Labour MP Marlene Farrugia this morning appealed to the government to immediately stop using heavy fuel oil at the power station.

Speaking in Parliament this morning, Ms Farrugia said she truly believed that the power station was a cancer factory. Therefore, she said, measures to convert to a cleaner fuel should be taken immediately.

She praised Labour for opting to build a gas powered power station but asked why the BWSC was not converted to gas immediately.

"If we can stop emissions immediately, why postpone?" she asked.

Ms Farrugia called for honesty in parliament and said this issue should no longer remain a political football. Indeed, the two political sides should get together to give the best for Malta. 

In her speech Ms Farrugia also called for a clear agriculture policy that tied in with a national water strategy to ensure that Malta made the best use of its limited water resources, including reuse of drainage water.

Earlier in the debate, Nationalist MPs George Pullicino  criticised the government for not having started to use diesel instead of heavy fuel oil immediately at Delimara, as was promised by Labour before the general election. Instead of converting the power station immediately, the Labour government had twice gone before Mepa for a permit to continue to use heavy fuel oil and would continue to do so for two years, he said.

MINISTER'S REPLY

Replying, the minister said immediate conversion was not easy as a diesel storage facility would be needed. The corporation would also need to empty the HFO tanks, clean them and then use them for diesel.

But what would happen in the interim, did one switch Malta off? he asked.

He said the new gas facilities would be in use by March 2015 and there would be no more HFO. It would be end of story.

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