Government accepts Opposition demand for 'black dust' committee budget
Updated:
Labour Environment spokesman Leo Brincat has called for a budget for the new parliamentary select committee which will examine the problem of black dust in Fgura and its environs.
The government accepted the proposal, as well as another opposition proposal for the committee to be empowered to hold public hearings.
Mr Brincat, who was speaking in Parliament, said the Opposition did not want to politicise this issue, but it was shameful that the government had not tackled it with the urgency it deserved.
It now appeared that the government was trying to 'bury' this issue while the select committee met.
Mr Brincat said the first studies had clearly indicated the source of the problem, as had a university problem in 2000. All pointed to Marsa power station as the source of the black dust.
The Opposition, he said, would insist in the committee on total transparency from Mepa, Enemalta and the Malta Resources Authority as well as the health authorities.
The committee, in order to be effective, needed a proper budget to commission its own independent reports from local and foreign experts. It should also be able to hold public hearings to hear civil society.
The committee should also be furnished with detailed reports about emissions from the power station and details over when the Marsa power station precipitators were not functioning.
He also hoped, Mr Brincat said, that the government would not object to the summoning of witnesses by the committee.
At the end of his address Mr Brincat moved amendments to the government motion calling for a budget for the committee and for the committee to be able to hold public hearings. The amendments were accepted.
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Philip Bonello
Dec 7th 2010, 10:31
I think the government should contract NASA (and maybe FBI forensics) to solve this problem seeing as how it requires rocket science to solve this. Anybody needing a sample can pop over.
l fenech
Dec 7th 2010, 06:40
Issa jieqaf il "Black dust" meta tieqaf il-junk li ghandna fil-Marsa fif-2012. Ghax il-Gvern jaqbillu u l-EU ukoll ghax fejn trid tiftah halqa.
M Attard
Dec 7th 2010, 06:20
Contrary to what has been said,the black dust is not just a South problem. For years I have been sweeping dust off my waterfront terrace on the Gzira side of Sliema. For a long time I used to put it down to the building works which go on from time to time in the locality,but that is not so.
Yes this black dust does exist.Saying it doesn't won't make it go away.
C Ellul
Dec 6th 2010, 20:05
Why are scrap yards being ignored from the suspect list? Electric cables recovered from demolished sites or of dubious origin are burnt to recover the copper which fetches very high prices. The problem is with the PVC insulation that when burnt emits sooth and hydrochloric acid fumes. The incineration is most probably done at night so that it is not visible from the surroundings. The way to see these fumes is by using INFRA RED Sensitive cameras which are readily available, placed as high as possible and monitoring the area all around. Typically put 4 cameras on the highest building around , church cupola for example. Look at the recording on a daily basis , To remove any doubts another set of camera are to monitor the power stations concurrently. Most probably if this monitoring is given too much publicity the guilty party will never take the chance.
Rocco Cauchi
Dec 6th 2010, 18:58
If Fgura residents are so adamant about black dust, cannot we all citizens request that an investigation be held, perhaps by the same special committee, on the paint scorching patches found on many a car throughout Malta these past few months and attributed by some in the know to ACID RAIN. If this this really acid rain, what is causing it all of a sudden in Malta when previously it was unheard of?
J. Schembri
Dec 6th 2010, 18:35
If there is black dust in Fgura originating from the Marsa Power station we have two available solutions.
The PN solution is twofold:
Power from the European Electricity Grid with a cable from Malta to Sicily.
The building of the Delimara Power Station Extension which can run on different types of fuels, the cheapest fuel is not coal like we had in Marsa but heavy fuel oil which produces a lot of soot which will be picked up by precipitators and filters before polluting the surrounding areas.
The PL solution:
Investigate and try to blame EneMalta or the Government , to gain brownie points from the ill-treated PL supporters who had their mayor mysteriously voted out, on PL's instructions.
The other PL solution is to put as many hurdles in the process of extending the Delimara Power Station. They did the same on Sant 'Antnin.
If Malta leaves the Marsa power station running we will be fined by the EU. Because Marsa is a very dirty , old and inefficient power station.
Where was the PL when we had coal in Marsa?
After this investigation where would we end up?
MCaruana
Dec 6th 2010, 18:29
electricity back to normal about 1hr without electricity
MCaruana
Dec 6th 2010, 17:51
or black out instead we are without electricity at the moment zabbar st peters area and xaghjra also without electricity