Mantashe comments on objections to Shell seismic survey ‘astounding’ - Environmental group says the government is continuing to push the country towards a climate change disaster
offshore 3D seismic survey for oil and gas in the sensitive, biodiversity-rich waters of the Wild Coast.
South Africa’s economic development, he said, was “oppressed in the name of environmental protection” when the country had an environmental framework that ensured “licensing is done with the utmost environmental care”. “The applications of all these seismic surveys worldwide have not been met with the resistance we are seeing in our upstream petroleum space.
“We believe that oil and gas exploration and production is not in the public interest, and that the long-term, intergenerational damage it results in cannot be compensated for by short-term profits.” The letter said there was a growing body of evidence pointing to the immediate and long-term and “largely unmitigable, negative impacts of this invasive method on marine creatures, from large to small , that make up our valuable marine ecosystems, and upon which our coastal communities and economies depend”.
Offshore seismic surveys, he said, were a safe mapping technique for gathering information about whether oil or gas may be present deep below the seabed of a given area using soundwaves that are directed downwards: “In 2020 alone, there were at least 325 seismic surveys conducted globally with no known harm to marine life as a result of these surveys.”
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