Lead on Hal Far farm

Dr Harry Vassallo of Alternattiva Demokratika called a press conference on the amount of lead deposits on Joseph Polidano's farm in Hal Far.

To begin with, the club's name is Southern Shooting Club. Dr Vassallo is no expert in lead shots, he cannot distinguish between lead shots used by hunters and the lead shots of clay pigeon shooting. We submit that the lead has an amount of hunting lead.

Further, Dr Vassallo failed to notice that the shots which Mr Polidano allowed to be photographed, were shots which accumulated over a period of years, since 1981. Dr Vassallo was quoted to have said that the amount of lead shots in this place must be some kind of world record.

When asked if Dr Vassallo had any statistics on deposits of lead shots in fields close to shooting ranges, his answer was no. Therefore his statement is grossly exaggerated. Dr Vassallo must validate his statements with statistics.

Since 1997, the club embarked on building a huge burm with two purposes in mind. First, to reduce the noise level and second, to reduce lead shots going beyond the perimeter of the range. Arrangements were made with the Malta Freeport contractors to deliver unwanted rubble to the range. Other arrangements were made with local contactors and road builders. Within a few months we had thousands of lorry loads of rubble deposited on the northeast end of the range. Since the construction of the burm, the situation of lead deposits improved by 95 per cent.

It was then that the club decided to build a second range to accommodate for double trap. Until then relations with Mr Polidano were excellent. The Olympic range has the neighbour's consent and is licensed as a range and club. It is the only range in Malta with an eight-foot perimeter chain link fence for safety. The Olympic range was awarded a PAPB permit and police licence. The second range has a MEPA permit and police licence.

MEPA requested numerous modifications to our plans. In fact they were changed no fewer than 13 times before the permit was granted. We still have a Lm2,000 bankers' guarantee imposed by MEPA until such time as the club plants a number of selected trees on the burm. Once the trees reaches their normal growth, the cover will be 100 per cent.

MEPA studied the trajectory of the plans presented by our architect. Although we presented a safe margin in relations with farmhouse, MEPA refused to grant a permit for the double trap; instead the permit was granted for the Down the Line discipline.

The shooting positions were moved further east and the single machine was sealed in position by the police. The seal has a number and cannot be replaced.

Dr Vassallo was reported to have said that "not even the basic requirements in the existing laws appear to be enforceable". By this he is insinuating that the club is operating outside the law. This we strongly challenge.

Dr Vassallo, without conferring with the club representatives, insinuated that the club cannot afford to clean the lead from Mr Polidano's field. We have carried out an experiment by which kilos of lead were recovered from a particular area within the range inner perimeter. The club did offer Mr Polidano compensation for loss of crop and also offered to exchange the use of lead-free area to grow his crops.

We also offered to clean up the lead shots. Mr Polidano refused to accept our offer because he is not a registered farmer, not even a part-time farmer. At least this is the impression we get whenever we speak to him.

Mr Polidano has some other reasons why he refuses to let us clean his field. He did not inform Dr Vassallo that part of his field is rented to a bird trapper and a hunter. It is possible to clean the top soil; we have successfully removed all traces of lead from ten metres square of top soil.

The final allegation made by Dr Vassallo was "the voice of a single person who also had rights, was being ignored by the authorities". Not true at all - Mr Polidano did write to MEPA. We were confronted by his allegations. MEPA found that his statements were unfounded. He was also present at the Police Appeals Board hearing, he was also present when the police conducted an on-site inspection.

The first test was to check if any lead shots came within the farmhouse. Then with the range operating in the presence of the Police Licensing Board the amount of lead shots were insignificant compared with the amount of lead shots visible on the ground. The police believed us rather than Mr Polidano.

Unfortunately, Dr Vassallo was fooled by Mr Polidano because he only heard his views. Mr Polidano was not believed by MEPA nor the Police Appeals Board. We should have been informed and invited to the press conference so that we could give our views. Why wasn't the press conference conducted during one of our club competitions or training sessions, to back Mr Polidano's claim?

It is obvious: Mr Polidano would have had no leg to stand on. We demand an apology from Dr Vassallo or else we will consider legal action. We contacted Dr Vassallo on one occasion on May 16. He failed to return two other telephone messages. Dr Vassallo has an open invitation to see for himself the shooting range during a shooting competition or training. So far he has failed to contact us.

As far as the UIT regulations, the weight allowed dropped from 32 grams per cartridge to 28 and is currently 24 grams.