Photo by: Bloomberg
AfriForum has taken its fight against fracking a step further.
The group released a statement on Friday saying it had‚ together with the Treasure the Karoo Action Group (TKAG)‚ submitted documentation at the North Gauteng High Court “challenging the regulations with regard to petroleum exploration and production”.
Widely known as the “regulations on fracking”‚ the regulations were promulgated on 3 June this year.
Jonathan Deal‚ the CEO of TKAG‚ said “the regulations are wholly inappropriate for the purposes of regulating a technology such as fracking”‚ and that “licences or permits issued pursuant to the regulations may themselves be flawed”.
AfriForum said the Department of Minerals has promised to issue exploration licences to various applicants‚ including Shell SA‚ Challenger Energy of Australia and Falcon Oil & Gas‚ by the end of 2015.
Julius Kleynhans‚ AfriForum’s Head of Environmental Affairs‚ said: “AfriForum’s focus is directed towards the interests of ordinary people. Water supplies for domestic consumption and food production in South Africa are at a tipping point – we cannot stand by and watch as a risky and economically uncertain technology is authorised – with potentially disastrous results for the environment.”