Page 11 - AfrOil Week 50 2021

AfrOil POLICY AfrOil

The first court bid to stop the seismic survey with in the preparation of the 2013 EMPr or the
failed two weeks ago, after the court determined 2020 EMPr audit.
that those making it had failed to sufficiently The applicants have loaded their action this
demonstrate the likelihood that the testing time round with experts, who concluded that
would cause environmental harm. But this time seismic surveys do cause harm to both species
round the environmentalists say they are armed and the ecology, and that significant direct
with more hefty reports that the court will not be harm to individual animals and to populations
able to bat away. of endangered species is the most likely scenario
Reinford Sinegugu Zukulu, director of Sus- in this case. Of specific concern to them are the
taining the Wild Coast, and representatives of impact on threatened humpback whales and
Wild Coast communities have asked the court likely mortalities among critically endangered
to allow them to admit the affidavits of several leatherback and endangered loggerhead turtles.
experts which, they say, prove that the air gun Shell will oppose the court action, but is yet to
barrage, “which would be blasted into the sea file court papers. However, in a full page adver-
every ten seconds for five months, louder than a tisement in weekly national newspaper Sunday
jet plane taking off,” would “likely cause signifi- Times this past Sunday, Shell defended its explo-
cant harm to marine animals.” ration plans. It wrote an open letter in the adver-
Seismic surveying is a process of using com- tisement, saying that it intended to conduct
pressed air to generate sound waves in order to the survey in accordance with environmental
collect data on what lies beneath the ocean floor. requirements, with minimal impact on marine
This week’s application is brought by legal life and nearby fishing communities.
heavyweights Legal Resources Centre (LRC) Countrywide protests had been mounting,
and Richard Spoor Attorneys, on behalf of the and at least two court cases had been instituted,
Amadiba, Cwebe, Hobeni, Port Saint Johns and since Shell announced it would begin the seismic
Kei Mouth communities. survey to explore possible gas and oil reserves.
The application argues that Shell does not The issues have become quite contentious
have the necessary environmental authorisation and politically loaded, with South African
in terms of the National Environmental Man- energy minister Gwede Mantashe blasting
agement Act (NEMA) to lawfully undertake attacks on Shell and other oil and gas developers
seismic exploration activities in the area. in South Africa.
Both the Minerals and Petroleum Resources He said activists perpetuated a “special apart-
Development Act (MPRDA) and NEMA ren- heid” and colonialism damaging to Africa’s eco-
der Shell’s activities unlawful, the court papers nomic growth and development.
lodged by the applicants say. They argue that “We consider the objections to these devel-
Shell’s Development of Environmental Man- opments as apartheid and colonialism of a
agement Programmes (EMPr) – which the special type, masqueraded as a great interest
company claims mitigates harm caused by the for environmental protection,” he said. “I can-
seismic survey and is the same as an Environ- not help but ask, are these objections meant to
mental Authorisation – contains no considera- ensure the status quo remains in Africa, in gen-
tion of the cultural, spiritual, or heritage issues eral, and South Africa in particular?”
relating to the ocean, despite the way in which Mantashe said this status quo relates to Afri-
both the sea and its sand are held in reverence by ca’s energy poverty, high unemployment, high
the different communities along the coast. debt-to-GDP ratio at country level and econo-
The papers said that Shell contends that it mies that are not growing and in some cases are
consulted all communities along the affected experiencing growth in joblessness.
coastline by meeting with a representative of South Africa’s economic development is
three kings in the Eastern Cape, but that in fact being oppressed in the name of environmental
none of the affected communities were engaged protection, he said. ™

Shell has hired Shearwater’s Amazon Warrior vessel for the 3D survey (Image: Shearwater GeoServices)

Week 50 15•December•2021 www. NEWSBASE .com P11