Gas exploration: DA welcomes water minister's caution on fracking

The Minister of Water and Environmental Affairs, Edna Molewa, believes more research is needed on the use of the hydraulic fracturing process during gas exploration. This emerged in reply to a Democratic Alliance (DA) parliamentary question that was asked in late 2010, but only replied to this week.  The DA welcomes the cautious approach of the Minister, and urges her to meet with the Minister of Mineral Resources to discuss the possible impacts of "fracking".  

The DA argues that the precautionary approach of environmental management suggests that, where there is uncertainty about a particular process or project, considerable more research needs to be do done so that an informed decision can be made. For this reason we believe the Minister of Water and Environmental Affairs should support a moratorium on "fracking", which the DA called for earlier this week.

Minister Molewa has acknowledged the risks of "fracking", a process that Shell proposes to use if granted the right to explore for gas over a 90 000 square kilometre area of the Karoo. The same process is also likely to be used by other applicants for exploration rights elsewhere in the Karoo.  In response to the DA's parliamentary question, the Minister answered that hydraulic fracturing can result in the following:

• The contamination of groundwater resources if the fracturing fluids are not pumped out. This can also lead to reaction between the formation minerals simulation fluids and water retention in the formation;
• The drop in groundwater level due to the huge amount of water used for the process;
• The contamination from the storage of oil and gas waste on the surface if it is not properly isolated or contained.

These are indeed some of the problems with "fracking" that are being raised by stakeholders at the public consultation meetings currently being conducted on the Shell proposal. The Karoo environment is sensitive and water stressed, and we can ill afford to make mistakes that could affect the sustainability of rural livelihoods in the area.

The Minister also says that while her Department does have best practice mining policies and guidelines, there is no specific policy on "gas mining". This point must be read alongside the reply by the Minister of Mineral Resources to a DA parliamentary question last year in which she acknowledged that the Department of Mineral Resources also did not have any policy or guidelines on "fracking".

The DA argued earlier this week that there should be a moratorium on "fracking" as there is not enough information on the deep geology of the water-stressed Karoo. Government is leaving it entirely up to applicants for gas exploration rights to display their technical abilities, but it is not evident that government is in a position to effectively interrogate the environmental management plans of applicants.

In addition, the enforcement capabilities of the Blue Scorpions, the compliance division in the Department of Water, is under-capacitated, while the Department of Mineral Resources will not divulge any actions it has taken against mines that have deviated from their environmental management plans, effectively making it impossible to assess whether that Department is capable of enforcement itself.

The DA wrote to Minister Molewa on 25 January 2011 asking her to take an interest in proposals for gas exploration at this early stage, and to use any opportunities available to her through co-operative governance mechanisms to engage with the Minister of Mineral Resources on this issue.

The recent history of the awarding of mining and prospecting rights in South Africa shows that coordination between these departments is poor. Minister Molewa has expressed concerns about "fracking". Now is the time for her to act. She should join the call for a moratorium on "fracking" until such time as we have greater understanding of the process, and truly have the capacity in government to judge applications on their merits.

Statement issued by Gareth Morgan MP, Democratic Alliance Shadow Minister of Water and Environmental Affairs, February 4 2011

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