Today is Day 3 of the court case between TotalEnergies and the Green Connection partners.
The Green Connection and Natural Justice are challenging the environmental authorisation given to oil giant- Total, to drill for oil and gas in block567, off the southern coast of South Africa, between Cape Town and Cape Agulhas.
Total received exploration rights 12 years ago, which the group is challenging in court.
The Green Connection and partners also argue that this authorisation is firstly not valid, and that secondly, it was also based on a flawed Environmental Impact Assessment which didn’t consider the harms of a potential oil spill or gas blow out.
In addition, new information has sprung up about Shell, another oil multinational, taking over as operator of the Block 567, while TotalEnergies withdraws.
“With an invalid right, they don’t have a legal basis to join this case” said the Green Connection.
Total’s lawyers presented their case on Monday at the Western Cape High court.
Picture: Supplied