to dictate terms in the respective blocks, as the draft bill was worded strongly in their favour.
“There are nine sectors that have interest in our oceans but the oil and gas sector are predominating,” said Janet Solomon, co-founder of Oceans Not Oil, a rights group opposed to South Africa’s fossil fuel dependence.
Shocking for Solomon’s group was some of the language used in Creecy’s plan.
“Words like ‘primary use zoning’, ‘enabling environment’, ‘maximise recovery’ and ‘prioritise’.
“The language is authoritarian and colonial.”
Solomon said private entities would come in and receive priority zoning and every other sector would have to go on bended knee if they wanted a presence on a block.
The call for public comment did not strike her as a two-way consultative process.
“My understanding of the way the plan was constructed is that they are just ticking boxes.”
She pointed to the three recent instances where public consultation processes were done haphazardly.
The most recent was delivered in the Eastern Cape High Court where oil and gas company Shell intended to conduct a seismic survey off the Wild Coast, but was blocked.
However, Gwede Mantashe, the Mineral Resources and Energy Minister, was granted leave to appeal that outcome with the Supreme Court of Appeal.
The matter is yet to be set down.
Regarding subsistence fishing communities, Solomon said people were not getting the required information from the public document (plan), which was not acceptable, especially since their livelihoods depended on the sea.
A feasibility issue for Solomon was the turbulence along local coastlines which could hamper off-shore construction and other work.
“One has to look at the map of shipwrecks along our coastline to get an understanding.”
Another concern were the gas pipelines that are expected to run along the coastline and into communities across the country, particularly when gas flaring occurs to release pressure.
“There are many flaring hazards, especially for the health of communities.”
Solomon predicted that rights groups and other concerned parties were likely to team up and challenge the government legally if their concerns were disregarded.
“There are some communities who are in the dark about some of the happenings, unless we alerted them.
“The government and others are creating false promises of jobs to win over communities but we know most of the jobs are for skilled people,” she said.
Liz McDaid, the strategic head of Cape Town-based NGO, Green Connection, said they would be encouraging affected people to raise objections and if the plan progressed any further, they would assess their legal options.
McDaid asked why there were no open forums for public engagement where people could sit in a room and debate the relevant issues.
“The plans were a huge document with implications for people. You have to have consultations.”
She stressed the best way to ensure the sustainability of the oceans was to have nothing to do with oil and gas.
“The risks of spills and other dangers during drilling and surveys was great. We should rather maintain the integrity of our coastline, shores, and estuaries which are breeding grounds for everything, whale migration routes and other sea life.
“The oceans are too important. Our grandchildren are going to ask this generation: What did you do?”
The DMRE and Creecy’s departments did not respond to questions.
SUNDAY TRIBUNE