Minister Dion George. Picture: Independent Newspapers
New Department of Forestry, Fisheries and the Environment Minister, Dion George, on Tuesday, dismissed the Biodiversity Law Centre’s (BLC) November 2023 appeal against the environmental authorisation (EA) granted for the Karpowership project in Richards Bay, KZN.
This decision has sparked significant concern among environmentalists and the BLC, particularly regarding the biodiversity offsets involved.
The BLC had raised objections to the environmental authorisation, issued in September 2023, which included a controversial agreement between Karpowership and Ezemvelo KZN Wildlife (Ezemvelo).
Under this agreement, Karpowership purchased Madaka Game Farm and donated it to Ezemvelo as a biodiversity offset for the estuarine environmental impacts anticipated from the Richards Bay harbour project.
The Turkish company's subsidiary, Karpowership SA, had secured a 20-year contract to dock three powerships at the ports of Richards Bay, Ngqura, and Saldanha Bay with the aim of alleviating the country's electricity shortages by collectively producing and adding 1,220 MW of power to the national grid.The deal has been mired in controversy over its cost, as well as environmental concerns.
In its appeal, the BLC highlighted several issues with the EA’s offset scheme. These included the failure to clearly describe the residual impacts meant to be offset, the questionable suitability of purchasing Madaka Game Farm to compensate for estuarine ecosystem impacts, and the lack of a comprehensive offset report.
Despite these concerns, the Minister dismissed the appeal, accepting Karpowership’s arguments that key information on biodiversity offsets could be provided post-EA decision, and that all relevant information had been considered by the decision-maker.
The BLC expressed deep disappointment with the Minister’s decision, criticising the lack of thorough interrogation of the offset scheme.
The appeal decision’s endorsement of a biodiversity offset, without publicising its basis, terms, and implementation, contradicts principles of accountability and transparency crucial to biodiversity governance. This decision undermines the critical oversight role of the Minister as the appeal authority, it said.
Kate Handley, executive director of the BLC shared that "there is considerable uncertainty regarding the implications of the appeal decision, given recent reports in the media (which have not been officially confirmed) that the project is dead. For this reason, we've written to the Energy Minister to request clarity on Karpowership's status as a potential energy supplier“.
Additionally, the BLC's grounds of appeal concerning inadequate public participation, failure to adopt a precautionary approach, and the issuance of a conditional EA were also dismissed.
This dismissal has heightened concerns about the robustness of environmental decision-making processes.
IOL