00206BF55FFC220503114613

This document is an appeal decision issued by the Minister of Forestry, Fisheries and the Environment of South Africa, dated May 2, 2022. The Minister dismissed a combined appeal by Nseleni Power Corporation Pty (Ltd) and Anchor Energy LNG Pty Ltd against the refusal of Environmental Authorisations (EAs) for the proposed Nseleni Independent Floating Power Plant (NIFPP) and associated infrastructure in the port of Richards Bay. The refusal was upheld based on high negative impacts on the estuarine environment, lack of required landowner consent, and inadequate pre-application monitoring of avifauna.

• The Minister upheld the refusal of Environmental Authorisations because the project was predicted to have high negative residual impacts on the estuarine environment, specifically affecting macrobenthos and avifauna.
• The project site is located within an area classified as 'Critical Biodiversity Area (CBA): Irreplaceable' according to the Ezemvelo KwaZulu-Natal Wildlife (EKZNW) Biodiversity Plan, and development in such areas is not supported.
• The application failed to meet the minimum legal requirements of Regulation 39(1) of the 2014 EIA Regulations because the appellants did not provide written consent from the landowner, Transnet National Port Authority (TNPA), to undertake the actual activities.
• The Minister determined that a pre-application monitoring programme for avifauna should have been conducted prior to the EA applications to inform mitigation measures, rather than as a post-authorisation measure.
• The Minister found that biodiversity offsets were a necessary mitigation option that the applicants failed to provide, given the high significance impacts on avifauna, macrobenthos, nematode, and microphytobenthos.
• The appellants' claim that the project should be treated as a Strategic Infrastructure Project (SIP) to bypass certain landowner consent requirements was rejected because they provided no supporting evidence for the allegation.

APA

Centre for Environmental Rights (n.d.). 00206BF55FFC220503114613. https://cer.org.za/wp-content/uploads/2023/05/LSA-213603-LSA-215554-Appeal-Decision_2022.05.04.pdf?x21779

Chicago

Centre for Environmental Rights. 00206BF55FFC220503114613. n.d. https://cer.org.za/wp-content/uploads/2023/05/LSA-213603-LSA-215554-Appeal-Decision_2022.05.04.pdf?x21779.

Wikipedia

{{cite report |author=Centre for Environmental Rights |title=00206BF55FFC220503114613 |url=https://cer.org.za/wp-content/uploads/2023/05/LSA-213603-LSA-215554-Appeal-Decision_2022.05.04.pdf?x21779 |access-date=17 August 2026 |via=Climate Insights Directory}}

BibTeX

@techreport{centreforenvironmentalrightsnd00206bf55ffc220503114613, author = {{Centre for Environmental Rights}}, title = {{00206BF55FFC220503114613}}, institution = {Centre for Environmental Rights}, url = {https://cer.org.za/wp-content/uploads/2023/05/LSA-213603-LSA-215554-Appeal-Decision_2022.05.04.pdf?x21779}, urldate = {2026-08-17}, note = {Indexed by Climate Insights Directory} }