Cape Town - While Karpowership SA’s final Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) is being prepared for the company’s second attempt to get its proposed gas-to-power projects off the ground in Saldanha Bay, Port of Ngqura and Richards Bay, environmental groups are opposing the projects and argue that environmental authorisation must be refused again.
Karpowerships’s application for environmental authorisation was initially refused by the Department of Forestry, Fisheries and Environment (DFFE) on a number of grounds, including that the environmental impact assessment did not comply with the public consultation and information-gathering requirements.
In its second attempt, the company said all perceived gaps in its initial applications were addressed along with an enhanced public participation process that saw more than 1 300 community members and stakeholders attend in-person and virtual public meetings last month.
Karpowership SA corporate relations manager Kurt Morai said: “In our meetings we learnt that the public is hungry for reliable and affordable energy as well as the project’s ability to create jobs and improve livelihoods for local communities.”
Morai said more than 30 independent economists, scientists and engineers presented findings that indicated the project would have minimal adverse impact on local environments, while generating thousands of jobs, 1200MW of reliable electricity and nearly R1 billion of investment into local economies.
However, the eco justice groups were not swayed by these findings.
On December 13, The Green Connection and Natural Justice made a joint 182-page submission on the draft EIA report for Karpowership SA’s proposed project in Saldanha Bay, highlighting several flawed assessments of marine and socio-economic impacts – largely the result of incomplete information – particularly regarding underwater noise.
The eco-justice organisations said the environmental authorisation should be refused again because of this.
The Green Connection’s Community Outreach Co-ordinator, Neville van Rooy, said there were still many gaps and limitations in the specialist studies for the new EIA process, which raised concerns about the adequacy of the assessments and the validity of the EIA report findings.
“There are too many discrepancies to determine the true potential consequences for the environment and the people who depend on it,” Van Rooy said.
West Coast Black Business Alliance spokesperson Sammy Classen, who was at the Saldanha public participation event, said the country needed Karpowership SA’s help.
“The environmentalists’ needs can’t always be above our needs. The community is in support of Karpowership, we need the jobs and to end load shedding.
“The project is delayed because there are certain groups who use mainstream media to push a narrative that the West Coast is against Karpowership. The community wants Karpowership.”
Independent environmental consultant Triplo4 submitted the final EIA report to the DFFE in January, which will address all perceived gaps and provide a full accounting of all public participation meetings.