UPDATED: Officials suspended after major fuel spillage goes unreported for a week

marlene pullicino

Aug 23rd 2008, 21:41

If the loss of such a large amount of fuel went unnoticed by higher management for such a long time,something somewhere is definitely going amiss in this side of the corporation.If the oil cannot be recovered due to seepage ,how can we know if it was really an accidental dysfunction and not a deliberate tapping of fuel (for obvious reasons) that went very wrong?Is all the fuel that leaves the corporation accounted for continuously and thoroughly?Are th necessary precautions taken to avoid theft of this very expensive commodity?Are the necessary structures in place to prevent disasters like this?Are the necessary facilities in place to curtail environmental damage fast enough should the need arise as in this case?Are the personnel trained and equipped to prevent and deal with similar situations? How is enemalta going to pay back for the damage incurred by the people of birzebbuga and the population at large? I

D Fenech

Aug 22nd 2008, 14:59

@ Pamela Hansen. I agree 100% You hit the nail on the head!
@ Tania Cilia. You are also right. That is why I asked questions.
I do not believe that the water of St George's Bay and Pretty Bay Bugia is not contaminated. Just look at all the ships that sail in and out of the Freeport+ the Petroleum depot.
Now to add insult to injury we have this awful incident.
I ask again. where did the water seep to?
As far as i know seep means enter.
Did it contaminate our water table?
Did it seep into the sea?
Were the people who live inthe surrounding area ever in danger?
I ask because we have a right to know unless we are somebody's lapdog!
In which case we need to acquire a brain and an identity first.

J Borg

Aug 22nd 2008, 13:45

cut it out pamela. It should have been the Chairman and not the minister, who should have acted. Don't twist facts just for the sake of criticising.

Jimmy Magro

Aug 22nd 2008, 13:37

@Pamela
If the employees of parastatal bodies are not trained:
1. either the parastatal bodies have failed to trained them, or
2. the training consultants ran away with the money, or
3. both one and two above occured.

Maybe the Government appoints a judicial inquiry - but why waste the money, the result is known before the inquiry begins. Everything was done according to the rules of procedure.

Malta should enter into a campaign to bring foreign people to learn from our good practices as we seem to be more than perfect in all sectors.

Pamela Hansen

Aug 22nd 2008, 13:03

What this incident demonstrates is that we still have a largely uneducated and untrained workforce in parastatal organisations. The comments further show that we are so unused to a minister doing his job, that when it happens we are ever so grateful!

Tanja Cilia

Aug 22nd 2008, 10:11

The reasoning behind this apepars to have been "ignore it, and it will go away". Unfortunately, oil spillages do not go away. But I fail to see how people can be so irresponsible as to allow contamination of the water table and the sea. I was under the impression that monitoring of sea-water is carried out as a matter of course. Does this mean that each beach in which we normally swim could have had its last test eight days before we do? There are other contaminants besides aviation fuel which could harm us - even if we would not have ignored a "do not swim" notice, let alone of we do.

E. Azzopardi

Aug 22nd 2008, 09:45

How very irresponsible when the people are paying so much for energy. After the investigation those reponsible should :
1. Made to pay for all damages
2. Be Fired.
There is no other way will do, Mr Minister.

A Abela

Aug 22nd 2008, 09:39

This is indeed a scandal. Shame on these officials..
Indeed this is truly a Mickey Mouse country or a Banana Republic.

A Camilleri

Aug 22nd 2008, 08:52

I really cannot understand how no one noticed this scandal... not for 1 day, not for 2 days, not for 3 days, not for a week but after 8 days!

No wonder then that Enemalta is a fortizza Laburista and the GWU is so in control!

A.Attard

Aug 22nd 2008, 08:22

@M. Camilleri
You have no idea what you are talking about. If it were not for the enemalta engineers you would not be able to switch on the light. These unsung heros silently keep malta's economy running smoothly clearing faults without the public even perceiving that there was a mishap. I personally have been on sites where there were major disruptive faults and the engineers were there for very long hours till the damage was repaired.

H Farrugia

Aug 22nd 2008, 07:50

Enemalta chairman and management resign. Let Autin Gatt run the show. If it weren't for the ability of Minister Gatt, I don't know were we will be. He should be made Deputy Prime Minister because he has the guts and the know how. Why did the corporation have to await orders from its minister to SUSPEND its employees? Should it be Minister Gatt to order action to be taken? Resign Inginier Tranter, because Minister Gatt is doing what you should have done, without awaiting orders.

M Camilleri

Aug 22nd 2008, 06:13

@ D Fenech - Difficult times?? What are you talking about??

Let's see ... I switch on the lights and at the back of my mind someone is saying "95% surcharge, go slow with the light". I go fill my car with a 20 Euro note, look at my car gauge and for a split of a second my head goes, "oh no!! gauge stuck again!!" when in fact I only got a few litres of fuel.

Enemalta is like or similar to Malta Drydocks .... workers on the lower grades know what they are doing cos they truely work. They endure hardship and do their bust given the limitations they have. It's those that think that know it all that are the problem .... those we call "managers" or "engineers" or whatever you want to call them.

We are serious that's why we need answers to what's being done with our money. Please stop living in Wonderland!!!

D fenech

Aug 22nd 2008, 05:11

@ F X Cassar
Yes let's all be serious!
But in my opinion patronising does not help but a bit of humour does.
I don't think Malta needs good luck but God's help!
Plus more professionalism and accountability!
These situations are unacceptable and the joe the public deserves an explanation!
When 31tons of aviation fuel were spilled, where did they spill?
Did they seep into the ground/ the sea?
For how long had they been seeping before they were discovered?
Why was/is there no danger to the public?
The inhabitants of Bugia have a right to know.
It is not enough to just tell us...it is ok!

E Fitouri

Aug 22nd 2008, 02:10

D Fenech..

I took my kids swimming there just last Tuesday!!

Can't believe no notice was put up and nothing passed onto the public about this!
After a while, I noticed the sea everywhere was covered in a thin film of what I thought was fuel from nearby pleasure boats. I got my kids out of the sea and went home to wash them down. NOW I know what it was. Thanks to the authorities. I don't know what they are waiting for to a) clean that little bay from all the rubbish there is in it and b) start to effectively communicate with the public regarding what is safe and what is not when it comes to swimming areas!

Joseph Caruana

Aug 21st 2008, 23:55

Don't know why Austin is being showered with praise for taking the only steps he could take to save his face.

Maybe his worshipers should keep in mind that he's been responsible for Enemalta for over five years and such episodes of negligence keep taking place year in year out at the same corporation. Last year it was power outages galore, this year its internet outages and now this serious environmental blunder...

Vincent Galea

Aug 21st 2008, 22:20

No wonder I keep calling him Hurricane Austin

F X Cassar

Aug 21st 2008, 22:12

@ D Fenech

Let's us all be serious and help each other especially during difficult times so that the country (Malta) will continue to prosper. Good luck to the Maltese Nation.

F X Cassar
Xlendi Gozo

John Azzopardi

Aug 21st 2008, 21:14

I should sincerely hope that the contaminated fuel was kept separate from the the A1 aviation fuel when recovered. I should hope that common sense and professionalism prevailed.

D Fenech

Aug 21st 2008, 20:33

T Abdilla stated that this aviation fuel, which has been "collected" ,will now be down graded to light heating fuel or fuel oil!
Eh mela we can always sell it to those vehicles who are mixing their fuel!

So the party goes on!!!

Mhux hekk???? Ma nahlux!!!!!

On a more serious note. The public has been informed that there is and has been no danger. Could someone please explain how and why to us ignorant beings!

Dr. Emmy Bezzina, LL.D.,Dip.S.Th.,B.A.,

Aug 21st 2008, 19:41

AUSTIN GATT is MALTA`s No. 1 elected Representative and my Party ALPHA congratulates him on this stand. The people have to be informed of these constant mishaps by people who are paid from public funds.These people have to be made known to the public. Transparency must be demonstrated related to the people selected to carry out the enquiry. There must be no fear nor favour irrespective of who they they are.All involved if found to be negligent,irresponsible,ignoring the basic procedures of vigilance,or outright corrupt have to be made to pay the thousands od Dollars indicated.Awareness of any type of danger to the Environment ,Maltese Heritage, or The People has to be communicated to the People.These irresponsibilities have long been occurring in many different Departments: it is a Relief to have at the helm a Minister like Austin Gatt who has been a shining Star in an otherwise dismal political set-up.Gonzi is blessed to have Ministers like him who when they were needed [ mhux biex jaqtghu xi zigarella ! ] were at hand to protect the interests of The People and Our State.Now let the People know the Facts, the Culprits and Remedies applied.ALPHA.

Ing. S. Cremona

Aug 21st 2008, 19:40

Well Done Dr Austin!
May i suggest that Ministers are appointed irrespective of their colour.
We need that the other ministers are like Dr. Gatt. Malta would be a much better place.
We who survive in the private sector know what accountability is all about, you learn about it the first day you join a company!

Malcolm Seychell

Aug 21st 2008, 19:38

A sad story like many others but a well done to AG who ordered their suspension.

T Abdilla

Aug 21st 2008, 19:25

"The report showed that following the incident, Enemalta personnel immediately initiated standard operating procedures to contain spillage and recover as much of the fuel as possible."

Recovered fuel will not be used as Jet A-1 as it is contaminated .... so much of the fuel recovered would be downgraded either to any other lower fuel like Light Heating Oil or Fuel Oil. This means loss of product's value and money.

Ah!! BTW ... 95% surcharge also covers these f...k ups as well ... so HALLAS POPLU!!!

Charles Micallef

Aug 21st 2008, 19:20

Are they not aware of the price of fuel these days? If they had received their electricity bill, they would have been a damn site more careful if they did...................

Franco Farrugia

Aug 21st 2008, 19:02

31 tons!
What will some people say? That it's another 'fuss' over nothing?

I wonder if there will be some Union crying murder over this suspension of workers!

ray pace

Aug 21st 2008, 19:02

31 tonnes of aviation fuel spilled and unreported for a week? Who is going to be held responsible? Yet again..well done Austin for the immediate action taken.

J.M. Chapelle

Aug 21st 2008, 19:01

Official 1: "Whoops! it falled!"

Official 2: "What we do?"

Official 3: "Aw friends, the tea is ready, come have some."

Officials 2+3: "Ok! the world didn't fall anyway!"

Gavril Flores

Aug 21st 2008, 18:51

I am wondering if AG is the only minister with guts

D.Galea

Aug 21st 2008, 18:40

I suppose they must have thought... "Ahh No problem! It's all already covered by the 95% surcharge!"

J Sant

Aug 21st 2008, 18:38

This installation is a temporary storage facility for Jet A-1/Kero fuel before it is tested and transfer to Luqa Airport for aviation use. Being high season for tourism and the limited storage of Fuel at Luqa Airport, this installation is used frequently to transfer fuel from B'Bugia to Luqa Airport. There is always a group of Enemalta personnel monitoring these transfer, no matter what time of the day it is.

So how come spillage was noticed a week later? How come personnel in charge of the tanks and stocks did not notice the abnormal discrepancies in transferred fuel figured? Don't they physically monitor each transfer and report the outcome to superiors? Enemalta should have a stock control system that controls these transfers and see that each litre transferred is accounted for.

Who is going to make good for this loss of money? Most probably, managers will go scot free and the lowest personnel will get all the blame as usual.

Nigel Lawrence

Aug 21st 2008, 18:35

If this is normal practice for Enemalta, it's hardly surprising they can't turn in a decent profit. I'm pretty sure this loss will be borne by the taxpayer- as usual.

D Fenech

Aug 21st 2008, 18:33

And where did it spill to?
Into the sea?
Was the health of bathers put at risk if it was?
Unbelievable!!!!!!!!!