A coalition of community, environmental and human rights organisations say the new draft environmental impact report for Tendele Coal Mine to expand its operations on the KwaZulu-Natal North Coast, is a sweetheart report. One of their attorneys, Janice Tooley says this refers to a practice where negative impacts are underplayed while overstating the benefits.
Tooley says they have submitted their comments to the consultants doing the Environmental Impact Assessment in the past week. The consultants now need to take the public comments into account while drawing up a final EIA report that will be submitted to the Minister of Mineral and Energy Resources as part of the application for mining rights.