Power plant extension gets outline permit

Application concerns only the issue of land use

At a tense but very calm meeting, the planning authority yesterday approved with nine votes to one the outline development permit for the new power plant at Delimara.

A motion presented by Malta Environment and Planning Authority board member Roderick Galdes, a Labour MP, asking the board to postpone its decision found no backing, to the disdain of the people present for the three hour-long public hearing.

At the end of the meeting, various people voiced their disapproval at the board members, accusing them of being puppets on a string and of insensitivity towards the environmental problems created by industrialisation in the south.

The decision came barely 24 hours after an emergency parliamentary debate requested by the Labour Party on Wednesday during which the opposition called for the decision to be postponed pending the Auditor General's investigation into the tendering process. Nationalist MP Jeffrey Pullicino Orlando, writing in The Times yesterday, also called for the decision to be postponed.

Throughout the meeting, Mepa chairman Austin Walker and the head of Mepa's Environment Protection Directorate, Martin Seychell, continuously reminded the audience that the outline application only concerned the issue of land use and did not enter into the merits of what fuel and engine types were to be used.

Mr Seychell said the technical details would be subject to rigorous scrutiny when Enemalta applied for the environmental permit (IPPC) and the full development permit for the power station extension. The new plant would not be able to operate without the IPPC, he added.

However, residents and mayors raised doubts as to the suitability of the chosen technology, especially the choice of fuel. They insisted Mepa could not decide the issue purely from a land use point of view because the environment impact assessment on which they were basing the decision referred to a plant running on heavy fuel oil.

The power station extension, which will be supplied by Danish company BWSC, consists of eight diesel engines that can run on heavy fuel oil or diesel. The government has stated the engines would run on the more polluting fuel oil because it was cheaper than the less problematic diesel.

Enemalta engineer Peter Grima admitted, when pressed by Żejtun mayor Joe Attard, that the chosen technology, which combined diesel engines with emissions filtering equipment, was unique in the world although the individual components were tried and tested.

The use of fuel oil means 10,000 tonnes of hazardous waste annually would be collected from the emissions filtering equipment. The consultants who drew up the environment impact assessment yesterday reiterated that waste was a major concern and the only option to dispose of it safely was to export it.

The plant would also include two chimney stacks, each 65 metres high. They would be much lower than the present chimney.

After giving an overview of the project and the conclusions of the EIA, the Mepa case officer recommended approval of the outline development permit.

Engineer Arthur Ciantar, a consultant for the Marsaxlokk local council, criticised the EIA's conclusions that emissions would be within established EU limits because air quality data used to assess the prevailing situation were based on information collected from the Żejtun air monitoring station.

He insisted the EIA should have studied the impact on air quality if the new plant was run on diesel instead of fuel oil.

Labour MPs George Vella and Marlene Pullicino said the health authorities had no information as to whether the Delimara power station would have an impact on people's health. In view of this, Dr Vella said he could not understand how the health authorities concluded the new plant would not have an impact.

"On paper, everything looks fine but people cannot trust Mepa because its track record is dismal. It does not bother to monitor the conditions it imposes on applicants," Dr Vella said.

Mepa's track record was also highlighted by Labour environment spokesman Leo Brincat, who insisted that environmental health aspects were not being handled in an appropriate manner.

He called on the board to abstain from voting on the application, a comment that prompted Mr Walker to ask for submissions rather than political debates.

The remark provoked a negative reaction from those present.

With Mepa's credibility under the spotlight, Edward Falzon, a resident in the area, insisted Mepa was not able to solve the black dust problem that plagued localities in the south let alone solve the "disaster" that would be created by the chosen technology.

ksansone@timesofmalta.com