About Us

In response to frequently asked questions about TKAG and our campaign against shale gas mining, we set out out the status quo in SA.We have decided to give our members some insight to what we as an organisation have been up to over the past couple of months.

TKAG, a registered non-profit organisation, was founded in February March 2011 by a group of ordinary South Africans concerned with the bad reputation and reported pollution associated with fracking. Our (and your) core team comprises unpaid volunteers, a number of whom work at the campaign 7 days a week. Public donations are our only source of income.

We oppose any attempt to advance the advent of shale gas mining in SA on inter alia, the following basis:

• ·         the lack of a proper public consultation process which means that many of those people that would be affected by shale gas mining/fracking are still unaware of it;

• ·         the fundamentally flawed Environmental Management Plans submitted by the applicants;

• ·         the lack of a proper regulatory framework and enforcement capacity;
• ·         the more than 140 places around the world that have placed a ban, moratorium or restriction on fracking;
  
• ·         the international bad reputation of hydraulic fracturing and shale gas mining with effects ranging from health impacts, water contamination, air pollution to environmental degradation,

• ·         the unsettled science surrounding the technology;

• ·         the sensitive and unique biodiversity of South Africa
  TKAG presently pursues a multidimensional strategy encompassing three specific objectives:
  
  
  
• To maintain expert and current knowledge of international developments in fracking.
• To make use of public forums, the media and printed material to inform the public of South Africa on the facts about fracking.
• To use every legal means at our disposal, including litigation, to protect the people and environment of South Africa in accordance with the tenets of the Constitution of the Republic of South Africa.

Some of the milestones in our journey thus far include:

• January 2011 – created the Facebook group Chaseshelloiloutofthekaroo – 2000 members in ten days, 7000 in five weeks. This has become the portal for exchange of information, coordination of anti-fracking initiatives in SA. It is well monitored by international activists, environmentalists and naturally the oil and gas industry too.
• 1 February 2011 Attended first shell public meeting in Edgemead Cape Town – the day that I morphed from a mole to an environmentalist
• 16 February, 2011, Wednesday – Lewis Pugh throws his weight behind the fight. (“Hello Jonathan, this is Lewis.” “Lewis who?” “Lewis Pugh!”)
• 26 February TKAG officially formed at farm of Derek Carstens outside Graaff-Reinet.
• First week of March 2011 – HWB briefed – start of our meteoric media profile development
• March 19th Sunday – Luke Havemann is retained by Pugh and Deal. Briefed to compile the first critical review.
• March 25th Friday – Kelvin Grove – Lewis Pugh addresses Shell in front of a 500 strong crowd – the speech goes viral and around the world in 24 hours
• April 5th – Lewis Pugh delivers the Havemann report to President Zuma’s office in front of Parliament.
• The introduction of the moratorium on 20 April 2011. It was extended in August of 2011.

• May 2011 – TKAG – files a detailed complaint with the ASA regarding Shell’s misleading adverts and media statements.
• Also in May, the formation of an interdisciplinary task team was announced that would address and study the full range of implications related to fracking.
• The Advertising Standards Authority of SA found Shell guilty on four accounts after complaints. They were ordered to withdraw their advertisements.
• On the 9^th of January 2012, the North Gauteng High Court ruled in favour of TKAG, allowing us to gain access to information regarding the fracking task team that Minister Shabangu commissioned to study the full effects and implications of fracking.
  
  Based on information to hand and media statements by South African Government Ministers and department officials it would be foolish for South Africans to ‘hope for the best’ - i.e. Shale gas mining will never be approved in our country. The reality is that our government will bow to external and internal pressures, lift the moratorium and issue exploration licences with much fanfare about how closely they are going to control the companies, and how much money will find its way to the poor. It is a fact that neither of those two things have ever happened in SA.
  
  The question that you, our reader, supporter and conduit to other concerned citizens, should perhaps ask is “Will SA citizens only dig into their pockets when Shell has their licence and are on the way to the Karoo?”
  
  The volunteer staff of TKAG – that’s us – have worked on this 7 days a week since January 2011 – that’s sixteen months. And volunteer today to keep on doing it for as long as is necessary. We are ready to move at short notice to oppose the issue of licences for shale gas mining. If you want us to stay in the fight into High Court and eventually to the Constitutional Court – which is the only place that will permanently defeat fracking – you (and the many people that you know who can afford R50 per month, every month) need to finance it.
  
  Thank you for the support.
  
  Jonathan Deal
  Chairman
  
  

Quo Vadis?
A precis of where we are and where we’re going

Vision:
Based on facts to hand, fracking does not have a sustainable future in South Africa. We believe that there are ecologically and socially acceptable, sustainable alternatives to the economic and energy challenges facing South Africa. Our long-term view is one of responsible development of South Africa to meet and exceed our promises as a nation to reduce global warming, while creating opportunities for all South Africans and their children. We have faith in the will and ability of South Africans to set an example by progressively freeing our country from the yoke of fossil fuels.

Mission
TKAG will work tirelessly to promote and protect the environmental tenets enshrined in the Constitution of the Republic of South Africa.

We confirm and commit to these values

• Our financial records are open to inspection by anyone, at anytime.
• We accept donations only from individuals – no corporate or government sponsorship.
• Permanent staff (paid) positions in TKAG will, as far as possible, reflect the demographics of our nation.

Into the future:

Media and expertise
TKAG has established an enviable media profile through vigorous debate and a consistent presence in the public discourse surrounding fracking. As a volunteer organization we believe that our knowledge and understanding of the technology of fracking and its interwoven social, environmental and economic implications is current and accurate.

Protection of Rights
Our legal interventions on behalf of various interested and affected parties and on behalf of the millions of South Africans who know nothing of the plans to frack South Africa, have been informed and effective. It was TKAG who scored a victory against misleading and untrue advertising in our media. We maintain this state of legal readiness to be able to respond appropriately to any threat from fracking to the people of this country and their environment.

This précis is aimed at people who have the privilege of choice:

⁃ a choice to make a financial commitment to standing up against fracking;
⁃ a choice to use their position and influence in society to inspire others to do so.

1. Shale gas mining and fracking (Hydaulic fracturing)

⁃ is banned, under moratorium or restriction in more than 100 places and four countries worldwide
⁃ has only been practiced in its current form in the Unites States for about 12 years
⁃ is enormously water thirsty – 640 million litres to frack the wells on one 'well pad' once is known to have caused pollution of underground water aquifers releases natural gas, a fossil fuel that significantly contributes to climate change has been proven to cause earthquakes
⁃ has many more negative effects above ground, such as air, light, noise and dust pollution: disruption of agricultural activities, damage to the environment allied jobs such as the tourism industry
⁃ is characterised by high input, rapidly depleting wells which means that they consume many resources like diesel and water and that neither the well, nor the short-term work allied to it is sustainable: the jobs don't last
⁃ is limited by the simple and inescapable facts of where the gas lies: it is about 5000 metres under the ground – the only way now – and in the future to release and extract that gas will be through fracking.

2. What Shell and others (don't) want you to know

⁃ shale gas will provide all of our energy needs – this is nonsense: they don't know how much gas there is, and if they can extract it (see this article by our chairman on the Rhodes web site http://bit.ly/x6Bj3Z)
⁃ shale gas is cleaner burning and therefore much better than coal: they don't tell you that all of the emissions of diesel, methane and fugitive gasses during the exploration, drilling, fracking, extraction, flaring, refining and distribution are excluded from their calculations and has scientifically been challenged on its climate impacts (http://bit.ly/pHmfYG)
⁃ shale gas will provide the answer to South Africa's employment problems – not true – jobs in the United States are overstated, for relatively skilled workers and unsustainable; 400 shell wells in Wyoming are supervised by 66 Shell employees (see this report on the false jobs promise http://bit.ly/xts5fn).

3. Who and what is Treasure Karoo Action Group (TKAG)? www.treasurethekaroo.co.za

⁃ stablished in February 2011, TKAG has emerged as the undisputed and effective opposition to fracking in South Africa. This has been achieved with private funds and the daily efforts by an unpaid team
⁃ TKAG is a Non Profit Organisation
⁃ Our legal document prepared by the only attorney in Africa with a specialist focus on oil and gas drilling and international law – Dr Luke Havemann, is known internationally as the Havemann Report. This document is a critical review of the Shell Environmental Management Plan. The second critical review – presently under embargo – is a highly technical document, developed by our legal team and 22 scientists and environmental specialists, which will, if required, be applied as part of our litigation in the event that the minister of mineralsissue any exploration licence for fracking under the current circumstances
⁃ It was TKAG who secured an internationally publicised victory against Shell's adverts – Shell were found to have used false and or misleading advertising in four cases in connection with their statements about fracking
⁃ it was TKAG who stood up to the minister of minerals and secured a court order – with costs – on 9 January 2012, compelling the minister to perform in terms of the rules of court and our ongoing application in respect of the Promotion of Access to Information Act (PAIA) with reference to the mystery task team it is TKAG who is invited by universities and institutions around the world to join conferences and to exclusively represent the opposition to fracking on platforms where Royal Dutch Shell executives appear for the oil industry
⁃ it is TKAG who is invited to address industry seminars to represent the anti-fracking lobby
⁃ it is TKAG who is invited by ETV and SABC to address its prime time television audiences
⁃ it is TKAG that needs YOUR support.

4. This is what you CAN do, and what you MAY do, and what we request you TO do:

⁃ Visit our TKAG website donation facility
⁃ create a recurring monthly payment to us: it is secure
⁃ our bank account is managed exclusively by our accountant who handles all disbursements
⁃ you may request and receive a bank statement of TKAG as often as you like
⁃ make a point of sharing this document with your friends and ask them to do the same: many people standing together to support TKAG will keep us in this fight at a minimal cost to everyone.

Thank you for reading this. We have truth and logic on our side. We have no
financial interest in fracking – one way or the other. Our chairman, Jonathan
Deal (076 838-5150) will welcome the opportunity to address any interest group in any forum to answer more detailed questions.

Please help South Africa to avoid what has happened in the United States.
There are millions of Americans who wish that they had stood up to fracking
before it started.

Banking details: Treasure Karoo Action Group • Standard Bank, Fish Hoek (051001) • 0720728497