Cape Town - Eco Atlantic, an oil and gas exploration company, has responded to affected communities, small-scale fishers, and supporting eco-justice and community-based organisations that are dissatisfied with the arrival of the company’s oil rig in South Africa to begin offshore oil and gas exploration activities on the West Coast.
The groups believe they were not adequately informed or consulted about the project. However, Eco Atlantic refutes this, saying community stakeholders had an “excellent opportunity” to engage with them.
An Eco Atlantic spokesperson told the Cape Argus that public participation processes were undertaken in accordance with the provisions of the National Environmental Management Act (Nema) and the Mineral and Petroleum Resources Development Act (MPRDA), which culminated in an environmental authorisation issued by the then Department of Environmental Affairs in 2016.
“In the first half of 2022, as part of its environmental and social governance strategy, the company undertook additional public information-sharing sessions by meeting with regional community members, organisations and area representatives to discuss the exploration activities undertaken to date,” the spokesperson said.
However, the meaningfulness of this public participation has been questioned by The Green Connection.
Neville van Rooy, outreach co-ordinator for The Green Connection, said communities in the affected areas in the Northern Cape felt the stakeholder engagements in Hondeklipbaai, Koingnaas and Kleinzee, were held simply to tell communities the oil drilling was happening.
Veteran small-scale fisher and chairperson of Coastal Links Northern Cape, Walter Steenkamp, said: “As small-scale fishers, we say no to oil and gas exploration because it is dangerous for our fish and water. No one has told us what will happen when there is a leak, nor have we been informed about how the marine ecosystem will be affected.”
When they asked for the OSCP, the eco-justice organisation said they were told by Eco Atlantic’s lawyers that they could get it only on the condition it not be shared. This option was refused as they believed the OSCP should be in the public arena before the exploration started.
After a meeting with Petroleum Agency SA (Pasa), The Green Connection anticipates it will receive the OSCP by October 5.
The Eco Atlantic spokesperson said the company and community stakeholders had an excellent opportunity to engage through multiple meetings and an area workshop on the objectives of the drilling programme, including the environmental controls.
The Department of Mineral Resources and Energy (DMRE) said: “It is our view that public participation process was carried out in accordance with the regulatory framework. Public participation was undertaken at various stages during the environmental impact assessment process.”