Community, activists win Karpowerships EIA battle
LOCAL fishers and environmental activists have welcomed the suspension by the Department of Environment, Forestry and Fisheries (Deff) of the environmental impact assessment (EIA) process for Karpowerships in Saldanha Bay.
This after environmental activist organisation Green Connection lodged a complaint detailing a number of concerns, including that no study had been conducted on underwater noise and the vibrations from the power ships on marine environments.
Deff spokesperson Albi Modise confirmed the suspension. He said the department received the complaint on May 31 from Green Connection's Liziwe McDaid and they were now following a process in line with EIA regulations, which require that as soon as a formal complaint has been received by the department the complaint and the intention to investigate must be communicated to the environmental assessment practitioner (EAP) and the applicant, and they must be afforded an opportunity to respond to the allegations being made.
“The department is expected to evaluate the allegations against the response and, should it find that there is merit to the allegations, a formal investigation is then initiated ... If the investigation finds that the conduct of the EAP is indeed inconsistent with the requirement of the law, the EAP is then disqualified and there could be criminal actions attached to their conduct.
“A new EAP would have to be appointed by the applicant to commence with an EIA application process from the beginning,” said Modise.
McDaid, Green Connection's strategic lead, said they believed this meant that the department was taking the complaint seriously.
''We believe (the complaint) has merit that would lead to the rejection of the environmental impact assessment (EIA) report and this would mean the EIA process would have to start all over again and ... in doing it properly this would involve the local fishers,” said McDaid.
She said they hoped this would have an impact on other Karpowership environmental impact assessments.
Karpowership SA spokesperson Kay Sexwale said they had submitted extensive environmental impact assessments for all three proposed sites, namely Saldanha Bay, Coega and Richards Bay, “that demonstrate little impact to the surrounding air and water environments”.
“We remain fully committed to this project and are eager to get to work generating reliable electricity for South Africa. Our EIA on Saldanha Bay was suspended by the Deff pending a review.
“This is a direct result of complaints laid by Green Connection, a lobby group that is opposed to all thermal power generation projects regardless of its impact to South Africa's economy and energy future,” said Sexwale.
Sexwale added that their EIAs were robust and they were confident in them.
“We believe this investigation will conclude with the lifting of this suspension to allow us to move on with the process.
“The bottom line is we are eager to get to work setting up our projects, generating electricity, helping alleviate the problems of load shedding, and supporting the wider economy,” said Sexwale.
The Save Langebaan Lagoon group said the suspension was great news for the health of the lagoon and bay.
“This once again highlights the importance that fighting for the environment is worth the effort. Thank you, Green Connection and the small scale fishers of Saldanha and Langebaan.''