Zoning bombshell could scupper Karoo fracking

[nightjar]

Agreed.

But a remote probability.

Not so remote (and my Chernobyl comment was not referring to radioactivity)

When gold was discovered nobody predicted that acid water resulting from abandoned mines would threaten Johannesburg.

Mining was a neutral process while fracking involves pumping millions of litres of water and poisonous chemicals into the ground.

It seems impossible that the existing ground water will not be contaminated in the short term. In the longer term, the people and animals depending on the water are likely to show increased cancer rates but by then it will be too late.

As a major shareholder in Shell, the ANC will be huge beneficiaries of fracking and the record shows the well-being of people comes a distant second to the prospects of personal enrichment by favoured comrades.

Imagine Dina Pule, Pansy Tlakula, Tina Joemat-Pettersson etc appointed to positions where competence & honesty will not be requirements.

 

[Arthur]

This is all possible.

(And of course you don't mean nuclear/radiation, just despoliation and contamination. I agree this is a major concern.)

Like you, I execrate the governing party's direct financial interest in this affair. It should be illegal for anyone who has their hands on State power and the decision process to also have a direct financial interest - this is what a true free market requires.

However, I do think we've come some way in understanding and mitigating the environmental impact of fracking operations, which is why even very Greeny Europeans are starting up operations.

 

[Paul Hjul]

financial guarantees and insurance obligations are always the best assurance against disaster. The mine acid water crisis can be tied to successive environmental laws and regulations which moved away from this core principle. Let them frack but make them put up the security against environmental damages let London and Zurich run the numbers