ENVIRONMENT DEPARTMENT DECIDES NOT TO APPEAL PBMR CASE

17/02/2005: Following further consultation and evaluation on what is theappropriate strategy to follow, the Department of Environmental Affairs and Tourism today announced its intention not to appeal the decision of the Cape High Court on the environmental impact assessment (EIA) concerned with the Pebble bed Modular Reactor (PBMR).
"The court's decision has quite serious implications for the EIA process It opens it up to a seemingly endless round of consultations and judicial reviews", Dr Olver said that the department intends to address these concerns through the new EIA regulations, which are currently published for public comment.

The new regulations will ensure a simpler process, which allows full stakeholder participation, and which is subject to judicial review only after all internal appeal processes have been used.

The department has informed Eskom, as the EIA applicant, of its decision and asked for the final EIA to be released for further public comment. Furthermore, the department is in consultation with its lawyers to define the practical actions it must take in so far as the Director General is required to offer concerned parties an opportunity to register their concerns with him directly.