Whispers in the air

Joe Mizzi's insinuation that so-called "experts have been ousted by me because of their slightest dissent to the propositions made by this government" have been countless in recent months. The latest insinuation is that which appears in his article in The Times on June 25.

Mr Mizzi's insistence about these so-called experts, either when talking about rock cutting at Ghallis or on overall environmental management, smacks of a political ploy to breed contempt. This is especially so because the common interest is continuously being misled that an expert of outstanding qualifications is being sacrificed for want of a political gain.

Neither his insistence on experts nor on Labour's environmental policy can be taken seriously because at a very delicate moment, when Malta was preparing to close down its dumps, the Labour leader insisted of prolonging the indiscriminate dumping at Maghtab. Had they been serious, both the experts and the policy should have guided the Opposition Leader elsewhere!

Mr Mizzi accuses me of squandering public funds to the tune of Lm700,000. It would have been smart of him to state that more than three quarters of these funds have been utilised by the entities falling under my jurisdiction to perform environmental impact assessments. So, while many factions within Mr Mizzi's party accuse me of a fait accompli, here we have a confirmation that this government is adhering to the environmental impact regulations administered by Mepa for the benefit of all. This is in sharp contrast to Labour's past policy when land, irrespective of its sensitivity, was dished out for commercial gain.

Mr Mizzi accuses me of shying away from the Solid Waste Management Strategy for the Maltese Islands, published by this government in October 2001. Why would I do this? Is it because the Labour Party blew it out of the air the minute it was published or because the dumping at Maghtab ceased to occur or because the Sant'Antnin waste treatment facility is being pursued for an upgrade? Weren't all these part of a strategy and for which I can safely say that many objectives are being met? Over and above all this, in February of this year I appointed a technical committee to update this strategy as is stipulated in the strategy itself.

Mr Mizzi's misinformation about Zwejra has completely misguided him. Zwejra was developed as a temporary waste storage facility on a stretch of land that had already been permitted to receive waste way back in 1997. Zwejra was engineered to the highest specification stipulated by regulation and, as a result, an attempt was made to convert this into a permanent facility. Since regulation stipulates that an operational permit is required for this facility to become permanent, an integrated pollution prevention and control (IPPC) application was submitted to Mepa in October 2004 for consideration. The process is nearing completion and a draft IPPC permit is currently out for consultation.

Mr Mizzi's stance about incineration is in stark contrast to what his colleague Joe Brincat declared in Parliament during the debate on eco contribution. Dr Brincat then said that incineration is the one and all and any debate on the upgrading of the Sant'Antnin facility is superfluous because existing technology to incinerate waste is indeed tried and tested. Now Mr Mizzi describes this technology as a "dangerous option". Clearly, Labour's environmental policy is guiding MLP members in separate directions big time!

One other overwhelming contrast is that Labour and its propaganda accuses the government that all of Malta's waste will be directed to Sant'Antnin. Mr Mizzi here confirms that Sant'Antnin, as proposed, will only be treating part of the waste generated because the government is contemplating to develop an alternative technology elsewhere.

On the contrary, rather than rushing into any conclusions, as Mr Mizzi happily does, this government is updating its Solid Waste Management Strategy to shed more light on which technology or technologies will be adopted by the government to deal with the remaining fraction of waste not treated at Sant'Antnin. This will be done to minimise the land take needed for landfilling. So, unlike what Mr Mizzi implies, incineration is and may never be the chosen option.

Mr Mizzi also opted to undermine the rehabilitation strategy for Maghtab, Qortin and Wied Fulija during a very delicate stage of tender evaluation. His article attempts to confuse the public on a number of issues relating to the aerial emissions control works for Maghtab, Qortin and Wied Fulija. This he does to ascertain that EU funding is jeopardised by questioning the Scott Wilson investigation, assessment and remedial design.

He claims the government opted for an inappropriate gas management system for the disused dumps. While the Maghtab dump is over 30 years old, waste has been deposited there (and at Qortin) in very significant quantities in recent years and therefore there is the potential for the generation of landfill gases including methane for the foreseeable future. However, monitoring indicates that other hazardous gases are being released into the atmosphere at all of the sites and that these represent the principal hazard associated with the sites. The gas management system that has been devised is primarily aimed at reducing the emissions of these hazardous gases to acceptable levels. The gas management system will also allow the collection and destruction of any methane in the eventuality that this is produced.

Mr Mizzi claims a lack of capping system. The EU requirements for waste landfills apply to operational facilities only and not closed sites such as those at Maghtab, Qortin and Wied Fulija. The government is aware of the practicability of constructing a cap on the sites. This was subject to thorough investigation and assessment and discounted for a number of reasons. Essentially: the installation of an engineered cap is restricted by the lack of sources of suitable materials in Malta and their ineffectiveness in capping systems in an arid environment; by the likely short longevity of systems constructed using synthetic materials over combusting/hot wastes and the presence of steep side slopes that would restrict the construction of certain types of cap and preclude the development of a landscaped surface above.

Despite the above, unlike what Mr Mizzi claims, in the medium term it is planned to construct a restoration surface placed over the landfills suitable for aftercare purposes. The control of gaseous emission from the site will be by the proposed aerial emissions control system.

He questions the scope of Scott Wilson's work. The project to identify rehabilitation strategies for disused Maltese landfills was awarded by the Ministry for Resources and Infrastructure to Scott Wilson in 2002 on the basis of competitive tendering. The terms of reference included both the assessment of Maghtab, Qortin and Wied Fulija landfills and the development of appropriate rehabilitation strategies to mitigate any environmental impacts identified.

The provision of a detailed specification for the selected rehabilitation strategy was also a requirement of the terms of reference. This detailed specification was used as the basis on which the restoration works are currently being tendered following strict EU tendering procedures.

Mr Mizzi re-affirms his conviction about groundwater pollution at Maghtab. The investigation identified elevated concentrations of certain contaminants in the groundwater around Maghtab and the likely source of these contaminants is the landfill. At Maghtab the local groundwater resource is not used for public water supply. However, the long-term monitoring of water quality proposed is required to fully assess the long-term impacts of groundwater quality in this area.

He also re-affirms his conviction about pollution of the marine environment at Maghtab. The results of monitoring of marine sediment or water quality near Maghtab found no conclusive evidence of any significant landfill-derived contamination. This result is consistent with the results of earlier studies that did not detect contamination in surface rainfall run-off from Maghtab that could enter the marine environment.

Mr Mizzi is encouraged to get serious by ignoring whispers in the air that tarnish his credibility as a politician. His articles, covering topics ranging from eco contribution to aerial emissions to rock cutting, have not yielded any concrete suggestions as yet. The people and the environment they live in deserve better!

Mr Pullicino is Minister for Rural Affairs and the Environment.