O’Connor said there had to be a cradle-to-grave approach to monitoring and regulating the fracking industry‚ lasting 50 years or more once the last gas wells were closed.
In Gauteng‚ he noted‚ no companies had been held legally or financially liable for the legacy of acid mine drainage following more than a century of gold mining.
“We simply cannot have the same happen with shale gas mining‚” said O’Connor‚ noting that South Africa had a history of poor control of current mines and abandoned mines.
In parts of the US‚ it was virtually impossible to monitor fracking properly because there was only inspector policing up to 100 wells simultaneously.
One of the key recommendations of the Assaf report is for the government to initiate a series of baseline studies before the first gas fracking well is drilled.
These studies should determine current groundwater quality and also examine the current natural levels of seismic activity (mini earthquakes). If fracking were to cause new earthquakes or pollution of scarce groundwater at a later stage‚ it would be impossible to prosecute oil and gas companies unless there was legally defensible proof of damage via prior baseline studies.
