This application for leave to appeal against the decision of the Supreme Court of Appeal concerns the nature and scope of the obligations of environmental authorities when they make decisions that may have a substantial detrimental impact on the environment. In particular, it concerns the interaction between social and economic development and the protection of the environment.  It arises out of a decision by the Department of Agriculture, Conservation and Environment, Mpumalanga province (the Department), the third respondent, to grant the Inama Family Trust (the Trust)2 authority in terms of section 22(1) of the Environment Conservation Act, 1989 (ECA)3 to construct a filling station on a property in White River, Mpumalanga (the property).  Constitutional Court was faced with the question whether socio-economic considerations should be taken into account in the consideration of an EIA application to establish a filling station.