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Have your say on the fracking regulations

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SUMMARY

The publication of the proposed regulations comes four years after the Supreme Court of Appeal set aside the Regulations for Petroleum Exploration and Production.

“They were intended to set standards for the use of hydraulic fracturing technology on the basis that they were managing environmental impacts and only the Minister responsible for the environment was empowered to make regulations on environmental matters.

“The regulations identify prohibited activities and prohibited geographic areas for the use of hydraulic fracturing technology, which include the use of potable water for hydraulic fracturing activities and the use of municipal water treatment facilities for the disposal of wastes from hydraulic fracturing operations,” the Department of Forestry, Fisheries and the Environment said on Wednesday.

In addition, an environmental authorisation is required for each phase of the process including seismic survey without hydraulic fracturing, hydraulic fracturing and the production phase.

This step-wise approach allows for information to be generated to support each phase of the process and will facilitate the consideration of cumulative impacts of the operation.

“General and specific requirements are set for ongoing environmental monitoring of hydraulic fracturing and production operations, while effect is given to coordination between decision-making authorities in relation to monitoring, environmental assessments, timeframes for the consideration of applications, conditions of approval and the decision-making process,” the department said.

The Hydraulic Fracturing Regulation will be supported by two Minimum Information Requirements (MIR).

The first document will consider the environmental requirements for exploration anticipating the use of hydraulic fracturing and the second will consider the environmental requirements for exploration and production utilising hydraulic fracturing technology.

“These documents are to provide guidance to developers on the authorisation requirements for all decision-making and will facilitate a one stop authorisation process,” the department said

“The first Minimum information Requirement being ‘The Minimum Requirements for the Submission of Applications for an Authorisation, Right, Permit or Licence for the Onshore Exploration of Oil and Gas Intending to Utilise Hydraulic Fracturing, Revision 0 May 2022,’ has been developed and is available for public comment,” the department said.

The objectives of the MIR are as follows:

  • To identify and consolidate the authorisation requirements of all decision-making authorities into one guidance document for the information of the applicant;
  • To facilitate the combination of the information prepared in line with the Minimum Requirements into one consolidated impact assessment report and base line monitoring plan;
  • To facilitate the process of simultaneous application submission for the authorisation, permits or licences required for the onshore exploration of oil and gas intending to utilise hydraulic fracturing; and
  • To facilitate the process of simultaneous decision-making.

A second MIR document dealing with the actual impacts of hydraulic fracturing entitled “The Minimum Information Requirement for the Submission of Applications for the Authorisation, Right, Permit or Licence for Onshore Exploration and Production of Oil and Gas Utilising Hydraulic Fracturing” will be prepared in the near future.

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Cape Independence Advocacy Group

Dear Speaker,

I am writing to you on behalf of the Cape Independence Advocacy Group (CIAG) and the seventy thousand South Africans who actively follow our work.

We wish to comment on the ‘Electoral Commissions Amendment Act, 2021’, which is proposed by the Democratic Alliance (DA) and was published in the Government Gazette on 21 June 2021.

Given our mandate, our comments are made in the context of the Western Cape, although we appreciate and respect that the constitutional rights enacted through this bill will rightfully apply to all provinces.

This bill is essential to restoring some degree of functional democracy to the voters of the Western Cape and we therefore unreservedly and wholeheartedly endorse it.

Through their voting behaviour, Western Cape voters have made it abundantly clear that they do not endorse many of the policy and ideological positions of the South African national government, but are left utterly powerless to resist them because the voters in other South African provinces, who greatly outnumber them, hold starkly different ideological and political opinions.

In terms of seeing their democratic will enacted, for the majority of Western Cape voters, the democratic era has not offered much of an improvement over the apartheid era. It is a statistical fact that, since 1994, the majority of Western Cape voters have never been governed by the political party they voted for, and they have no foreseeable prospect of ever being governed by the party they vote for. As such, they cannot be said to have functional democracy.

One of the few glimmers of democratic hope Western Cape voters do have, is the provision of Clause 127(2)(f) of the national constitution, and 37(2)(f) of the Western Cape constitution, which allows them, at the discretion of the premier who they elected, to have their voices heard on matters which are important to them, without being drowned out by a national majority who fundamentally hold different views.

To deny Western Cape voters this constitutional right would be a very serious infringement of their political rights and freedoms, and would be a clear indication that parliament and the national government are not interested in the constitutional rights and democratic wishes of Western Cape voters.

We therefore call upon parliament to pass this bill at the earliest opportunity, and without objection.

Yours Faithfully

Phil Craig
(On behalf of the Cape Independence Advocacy Group)