By: Bright Ntuli
Communities from the Wild Coast on the south coast of KZN will square off against Shell, Impact Africa, and the Department of Mineral Resources and Energy in the Constitutional Court today.
The case is around the gas seismic surveys off the Wild Coast and oil exploration rights, granted to Shell and Impact Africa in 2014.
A seismic survey uses artificial shock waves to image the Earth’s subsurface, revealing geological structures and features like oil and gas reserves, fault lines, and underground water.
Now at stake is whether the Supreme Court of Appeal’s decision to suspend a ruling, invalidating Shell’s exploration rights can stand.
Green Connection’s Neville van Rooy says seismic surveying has major environmental effects.
“We want to raise our voices and make it clear that we will not allow these companies to do reckless blasting in our oceans. We are against the polluting and looting of our oceans. For profit gains for multi-national companies, we want to send and loud message, “says van Rooy.
