Combating air pollution

With reference to the report of my statement carried in The Times under the title Power Stations Pollution 'Unresolved' (August 27), please note that the main thrust of my media release was intended to show that the European community's air pollutant emission inventory report, which was published by the European Environment Agency last week, made it clear that Malta is going against the grain of EU trends on combating air pollution.

Apart from showing my concern that the extension of the Delimara power station will work on a heavy fuel oils system, while many EU countries have top-notch abatement equipment, in our case we shall be making recourse to a particular type of abatement equipment that is being used for the first time and that German experts Lahmayer International did not guarantee its success, so much so that they merely considered the project "plausible".

The EEA report was categorical in stating that reducing emissions of air pollutants brings significant social and economic benefits: fewer premature deaths and lower health care costs, as the toll from pollution-related diseases is also reduced.