The Karoo is a vast and ecologically sensitive region that is high on the radar screen of conservationists.

“Cabinet has endorsed the decision by the department of minerals to invoke a moratorium on licenses in the Karoo, where fracking is proposed,” the government said in a statement.

Petrochemical group Sasol (SOLJ.J), Anglo American (AAL.L) and Falcon Oil and Gas (FO.V) are among those eyeing shale gas in the region. Royal Dutch Shell (RDSa.L) is leading the pack with exploration rights to 90,000 sq km (34,750 sq miles).

“We have noted the South African cabinet’s endorsement of the decision of the department of minerals, and we will seek clarity from the department on the full implications,” a Shell spokesperson told Reuters.

Karoo farmers and conservationists are concerned about the possible impact of hydraulic fracturing or “fracking,” in which drillers blast millions of liters of water, sand and chemicals at high pressure into underground rock to create cracks for gas and oil to escape.

“The department made a decision a while back, and cabinet has endorsed the decision,” cabinet spokesperson Jimmy Manyi said.

He told Reuters the department of minerals and resources (DMR) would lead a task team to explore the implications of fracking, which would include the departments of trade and industry as well as science and technology.

“The multi-departmental task team is going to make sure that all angles are covered in terms of government getting proper information about the implication of fracking,” he said.

Manyi did not give a timeline for when the research would be concluded but said the moratorium would remain in place until “there is conclusive evidence that there will be no unintended consequences on the environment.”

Applications already submitted will have to wait.

“There will be nothing that will be approved until the research is carried out, concluded and pronounced on,” Manyi said.

The Karoo region, home to rare species such as the mountain zebra and riverine rabbit, may hold vast deposits of natural gas in shale rock deep underground.

Once unobtainable, such reserves can now be exploited with fracking and could serve as a badly needed energy source for Africa’s largest economy, which relies heavily on coal.

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is also currently studying the impacts of fracking on drinking water. Initial results are scheduled for release in 2012.

SOURCE: Reuters (Ruona Agbroko)

(Editing by Ed Stoddard and Jane Baird)

As promised, our Newsletter! Please forward it to as many as you can, to raise awareness for this cause – this affects all South Africans, regardless of socioeconomic group, race, culture, language or location.

We will try to start at the basics and include as much as possible in this Newsletter. Links to important sites that offer more information and practical, simple action that you can share in your own communities.

Who is Treasure the Karoo Action Group?

Treasure the Karoo Action Group act as a facilitator for all groups and persons that stand for environmentally sustainable development of the Karoo. This includes protecting Karoo communities from Industry that intends to violate rights and exploit the environment and her people.

TKAG has secured the professional services of HWB Communications, a Public Relations company, to plan and implement our campaigns, media briefings, launches and special events. We feel it’s imperative to have these invaluable services at our disposal.

TKAG has also secured the services of a Specialist Environmental Attorney.

TKAG has a focus group dedicated to the anti-fracking cause, and sustainable development. We are raising awareness and supporting other groups with information, networking and gathering/recording data for our researchers.

TKAG has Lewis Pugh as a spokesperson! As many of you will know by now, if you followed the meeting in Cape Town on the 25th March. A copy of his speech may be viewed here: http://www.lewispugh.com/pages/default.aspx Brief background: Lewis Pugh is an environmental campaigner, a maritime lawyer and an endurance swimmer.

What is ‘hydraulic fracturing’ or ‘fracking’?

Fracking is short for ‘hydraulic fracturing’, an American way of breaking up rock deep underground using millions of litres of water, sand and chemicals pumped deep into the earth under high pressure. This creates cracks in the rock, releasing the gas. The gas is called methane, but some people call it shale gas or natural gas.

Why are people worried?
In America, which has been using this fracking technique for the longest time, major problems are emerging.

Exposure to fracking chemicals has been found to be extremely hazardous. In one famous case, reported on by a US Government watchdog organisation in 2008, a Colorado nurse nearly died of organ failure after being exposed to a worker who had been soaked in fracking liquids.

Even while she was on the brink of death, the company refused to divulge what chemicals she had been exposed to. She still doesn’t know.

Since 2004 nearly 1000 incidents of water pollution from fracking have been recorded where chemicals or methane have contaminated water in Pennsylvania, Colorado, Ohio, New Mexico and Arizona.

For more on this article: http://www.karoospace.co.za/karoo-space-magazine/talking-point/102-shale-gas-exploitation-of-the-karoo-a-beginners-guide-to-fracking.

What you can do to help:

1. We have attached a printable information document that can be photocopied at your local libraries. Please take this to your communities and share.

2. Join us by writing letters and emailing or faxing them to the relevant departments. A list of key points to mention, are in an attachment to this email. We have also attached a doc with all relevant email addresses and fax numbers.
Keep checking the blog and FaceBook group page for updates and useful links.

3. Donations: Since we have formed, all of our running costs have been borne by a handful from our group. While we realize that ‘fracking’ is an emotive issue, we need financial assistance to move forward in a clear, professional manner. We cannot afford to lose the Karoo – at any cost!
Contributions, advisory and financial, are crucial if we are to maintain our current momentum and keep the Karoo and the rest of South Africa ‘Frac-free’.
We have arranged for a trust account facility with Graaff Reinet attorney and Focus Group member, Mr Derek Light (most of you saw him on Carte Blanche)
DEREK LIGHT TRUST ACCOUNT
FNB GRAAFF-REINET
523-000-15065
BRANCH CODE 210-216
SWIFT CODE: FIRNZAJJ (for international donors)
NB: Please use ‘TKAG’ as your reference

4. Share this information to Life Sciences teachers at High Schools. The children are the ones that would inherit this mess. They deserve to know what’s going on, and also it’s a powerful thing to get messages from children. They must be encouraged to write letters to the President & depts too.

5. Forward this Newsletter to everyone you know, and keep it going!

Where to find us:

TKAG: http://treasurethekaroo.blogspot.com/2011/02/treasure-karoo-action-group-tkag-and.html
TKAG FaceBook page: chaseshelloutofthekaroo@groups.facebook.com

How to contact us:

National Co-ordinator: Jonathan Deal – natcoordinator@treasurethekaroo.co.za
Administrator: Cynthia Browne – admin01@treasurethekaroo.co.za

Useful Links:

Stop Fracking in the Karoo Petition:
http://www.thepetitionsite.com/295/–if-gte-mso-9xml-wworddocument-wviewnormalwview-wzoom0wzoom-wpunctuationkerning/

Karoo Space:
http://www.karoospace.co.za/karoo-space-magazine/talking-point/102-shale-gas-exploitation-of-the-karoo-a-beginners-guide-to-fracking

FracTracker:
http://www.fractracker.org/

Earthworks: Dispelling fracking myths http://www.earthworksaction.org/hydfracking.cfm

Karoo Anti Hydraulic Fracturing Action Network – Info on Hydraulic Fracturing planned in the Karoo.
http://kahfan.blogspot.com/

Fractual – Informing South Africa about exploitative gas drilling.
http://fractual.co.za/

Earthlife Africa:
http://www.earthlife.org.za/

Stop Hydraulic Fracturing in the Karoo:
http://www.causes.com/causes/582303-stop-hydraulic-fracturing-in-the-karoo

The Hydraulic Fracturing Dilemma and Danger: http://www.drillcompfluids.com/Latest/the-hydraulic-fracturing-dilemma-and-danger.html

Photographic feedback from the meeting in Cape Town:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/47169317@N06/sets/72157626369467556/

Aerial Photographs of Fracking:
http://www.damascuscitizens.org/photos.html

Latest News:
http://www.moneyweb.co.za/mw/view/mw/en/page295046?oid=534150&sn=2009+Detail&pid=287226

Maps of proposed exploration precincts:

Central Precinct Maps: http://www.golder.com/af/en/modules.php?name=Pages&sp_id=1301

Eastern Precinct Maps:
http://www.golder.com/af/en/modules.php?name=Pages&sp_id=1302

Western Precinct Maps:
http://www.golder.com/af/en/modules.php?name=Pages&sp_id=1303

In Conclusion:
We have the ability to stop this madness. We look forward to working with you to keep corporations from exploiting our land/environment and her people.
Administrator
Cynthia Browne
Cellphone: 082 431 2193
email: admin01@treasurethekaroo.co.za
or
Martin Slabbert
HWB Communications
Tel 079 500 1503/ 021 462 0416
Email: martin@hwb.co.za

Here is a sample of comments from people that have signed the petition and are clearly outraged at the idea of risking our environment in this irresponsible way.

Please see the letter from Treasure the Karoo Action Group to find out more ways in which you can prevent hydraulic fracturing from happening in the Karoo.

In South Africa, an estimated 5.7 million people lack access to basic water services, and about 17 to 18 million people lack basic sanitation services. Impacting mainly the marginalised poor, these figures are likely to increase due to industrial expansion, rising population and climate change – which is set to drastically affect sub-Saharan Africa.

One of the approaches being explored in many countries, including South Africa, to tackle the challenge of providing clean water, is nanotechnology. Nanotechnology is the manipulation of materials at a very tiny scale – essentially at the atomic and molecular levels. At the nanoscale, the normal rules of physics and chemistry often do not apply, and as a result many materials start to display unique, and sometimes surprising properties.

New models for treating wastewater

The properties offered by nanomaterials make them well suited for treating water, and provide an opportunity to refine and optimise current techniques. This technology can also provide new and novel methods for treating domestic, industrial and mining wastewater.

Essentially, nanotechnology can offer a tailor-made solution to remove a particular contaminant, or a solution that “multi-tasks” – using different nano-based techniques. This is ideal for water purification, because water contains different forms of contaminants at different locations, such as heavy metals (e.g. mercury, arsenic), biological toxins including waterborne disease-causing pathogens (e.g. cholera, typhoid), as well as organic and inorganic solutes.

Although nano-scale materials have always existed, the concept of nanotechnology was first documented in 1959 at a talk given by physicist Richard Feynman at an American Physical Society meeting. Almost twenty years later the term “nanotechnology” was defined in a scientific paper by Norio Taniguchi at Tokyo Science University.

Microscopes make nanoscale visible

It remained largely theoretical until the early 1980s when the scanning tunnelling microscope (STM) was developed and a few years later the atomic force microscope (AFM). This equipment made it possible for nanoscale materials to be seen, characterised, manipulated and even manufactured.

In South Africa nanotechnology has been embedded in national strategy and policy since the publication of the White Paper on Science and Technology in 1996. The National Nanotechnology Strategy (NNS) was launched in 2006.

Nano research at institutions

Water is one of six focus areas highlighted in the NNS, where nanotechnology can offer the most significant benefits for South Africa. This is reflected in the high volume and quality of research at various institutions around the country.

To date, through the Department of Science and Technology (DST), the government has invested over R170 million in different aspects of nanotechnology research and development (R&D).

Two nanotechnology innovation centres have been commissioned and have formed collaborative partnerships with industry, universities and bodies such as the Water Research Commission (WRC) to conduct cutting-edge research. Much of this has focused on water purification, and as a result, a range of water treatment devices that incorporate nanotechnology are already commercially available around the country.

Using capillary ultrafiltration in the Western Cape

A locally produced membrane and filter system for potable and industrial water is already commercially available in South Africa. The aim of the project between the University of Stellenbosch and the Water Research Commission (WRC) was to produce suitable cost-effective systems to replace expensive imported equivalents.

With a pore size of 35 nanometres in diameter, the capillary ultrafiltration (CUF) technology enables the removal of bacteria and viruses, colour, metal oxides, namely iron, manganese and aluminium. It is also suitable for pre-treatment of seawater and the treatment of industrial water and wastewater.

Ikusasa Water was granted the licence by the patent holders (WRC) to produce the CUF membranes and membrane systems in a factory in Somerset West in the Western Cape in late 2009.

Now available to the South African water sector, the CUF provides water treatment solutions for rural areas, especially for those municipalities seeking to provide new water services or improve their Blue Drop scoring.

Cleaning brackish water in Madibogo village, North West Province

A partnership between the University of the North West and the Council for Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR) has developed a treatment plant in the rural village of Madibogo in North West Province. The plant incorporates ultrafiltration membranes to clean brackish groundwater as the majority of the inhabitants depend on groundwater or borehole water for their water needs.

Several types of membranes were tested in this pilot study, including reverse osmosis membranes and ultrafiltration membranes, to see which would most successfully remove the polluting solutes while retaining the essential nutrients.

This pilot study has demonstrated the importance of available supporting infrastructure (e.g. electricity) and the need to involve the local community to ensure the up-take and sustainability of the technology.

Tea Bag water filter from Stellenbosch

Dubbed the “tea bag” filter, this is a water filter small enough to fit into the neck of a bottle which may provide a very cheap solution to purify water in remote areas or where there is no regular water supply of potable standard. It could also potentially be used worldwide by relief organisations where clean water supplies are threatened by water-borne diseases such as cholera as a result of natural disasters such as earthquakes and floods.

The “tea bag” filter sachets are made from the same material as Rooibos tea bags, but contain activated carbon instead of tea. The inside surface of the tea bag material is coated with a thin film of biocides encapsulated within tiny nanofibres.

This makes it unique amongst available water filters, since the filter traps the bacteria, which are then killed by the biocide coating. The tea bag is placed in the neck of a bottle and when the water passes through the filter, all disease-causing microbes are killed, making the water safe for drinking.

This low-cost technology, developed by a team at the University of Stellenbosch in the Western Cape headed by Prof. Eugene Cloete, could well provide a novel, effective point-of-use technology with a huge potential impact globally.

Once used, the tea bag filter is replaced, preventing the problems associated with clogged filters leading to ineffective use. Since the nanofibre is also a solid structure rather than a nanoparticle, the filter biodegrades and so there is no risk of unintended impacts on human health or the environment.

The tea bag filter will be tested soon by the South African Bureau of Standards, after which the project team hopes to roll it out to various communities.

Uses of nanotechnology in water treatment

The applications of nanotechnology being investigated and applied in the water sector include:

• Nanofiltration membranes – These act as a physical barrier and selectively reject substances smaller than their pores and so remove harmful pollutants and retain useful nutrients present in water. Nanotechnology enables the membrane pore size to be made smaller and more uniform, and have increased reactivity. For example, the pilot study in Madibogo village uses reverse osmosis membranes to treat brackish groundwater to produce potable water.
• Nanocatalysts and magnetic nanoparticles – These are nanoparticles with catalytic properties that can chemically break down pollutants right where they are, avoiding the need to transport them elsewhere. Many new applications are looking at photocatalysts that use light to break down pollutants. Magnetic nanoparticles bind with chemicals due to their large surface area, and can be easily recovered with a magnet.
• Sensing and detection – Small, portable sensors are also being developed with enhanced capabilities for detecting biological and chemical contaminants at very low concentrations in the environment, including in water.

Benefits include specificity and ‘smart filters’

Nanotechnology offers a number of benefits to the water sector, for instance, by enabling more effective removal of contaminants at lower concentrations due to increased specificity and “smart filters” tailored for specific uses. Novel reactions at the nanoscale due to increased numbers of surface atoms may also enable the removal of contaminants that were previously very difficult to treat.

The number of treatment steps, the quantity of materials, as well as the cost and energy required to purify water could be radically reduced using nanotechnology – making it easier to implement in remote rural communities. It will also impact on the way water is purified around the country once the initial investment has been made by the water industry in developing the new infrastructure required. Before this time, improvements to existing materials such as membranes can be made through nanotechnology.

Nanotechnology, which is right at the cutting edge of discovery, offers a variety of new career opportunities for today’s young scientists. Due to the cross-cutting nature of nanotechnology, there is a multitude of possible careers to pursue and an array of new opportunities for up-and-coming youngsters. Specialised post-graduate courses are likely to be developed in the next five to ten years to meet the increasing need for expertise in the nanotechnology field.

Unintended effects on humans & environment are risky

In addition to being used to improve water technology, nanotechnology is being applied by other economic sectors such as health, consumer products, industrial applications, etc., and to date more than 1 100 nanotechnology-based products are already available to consumers worldwide.

However, there may be unintended effects on human health and the environment as it is likely that a percentage of the nanoparticles used in these products may eventually interact with humans and the environment at different stages of the products’ lifecycles.

There are concerns that the same properties (size, shape, reactivity, etc.) that make nanoparticles so useful could also make them harmful to the environment and toxic to humans, for example, if they enter and build up in drinking water supplies and the food chain.

Consequences are unknown

These concerns are exacerbated by the current poor understanding of the fate and behaviour of nanoparticles in humans and the environment. For example, silver nanoparticles used in socks to reduce foot odour are released during washing, and the titanium dioxide particles used in paints are released from the exterior of building walls into the drainage systems.

Based on the scientific findings published to date in this field, these nanoparticles are likely to interact and destroy beneficial bacteria which play an important role in wastewater treatment plants.

Risk assessment research is crucial for establishing the potential impacts of nanoparticles upon human health and the environment: the technology’s benefits must be balanced against any unintended consequences. This is a massive challenge, since it is very difficult to monitor the possible impact of the huge volume of diverse nanoparticles being produced and used in different products and applications.

Research to investigate safety and ethics

Although there are currently no nanotechnology-specific regulations in South Africa due to the relative infancy of this emerging technology, the government, through the DST, is funding a research platform to investigate the environmental, safety and health aspects of nanotechnology. This will include an inventory of nanoparticles in production or use in South Africa, as well as focused research and development of the required infrastructure and human capital.

An ethics committee is also being established by government, made up of diverse stakeholder representatives to ensure that the technology adheres to ethical principles. To date around the world (in Canada, the US, Japan and the European Union), relatively “loose” regulations have been developed mainly based on inconclusive evidence and scientific data that demonstrate the impact on humans and the environment of products already in use. It is likely that these regulations will be modified and tightened accordingly as new data become available.

It is important that nanotechnology be developed in a safe, responsible, acceptable and sustainable manner. As risk assessment becomes an integral part of nanotechnology research in South Africa, the risks may be avoided based on the lessons learned from other technologies in the past, such as asbestos, DDT, etc., which were later withdrawn from use.

Substantial initial investment

Although substantial initial investment would be required to incorporate or switch to nanotechnology-based water treatment methods, once adopted, maintenance costs would be considerably lower over the long term and a higher-quality water product would be provided, particularly to rural communities.

It is vital that the water sector becomes familiar with this technology as it is set to change how water is cleaned, and clearly stands to offer significant advantages for a country such as South Africa.

This story was submitted by SAASTA (South African Agency for Science and Technology Advancement) from the Department of Science and Technology.

Source: Green Times
Author : Helen Malherbe

# Means latest available data
FSC is full storage capacity in million cubic meters

A well written article from the Green Times

Farmers, communities, environmental organisations, geologists and water specialists are up in arms about global energy and petrochemical company Shell’s application to explore for shale gas over 30 000 square kilometres in the water-stressed Karoo.

The proposed exploration method, called hydraulic fracturing or ‘fracking’ involves drilling boreholes 4-5 kilometres deep, followed by the introduction of a mixture of chemicals, sand and millions of litres of water into the boreholes under enormous pressure to fracture the geological structures and force the free-flow of shale gas, also called ‘natural gas’.

This process determines whether viable amounts of shale gas exist for future exploitation based on the same method.

“Fracking has been described as ‘planting chemical bombs underground’ says Environmental Consultant and farmer, Fritz Bekker who is spearheading an opposition group of farmers and non-government organisations against another application by a company called Advasol (Pty) Limited to explore for gas from Struisbaai to Mossel Bay, extending 20 kilometres down the southern Cape coast.

“With an approved exploration right, an applicant such as Shell may drill as many exploration boreholes as it can afford, which may be hundreds or even thousands depending on the area’s geology. Each borehole may be subjected to the fracking process,” continues Bekker.

“It is important to note that the most significant adverse environmental impacts of earth gas exploration may already occur during the exploration phase.

“Fracking has been condemned in many countries in the world and despite assurances from companies using this method that they will prevent any leakages, I need to warn farmers, landowners and communities in the Karoo that it poses a significant threat of chemical and gas contamination to the region’s scarce water sources. Both the surface and ground water is highly vulnerable to contamination once pressurized shale gas is liberated through the drilling and fracking process.

“The long-term effects of toxic chemicals used in the fracking process are only now becoming apparent in countries where it has been used. The chemicals used during fracking in America have been positively linked to cancer, Parkinson’s, Alzheimer’s, diabetes, asthma, learning disorders and endocrine disrupting effects.”

“If they drill they will also need large quantities of water and storage space for vast volumes of flammable, potentially toxic drilling mud in dams close to each drilling site.”

Shell’s background document states that they are investigating a number of potential water sources to support the water-intensive fracking process, including “sea water, surface water and deep saline aquifers”. What they fail to say is that millions upon millions of litres of water are required for the process, which the Karoo does not have, and that as Bekker says: “It takes one litre of hydrocarbons such as shale gas to pollute one million litres of water.

Shell has appointed Golder Associates (Golder) to compile the Environmental Management Plan and to undertake the public consultation process. Shell’s application to explore for shale gas has been submitted to the Petroleum Agency South Africa (PASA), which administers applications as a designated agent of the Minister of Energy. Golder’s background information document states: “PASA is expected to make a decision during 2011 whether to award the initial three year exploration rights.”

Brent Baxter, Business Unit Leader, Environmental Services at Golder explains that “once a company lodges an application for an exploration right under the Mineral and Petroleum Resources Development Act they have 120 days to submit an Environmental Management Programme (EMP) in support of the exploration rights application. This is a legislated timeframe. Shell thus needs to submit an EMP, in support of each of the three exploration rights applications that they have lodged in the Karoo, by 18 April 2011.”

To compile the research required for the EMP, the background document says: “a number of technical studies will be undertaken as part of the EMP process. Desktop studies will cover the larger application area and some fieldwork will be undertaken in selected areas to support the findings of the desktop studies.”

The mention of “some fieldwork” is alarming. “The EMP by its nature must include specialist studies by geologists, ecologists, as well as specialist groundwater and surface water studies. Without these studies they cannot responsibly comment on the potential impact of gas exploration or mining required in the EMP,” Fritz Bekker explains. The applicant will not be able to budget for the management or mitigation of adverse environmental impacts that they have not identified properly during this phase of the application.

Specialist environmental surveys such as botanical, hydrological and ground water investigations should be planned to take cognizance of seasonal variance, which is now not possible because of Shell’s haste to obtain approval.

Baxter responds that “fieldwork to inform the EMP will be conducted by specialists between mid January and early February 2011 after which the draft EMP will be compiled. This fieldwork will of necessity be broad-based seeking to characterise the broad environment within which the proposed project takes place and seeking to verify information available in public datasets, such as national groundwater database information.”

This means they are giving themselves two to three weeks of fieldwork to inform an EMP of this magnitude. Baxter says the period cannot be extended because of the 18 April deadline to submit to PASA.

It begs the question whether an environmental management plan can ethically be presented without an indepth assessment of the potential impact on the environment.

Baxter reassures that an Environmental Impact Assessment will be conducted “for any activities which are listed under the NEMA, before exploration activities commence”.

One would expect so, but it still does not address the potential fracture in the EMP process. Asked why Golder and Shell did not rather apply for the period granted for the submission of the EMP to be extended, Baxter said this was not possible.

The first of several meetings to be hosted by Shell and Golder is to take place in the Karoo town of Hofmeyr on Monday 24.

Many farmers, communities and interested and affected organisations have not been informed about the meetings, nor about the application. Those who are aware of it are trying to spread the word as widely as possible, which is what Golder should be doing. However many interested and affected parties attend, it promises to be a heated exchange.

Asked how they had advertised the meetings, Golder’s Public Participation Officer, Toni Pietersen, replied that they placed adverts in national and community newspapers. She said that it is unfortunate that they were placed approximately one week before the meetings were scheduled to begin; explaining that the Christmas period had hampered the timing. She adds that they had sent emails and posted the background documents to as many landowners, communities, farmers and affected organisations as they could locate.

Their distribution process appears to be lacking since not even the President of Agri Eastern Cape, Ernest Pringle, who farms in the affected area, received contact or background information from them. Neither did the Chair of the Rooihoogte Farmer’s Association in the Middelburg district, Ed Kingwill, nor did the Regional Chief Director for the Department of Water Affairs in the Eastern Cape, nor the Nama Karoo Foundation, the conservation agency working to protect and preserve the natural and cultural heritage of the Karoo, based in Richmond and Graaff-Reinet in the Karoo.

All received the information by chance via associates.

“I have seen a documentary on frack mining and after I watched it I thought thank god I will never have to deal with this in the Karoo. So I thought until I received word about Shell’s application two days ago,” says the Nama Karoo Foundation’s Marina Beal.

“Water, much of which is ancient water dating back millions of years, is the most precious commodity in the Karoo. This is a semi-desert area and it is a well-known fact how scarce water is in the Karoo, many parts of which are only now emerging from one of the worst droughts in decades. The potential for contamination of water through fracking is significant and potentially environmentally devastating.”

Geohydrologist, Ahee Coetsee, who farms in the Middelburg district comments:

“My initial reaction is that we all have to be extremely careful because despite assurances from mining companies that they follow ethical and green environmental procedures, we only need to look at the coal fields and acid mine drainage to know that while we might have excellent environmental laws, the enforcement of them and technical know-how is lacking.

“We simply do not understand enough about the aquifer systems in the Karoo, which is why various studies are being done, such as by the Water Research Commission to look at the dolerite ring aquifer systems of the Karoo, from the surface to a depth of 3-500 metres.

“There are many and varied aquifer systems in the Karoo, some dating back 300 million years and older. If Shell is planning to drill down to 4 kilometres and more, and if the boreholes constructed are not 100%, there can be cross contamination between aquifer systems.

“If they do not comprehensively research and understand the hydro-geology of the exploration area, then they will need to be investigated from a technical and legal point of view.”

Professor Bruce Rubidge, Director of the Bernard Price Institute for Palaentological Research at Wits University elaborates that when Shell talks about drilling down 4-5 kilometres in the Karoo, they are talking about accessing the Ecca group of rocks dated at approximately 270-million years: a time when the Karoo was an ancient marine environment.

The Karoo is globally renowned for its fantastic wealth of fossil material, and Rubidge, who is a son of the Karoo, says “I care greatly for the Karoo and I would hate to see a big petroleum industry set up there. It would destroy the character of the Karoo.”

Shell justifies the application in its background document by referring to shale gas as “the cleanest of the fossil fuels” and stating that: “South Africa is faced with the challenge of being able to meet future energy demands of an expanding economy. Developing a natural gas energy supply to help meet this growing demand would be of considerable value to South Africa.”

What they fail to state is that the carbon footprint becomes outsize if they start calculating the process of extraction of shale gas through hydraulic fracturing, the process of accessing water from an as yet unidentified source, including possibly transporting in sea water, transporting the gas to market and the potential environmental degradation in this pristine part of the world.

As Africa’s highest emitter of carbon, the government has committed to transform to a low carbon economy with a focus on renewable energy programmes, notably solar and wind. The Karoo is high on sun for solar power plants but extremely low on water.

Western Cape Province State of Dams on 2011-01-24

# Means latest available data

FSC is full storage capacity in million cubic meters

Let’s look at an alternative that can be easily understood.
R100 Billion is equal to 6,666,667 * R15,000 solar water heaters.
[Ie 10,000,000 * R10,000 = R100,000,000,000]
Assuming that there are 200 working days per year, then over 8 years there are 1600 working days.
Assuming we wish to install 10 million solar water heaters in 1600 days, we need to install 4,167 solar water heaters per day. This would mean that the entire suburb of Milnerton for example would get solar water heaters in one day.
Assuming a team of three people to install one solar water heater per day, we need 12,500 installers. Together with manufacturing, support, supply chain, maintenance, sales people, electricians, inspectors, this industry might permanently support double that number to reach 25,000 people.

And best of all it would replace 13 GW of power stations, ie it would need 13 GW of electricity to power 6,666,667 electrical water heaters, so it can be said that our money is at almost 3 times more efficient when spent on solar water than on electricity to heat water.

Figures and original article adapted and adjusted from comment by David Lipschitz; Published from Yes the Blog

He said the utility was planning to build five gigawatts of “cleaner coal” generation capacity after 2025, Business Report reported on Wednesday.

At present about 90% of Eskom’s electricity is generated through coal.

Dames said the government’s Integrated Resource Plan would bring coal’s share of generation down from 86% to below 50% over the next 20 years as the energy mix would be diversified to include nuclear, wind, solar, biomass and other sources.

“Eskom aspires to lead South Africa’s nuclear programme, in partnership, and to play a lead role in solar power,” said Dames who was speaking in Johannesburg on Tuesday.

Coal reduction was among the goals Eskom had set for itself as part of its new strategic direction.

It also plans to invest in more opportunities in southern Africa where there are potentially 200 million customers.

“Over the next few months, we will have a detailed business plan for the region. There are a lot of exciting opportunities in the region that we don’t have,” Dames said.

Opportunities had been identified in countries such as Botswana and Namibia and a business plan would be presented to the board in February.

He said the firm planned to build transmission networks and have the private sector handle the generation side.