Between the drillers and the deep blue sea

LOCAL environmental lobbyist groups are challenging the authorisation granted by the Department of Mineral Resources (DMR) to foreign mining giants Eni and SASOL to drill six exploration oil wells at two deep sea locations off the coast of KwaZulu-Natal.

Environmental attorneys Adrian Pole and Kirsten Youens lodged a detailed appeal on behalf of WILDOCEANS, with the Environment, Forestry and Fishery (DEFF) Minister Barbara Creecy. The South Durban Community Environmental Alliance (SDCEA) is also appealing the decision.

The Appeals Directorate of DEFF has given the Department, Eni and SASOL’s representatives until 11 November to respond to the all “grounds for appeal” submitted by 47 appellants who include the SDCEA and the South African Association for Marine Biological Research (SAAMBR).

According to WILDOCEANS the Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) undertaken by the oil company’s EIA consultants (ERM) argued that the possibility of a catastrophic oil spill should a wellhead blowout occur was unlikely and that impacts on South Africa’s ocean would be low. However, disturbed by the quality of the EIA, Dr Jean Harris, executive director of WILDOCEANS, obtained three international expert reviews of the EIA, including critique of the oil spill modelling and assessment of risks and impacts.

By contrast, the independent experts, cautioned that such deep-sea offshore oil exploration was a new frontier for the oil and gas industry, and that well-head blowout frequency was expected to be greater in deep high-current locations and very rapid responses to catastrophic events would be near impossible. They also cautioned against the risk assessment by the EIA consultants, saying it significantly under-represented the likely negative environmental impacts.

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“This is particularly alarming given the critical biodiversity areas and new Marine Protected Areas (MPAs) on the east coast of South Africa that are in the path of more realistic oil spill modelling scenarios. Damage to these areas would severely compromise biodiversity, fisheries and tourism,” said Harris.

In their appeal to the DEFF Minister, WILDOCEANS contends that the Final Environmental Impact Report (FEIR) prepared by Eni and SASOL’s consultants (EMR) was flawed, that the public participation process was procedurally unfair, the EIA Oil Spill Model predictions were unrealistic, potential environmental impact was under-estimated, and there was no climate risk assessment.

Speaking on their appeal, Desmond D’Sa from SDCEA said there was no consideration taken into account of how this exploration will affect the lives of millions of people who use the ocean.

“KwaZulu-Natal has over 12 000 fishers who depend on the ocean for a livelihood, a booming tourism and recreational industry whose source of income depends on the ocean. Our ocean has rich marine biodiversity many of which are endangered and run the risk of extinction. The public participation was inadequate and not meaningful as it failed to inform various communities along the entire coastline of KwaZulu -Natal,” he said.

D’Sa said the public participation meetings only took place in Durban, Richards Bay and Port Shepstone and these three areas did not represent the entire coastline.

“It is evident that oil rigs have dire consequences on the environment and marine life. In the case of the Deepwater Horizon accident in 2010, more than 200 million gallons of crude oil spilled into the Gulf of Mexico killing 11 workers and destroying an abundance of marine life. The South Durban Community Environmental Alliance together with many coastal communities of KwaZulu-Natal will be appealing this decision. The ocean belongs to the people of South Africa, and we should have a say in what happens to it. And we say no to oil and gas,” he said.

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