South Africa has lifted a moratorium on shale gas exploration in the country's semi-arid Karoo region, where the extraction technique of fracking might be deployed, minister in the presidency Collins Chabane said on Friday 7 September.
LitNet asked Julienne du Toit, a journalist involved with the anti-fracking organisation Treasure the Karoo Action Group, about her views on this development.
The moratorium on fracking in the Karoo has been lifted. Considering everything that's happened in terms of opposition to (and support for) the process since it became a possible reality, what do you think led to this sudden decision?
Let me just say first that this is very far from the end of the road. The lifting of the moratorium does not mean anyone is going to start drilling tomorrow. The government first has to issue exploration licences, and Treasure the Karoo Action Group (TKAG) is ready to appeal this process. In fact, TKAG head Jonathan Deal has said anyone who could be affected has the right to appeal this process, and he encourages them to do so.
If exploration licences are issued, an environmental impact assessment will have to be done on the specific site the companies have chosen. Shell have chosen to drill and frack as part of their proposed exploration and have said they will drill up to 24 holes. The exploration process could last up to nine years. Others, like Falcon, have said they will just do seismic testing initially.
Now to get back to the moratorium and the timing: we all knew the moratorium was only a temporary one and was supposed to have been reviewed earlier this year. The decision to lift it is not entirely unexpected, although everyone who has been fighting for the Karoo is quite disappointed. Mineral resources minister Susan Shabangu never came to speak to the people of the Karoo as she promised she would. Neither has anyone from her department that we know of.
The timing is quite interesting, though, in view of what is happening at Marikana. Jonathan Deal has noted it’s quite possible that government wanted to indicate to the world that they are “open for business”.
It’s even more interesting to look at a map of what is proposed in terms of fracking. We know about the exploration licence area applied for by Shell (90 000 sq km), Canadian company Falcon Oil and Gas (30 000 sq km) and Bundu’s 3 200 sq km (they are owned by Australian company Challenger Energy).
But how many people know about Sungu Sungu, which has a technical co-operation permit possibly to explore over 100 000 sq km of the Kalahari? No one knows anything of Moonstone yet. There will be more of these companies.
Not indicated on this map is the 88 000 sq km initially applied for by a joint venture between Sasol, Chesapeake Energy and Statoil. It curves in a giant horseshoe, taking in huge areas of the Free State and KwaZulu-Natal. They have indicated that they don’t want to exercise their option. Yet. Maybe they will later, or maybe some other company will apply for it.
Also not shown here is the area Anglo American is interested in.
So people who think fracking is going to be limited to the Karoo are badly off the mark. It will be over most of this country, because the geological Karoo basin is far bigger than the Karoo on the surface.
What do you think the immediate consequences of this decision will be in terms of further action being taken by all the parties involved?
TKAG is holding a press conference on Monday, and a lot more will emerge there. But I would say the battle is just beginning now. We have plenty of legal steps that stand between us and fracking.
This decision has been made despite widespread opposition from various groups. What more is there to be done for these pressure groups now?
The last thing anyone should do is sit back and say, oh well, it’s all over. Any organisation or individual can challenge the granting of exploration licences, as I mentioned. When environmental impact assessments are launched on specific sites, everyone should take part and give input. There’s still a long road ahead.
It’s not just TKAG in this battle. Far from it. Other organisations already in the fight include WWF-SA, Earthlife Africa, Endangered Wildlife Trust, Wilderness Foundation, Birdlife, African Conservation Trust, Climate Justice Campaign and the Southern Cape Land Committee, which represents emerging farmers and farm workers.
Apart from the dangers to our groundwater (on which more than 90 percent of towns in the Karoo depend), fracking places at risk the jobs (and homes) of 77 000 farm workers. There are also many endangered species of animals, birds and plants that are being threatened. They include our national bird, the blue crane, which has a population of around 5 000 in the Karoo.
Fracking is remarkable in that it threatens so much – water, air, human health, the ecosystem. It has united many organisations in the battle.
Now comes the time when people should show their strength together. The important thing to remember is that the longer fracking is delayed, the better the technology will become. That gas is going nowhere. The Americans are the world’s fracking guinea pigs and what emerges there will determine how exploration or fracking is carried out here.
If the worst comes to the worst, we have highly informed and alert watchdog groups all over the Karoo and Kalahari that will insist that there are no cover-ups, that will insist on harmless tracer fluids being put into drilling and fracking fluids so that there is clarity about any contamination, and that benchmark tests are done on water, air and human health studies before fracking. The poor Americans, most of them, did not have this luxury. They are being forced to sign non-disclosure agreements so that the polluting companies will bring them water when theirs is contaminated. They can’t prove that the frackers ruined their water. That can’t be allowed here.
We will need citizen scientists, citizen journalists, citizen activists.
Before it has just been talk. Now comes action.
- A protest march has been organised for September 22 outside parliament at 10:30 am by a number of individuals and organisations to coincide in South Africa with the Global Frackdown international Anti-fracking Day as organised by Food & Water Watch. Every single person in South Africa opposed to, or concerned about, fracking needs to be there. It will be hosted in Cape Town. People are welcome to organise their own events in their cities. Details available here.