I will write to the Minister of Mineral Resources, Ngoako Ramatlhodi, and request that members of the civil society be included in the Department’s ad hoc group reviewing revised regulations for fracking.

The Department of Mineral Resources' presentation on fracking last week to the Parliamentary Portfolio Committee revealed only tortuous progress towards finalising rules to regulate the process.

Government has previously indicated the revised regulations are ready for publication.
   
But the Department has now revealed that there will be additional public comment on the regulations from next month.

This is both good and bad news.

It is bad in that the length of time taken to finalize these regulations gives rise to the suspicion that the Department is not entirely confident of what it is doing. This adds to the Department’s bad record in drawing up an unworkable section on oil and gas in the Mineral and Petroleum Resources Development Act (MPRDA) Amendment Bill passed by Parliament before the elections.

It also means that the potential benefits from shale gas will take longer to feed through into our economy. In addition, we risk losing potential investment in the industry which may go to other countries if the rules governing investment in our industry take too long to appear.

The upside to this delay however is that it gives an opportunity to shape a credible process.

Fracking is controversial. The Department already has a problem in being seen as a credible and competent oversight authority.

As matters stand, the Department intends fracking to be overseen by an ad hoc group of government departments and official experts. The credibility of this process would be greatly enhance by the addition of representation by civil society.

There are a number of universities, environmental and water groups which would make good candidates to be such representatives.

The precedent for this is the National Nuclear Regulator which has a representative from civil society on its board.

The public needs to be assured that fracking takes place under strict and credible supervision

The DA will continue to monitor the situation closely.

Issued by the DA