Bid to save coast far from over

CLIMATE CRISIS: SHELL INTERDICT APPLICANTS VOW TO FIGHT ‘ON THE BEACHES AND IN COURT’

Judge dismisses urgent case with costs of two counsel.

The four applicants who attempted to halt Shell from conducting a 3D seismic survey along the east coast this month have expressed their intense disapproval and disappointment at the judgment.

Acting Judge Avinash Govindjee yesterday ruled that the arguments presented by Natural Justice, Greenpeace Africa, Border Deep Sea Angling Association and Kei Mouth Ski Boat Club against Shell and Mineral Resources and Energy Minister Gwede Mantashe were not enough to convince him that the survey should not take place.

The applicants were successful in arguing the importance of public interest in the case, as well as proving the apparent lack of public participation.

However, when it came to arguing that the survey, which involves airgun arrays being blasted into the ocean floor to look for oil and gas reserves, Govindjee said the applicants failed to convince him there was a reasonable apprehension of “irreparable harm”.

As such, the interdict, brought to the Eastern Cape High Court in Makhanda this week, was dismissed with costs to two counsel.

Natural Justice said in a statement yesterday the applicants wanted to be allowed to return to court to make further representations and present expert evidence.

The organisation’s head of campaigns and communications, Katherine Robinson, also said the applicants having to pay costs to counsel was also worrying, since the application “was made in the public interest to protect the ocean and coastal environment”.

Robinson confirmed applicants would be discussing the judgment with their legal advisors and possibly applying for leave to appeal.

The senior climate and energy campaign manager for Greenpeace Africa, Happy Khambule, said Shell’s survey would not only be destroying biodiverse ecosystems, but will also destroy the livelihoods of communities, “all in the name of profit”.

The area Shell plans to cover in their surveys is adjacent to four marine protected areas – Amathole Offshore, Dwesa-Cweba, Hluleka and Pondoland.

“We must do everything we can to undo the destructive colonial legacy of extractivism, until we live in a world where people and the planet come before the profits of toxic fossil fuel companies,” Khambule said.

Natural Justice executive director Pooven Moodley said civil society “cannot relax”.

“The climate crisis is upon us and fossil fuel companies accelerating the crisis are posing a serious threat to the planet, our livelihoods, human rights and very existence.

“We will fight them on the beaches and in court,” Moodley vowed.

Key Mouth Ski Boat Club chair John Rance said the seismic survey may be going ahead, “but there’s going to be one hellava shindig before mining [sic] starts”.