Fracking is already harmful to people and the environment, but South Africa has no trained supervisors for fracking operations. This lack of supervisors coupled with a low price of gas will mean companies cut all the corners they can, endangering the country even more.
On the 17th of November, Grahamstown, a small town in the Eastern Cape of South Africa, held a roundtable on COP 17, bringing together stakeholders from across the community.
A group of concerned Capetonians, in partnership with the NPO Climate Justice Campaign, gathered for a protest at the 18th Africa Oil Week taking place at the Waterfront.
Around two thirds of South Africa's surface area is heavily dependent upon its groundwater. Pulled underground by gravity and stored in mainly non-porous rock cavities, groundwater is a valuable resource, especially in times of drought. The Institute of Waste Management of Southern Africa (IWMSA)'s, Western Cape branch hosted a workshop last week to address the issue of Oils and Solvents as hazardous waste, and the correct manner in which to store and dispose of these two substances, which could otherwise cause irreversible damage to our precious groundwater.
Shell South Africa has been ordered to withdraw 'unsubstantiated' and 'misleading' claims it made in full-page advertisements in newspapers about its use of hydraulic fracturing (fracking) for shale gas exploration in the Karoo.
This short speech was given on Friday night in Cape Town by Lewis Gordon Pugh OIG (a.k.a. the Human Polar Bear) about the proposed fracking for gas in the Karoo, by Shell. He received a sustained standing ovation!
South Africa's national oil company PetroSA has applied to explore for oil and gas in an 80,000 sq km area off the Cape coast.
In its written objection to Shell Exploration Company's application to use hydraulic fracturing (fracking) in its search for shale gas in the Karoo, Treasure the Karoo Action Group (TKAG) has called on the authorities for an immediate halt to any such plans, not only by Shell but by any other organisation seeking similar authorisation.
Another group of concerned citizens and organisations have taken up the cudgels against the proposed hydraulic fracturing planned in most of South Africa's land mass.
