The Department of Forestry, Fisheries and the Environment is hastening the applications related to authorisation permits and licences required for energy generation, transmission and distribution.
So said minister Barbara Creecy on Friday, speaking during a briefing chaired by minister in the Presidency Mondli Gungubele, to communicate gazetted regulations, which give effect to the national state of disaster surrounding the impact of severe electricity supply constraints.
Creecy noted solar rooftop installations don’t require an environmental authorisation.
However, regarding bigger solar projects, she said the department is busy developing regulations that will allow solar photovoltaic facilities and battery storage facilities to go through an expedited registration process.
“We will be putting those regulations out for public comment soon and that, of course, would be an area of low environmental sensitivity.”
The briefing came after president Cyril Ramaphosa declared the ongoing load-shedding a national state of disaster, to enable government to deal with the crippling power cuts.
According to Creecy, the department will make provision to issue directions related to the streamlining of applications and decision-making processes for environmental authorisations, waste management licences and atmospheric emission licences.
“What we are currently doing is that we are looking at developing directions that would enable expedited procedural requirements for requiring environmental authorisation,” she explained.
“So, for example, allowing a process to be followed that is similar to the current basic assessment process, even for activities that may otherwise require the full scoping environmental impact assessment process.”
Creecy noted the department is also looking at shorter periods between the submission of an application and the submission of reports for decision-making and public participation, for example, 14 days as opposed to the existing 30 days.
“I think it’s important to say the regulations do not provide for exemptions from environmental law,” she stressed.
“It’s not our intention to start producing blanket exemptions from those provisions. I think we recognise there may be certain instances where this is required, and on a case-by-case basis.”
However, she said the department will be advised by its legal practitioners on how best to deal with the situation.
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