Two eco-justice groups plan to challenge Forestry, Fisheries and Environment Minister Barbara Creecy's decision to allow Karpowership SA to submit a key document for the environmental approval of its proposed Saldanha Bay plant.
In July, Creecy had overturned a decision by her department's chief director for integrated environmental authorisations to deny Karpowership SA an extension to submit a Generic Environmental Management Programme report (GEMPr) for the 320MW plant in Saldanha Bay.
But the Green Connection and Natural Justice on Wednesday issued a joint statement, indicating that an "administrative error" led to the minister not receiving their objections.
They believe if the minister had received their submissions, it would have "materially affected" her appeal decision.
News24 has reached out to the Department of Forestry, Fisheries and Environment to confirm this. Should a response be received, this article will be updated.
According to a letter addressed to the DFFE, the groups' lawyers indicate that the minister's office must indicate by 8 September, whether it will have the minister's appeal decision reviewed by the courts. If not, they will lodge the matter for legal review themselves.
"The minister did not have the Green Connection and Natural Justice's submissions before her when she made her decision. We believe that Minister Creecy's decision to now allow for the late submission of Karpowership's Generic Environmental Management Programme report is incorrect since she did not consider all the information that should have been available to her," said the Green Connection's community outreach coordinator Neville van Rooy.
"… We believe that the minister must approach the courts herself, to get her decision overturned," Van Rooy added.
Karpowership SA was named a preferred bidder in the country's Risk Mitigation Independent Power Producer Procurement Programme in 2021. It proposed three floating gas plants at ports – Richards Bay in KwaZulu-Natal, Ngqura in the Eastern Cape and Saldanha Bay in the Western Cape – accounting for about 60% of the 2 000MW to be procured. The environmental authorisation of these projects was denied due to gaps in the public consultation processes.
But it has since been allowed another chance to seek environmental authorisation.
The projects have faced criticism because of the costs, estimated to be more than R200 billion over a 20-year period.
A few weeks ago, Western Cape Premier Alan Winde also spoke out against embarking on a 20-year contract with Karpowership, which clashes with plans for Saldanha Bay.
Most recently, Karpowership reached a biodiversity offset agreement with a wildlife conservation authority in KwaZulu-Natal – linked to its environmental authorisation application for its proposed 450 MW Richards Bay plant.
The DFFE has also allowed Karpowership to continue with an appeal against a previous decision denying it environmental authorisation for the 450MW plant at the port of Ngqura.