If the team shows ARRL the proper documentation, I believe the operation will be approved. Don't believe they will base their decision on whether a landing permit should have been issued, or if the team made bad decisions or were reckless.
Wasn't there a Spratley operation a while back where one of the operators was actually shot and killed by one of the governments disputing ownership?
And wasn't that operation approved anyway?
Or, how about the Sable Island (or was it St Paul's) where the temp tower they put up fell over and a ham was killed? I think that one was ultimately approved also, wasn't it?
I don't like to see those sorts of things -- really,
nobody should die for this hobby. But, in fact, there is a casualty rate and I don't recall that the ARRL has ever acted when they go bad.
If we're going to decide that people take excessive risks for certain entities, then we should all man up and delete them -- not write carping notes about it after the fact.
We get who actually gets up the logistics and goes. Age and fitness varies. Survival skills certainly vary. Some of us have cheered on some riskier things than this group. Each of the three recent Bouvet expeditions were high risk and could have easily resulted in death. Or, have we forgotten the broken boats, etc, of the expeditions that made zero QSOs?
Simply demanding perfect expeditions to difficult places and then whining about it after the fact is not really responsive to the situation.
As for the authorities, well, that varies. The French aren't paying any attention to what happens on Bouvet. These things are "owned" (a loose term for such remote places) by a variety of governments. Each expedition is its own approval adventure.
PS, I would be extremely surprised that this group doesn't have that permit. The leader is an actual Norwegian and presumably speaks the language. He negotiated some kind of permission to go there. You don't go to sensitive environmental spots without a lot of discussion and
some kind of permitting. We should worry about a lot of things with respect to Bouvet. I would worry zero about the permit until and unless the League surprises us.