Environment Ministry, AD clash over landfill report

Alternattiva Demokratika yesterday accused the government of trying to "sedate" the people by refraining from revealing the worrying findings of the Scott Wilson report on the Maghtab landfill.

Among other disquieting aspects, the report reveals that the levels of dioxins in the air surrounding the Maghtab dump exceed EU levels greatly, AD claimed.

But in an immediate reply, the Environment Ministry accused AD of making potentially alarming statements, especially since the Scott Wilson report was freely available to anybody requesting it.

During a news conference, AD chairman Harry Vassallo expressed shock that the government was trying to give the impression that the report yielded no alarming findings.

Although the Environment Ministry says it has posted a summary of the Scott Wilson report on the internet, it has chosen to exclude certain important facts, Dr Vassallo claimed.

The report documents the presence of cancer-causing heavy metal pollution leaking from Maghtab and other landfills, as well as airborne pollution from dioxin and asbestos.

The soil surrounding Maghtab does not only contain high levels of dioxin but also asbestos, phenols and naphthalene, which is a carcinogen. Maghtab has 35 times the dioxin emission rate of the Qortin dump in Gozo.

Pollution is not only found in air but also in water around Maghtab which, when tested, showed substances of lead, nickel, copper, cadmium and arsenic. The level of arsenic in the water is 40 times higher than EU standards for drinking water, Dr Vassallo claimed.

The report also shows that trucks operating in the area were whipping up clouds of harmful dust into the air.

"A full and factual disclosure is essential and any attempt to sedate the public should be condemned. It is important to tell the country the whole story in order to be able to justify the costs of remediation and in order to prevent any repetition of such a disaster," Dr Vassallo said.

"It's this shrouding things in secrecy which has ultimately led to this disaster called Maghtab."

The Environment Ministry hit back and accused AD of contradicting itself on several fronts.

After the publication of the report, Environment Minister George Pullicino and WasteServ officials met up with NGOs and the local councils affected mostly by the landfills to discuss the matter.

AD, the ministry said, was not making a distinction between the samples taken from the landfill and samples taken from surrounding areas.

The reports clearly shows that the dioxins found in the soil in the surrounding areas of the landfill were still in line with EU agricultural standards.

The risk of dioxins making its way to food produce was remote and under control, the ministry said.

No drinking water is obtained from the Maghtab area and nowhere does the report reveal any alarming levels of arsenic.

The ministry accused AD of conveniently omitting the solutions that the government was proposing, which are expected to cost some Lm8.4 million.

"The government never said there are no problems. But what's important is that the necessary measures are being taken to solve these problems."