Update 20 5.57pm - The Mepa board this evening approved the permit for the gas-fired power station in Delimara and the controversial floating gas facility in Marsaxlokk bay.

The vote was 9-2 in favour after a sitting of over seven hours. The members who voted against were Ryan Callus, who was nominated to the board by the PN, and Alex Vella, nominated by environment NGOs.

The meeting started at 10 am. and was tense at times, with insults shouted from the crowd when representatives of the PN spoke.

At the beginning of the meeting, at the Mediterranean Conference Centre, the large crowd present was told that the Prime Minister had written to the chairman of Mepa, Vince Cassar, saying that if Mepa approved the gas power station project, work would proceed even if an appeal was filed.

Mr Cassar said that what the prime minister had said was allowed by law. (See separate story of PN reaction and government explanation).

Enemalta representative David Galea, the project director, outlined the details of the project. He started by saying this was a national project intended to provide security of supply, clean air, a diversification of the energy mix and reduce Enemalta's generation costs.

Mr Galea said that even though Enemalta was in financial distress, electricity tariffs were uncompetitive when compared to others in Europe. Energy reform was a must, he added. 

He said the possibility of offshore mooring of the gas storage facility was ruled out early on in the planning phase because having an offshore storage and regassificator was a relatively new technology, it created a problem of security of supply due to the possibility of bad weather, the lack of control on other sea traffic and the disruption of economic activity at Hurd's Bank, which is currently used for bunkering purposes.

A slide of the routes taken by ships inside Marsaxlokk Bay.A slide of the routes taken by ships inside Marsaxlokk Bay.

Peter Zammit, the project architect, said preliminary studies on the manoeuvrability of ships inside Marsaxlokk Bay showed there would be considerable distance between the routes  used by large commercial vessels and the location where the LNG carrier will be berthed.

The closest ship that was likely to cause a problem was the fuel supplier - which would be 80 metres away from the LNG ship. The fuel ship unloads on to the dolphin in the middle of the bay to supply Has-Saptan storage facility.

Mr Zammit said the routes used by various ships that dock at the Freeport were analysed.

FULL MARITIME IMPACT STUDY STILL HAS TO BE CARRIED OUT

Paul Gauci, the EIA coordinator, said the initial maritime traffic studies were based on information that there were some 2,500 annual shipping movements at the Freeport. However, he said a full maritime impact assessment study had to be carried out.

Closing off the Enemalta presentation on the project, Mr Galea said the project was needed now because the energy company was in urgent need of reform to avoid serious economic and social consequences.

"Enemalta requires immediate surgery and we do not have luxury to postpone decisions."

MEPA DIRECTORATE RECOMMENDS PROJECT APPROVAL

He was followed by Mepa officials who gave a presentation on the project.

Mepa's planning directorate said the reasons for the application provided enough justification to recommend approval.

However, Transport Malta and the Resources Authority had to give their go ahead on other aspects of the project such as navigational matters.

The planning directorate is recommending a bank guarantee of €500,000 and a planning contribution fee of €125,000. Other recommendations include a detailed construction management plan and the issuance of an IPPC permit before the plant could be operational.

Any change to the site plans submitted by the company would require an amendment to the permit Mepa will be deciding on today.

The directorate is insisting Enemalta submit a decommissioning plan for the removal of the old Delimara power station - including the high chimney - before any work on the current project starts.

FINAL RISK STUDY STILL TO BE COMPLETED

Greek expert George Papadakis, who was assigned the risk assessment analysis of various accident scenarios by the Occupational Health and Safety Authority, said a final study based on exact operational data will have to be done at a later stage.

He said the company owning the gas plant would not be able to operate it unless it got clearance on the safety aspect, which would be determined when a final risk study was conducted.

However, from a preliminary risk study the risk of fatality within the immediate area of the LNG terminal was one in every 100,000 years. The risk level dropped the further away from the plant one moved.

Dr Papadakis said that based on the energy demand of the Maltese islands, a refuelling LNG tanker would have to call between eight and 12 times a year. The manouvering area for the visiting refuelling ship would be outside the bay and the tanker would will be assisted inside by tug boats for berthing alongside the floating storage unit.

After the presentations, the chairman allowed the reading out of the judicial letter against Mepa filed by fisherman Ray Bugeja and his wife, and Mepa's reply, filed today (See separate story).

Also read out were a  letter from the president of the Fisheries Cooperative,  dissociating itself from Mr Bugeja's objections.

The chairman also read out two other letters from Enemalta saying that a study on the feasibility of gas pipeline had started and Enemalta was committed to decommission the Delimara 1 plant.

COMMENTS FROM THE FLOOR

The discussion was then opened to the floor. The chairman said that members of the public should make three-minute contributions, to which PN MP George Pullicino objected.

Marsaxlokk mayor Edric Micallef said the council had been campaigning for clean air since 2007. He said that after deliberation, the council last week decided it would support the project, including the floating gas storage unit because this would enable all power generation units to operate on the cleaner gas. The council, however, believed that the final solution should be a gas pipeline and removing the FSU was more feasible than removing LNG storage tanks on land, as originally proposed. Mr Micallef said the quickest way to ensure clean air for his locality was the current project as proposed, as long as the FSU was a temporary solution until the gas pipeline became available.

PN president Anne Fenech said she was speaking as the legal representative of the Bugeja family, who called for a maritime impact assessment to be done before Mepa decided on the permit. Dr Fenech, who is also a maritime lawyer, insisted there were more than 5,000 maritime movements in Marsaxlokk Bay.

She said the Delimara side was not protected by a breakwater and asked how many tug boats would be required to keep the LNG tanker secured in bad weather. Dr Fenech said the tug boats available today were used for ships at Freeport and Oil Tanking. She asked on the reasoning that led Dr Papadakis to assume there were no ignition sources in the immediate vicinity of the LNG facility that prompted him to exclude the possibility of fires.

Engineer Arthur Ciantar, speaking on his behalf - he was a consultant for the Marsaxlokk council - pointed out that in the EIA study done by Roberto Vaccari, any accident could have a "devastating" effect on the existing power station.

Mr Ciantar said any risk to the power station was unacceptable because it put the economy at risk. He insisted that Prof. Vaccari's observation that the FSU would be subject to bad weather and high waves went unanswered by the applicant and called for a full maritime impact assessment to be done before any decision is taken.

Captain David Bugeja, chief officer and harbour master, said all studies were done and the results were reflected in the presentations. He said the nautical study that had to be done was of an operational nature linked to the way the ship would be manoeuvred inside the port. Mr Bugeja said that from a nautical perspective this ship was being considered as any other commercial carrier, some of which were much bigger. He said nautical studies would among others establish how many tug boats would be needed.

PAPADAKIS DEFENDS STUDY

Prof. Papadakis said the scope of the risk analysis was to cover the worst case scenarios and the worst consequences, hailing from involuntary accidents. On the issue of having an ignition source close to the plant, Prof. Papadakis said having an immediate ignition source was less of a problem for residents. It was more dangerous if a gas cloud that has already dispersed be ignited and this was what was analysed.

He said the risk study took the largest release rate for gas from a hole in the inner tank of 1.7 square metres, which made all calculations very conservative.

Mr Pullicino disputed the argument that having a floating and regassification unit (FSRU) outside port was a relatively new technology. He said the Livorno example was not the only one but there were 11 other FSRUs in operation around the world.

He asked if in the worst case scenarios analysed, whether Prof. Papadakis took into consideration a thunderstorm. He also asked whether the storage ship would be self propelled or whether it had to be towed by tug boats, which would mean a longer time for the ship to be removed from any dangerous situation.

Mr Pullicino was constantly heckled by residents present for the hearing.

David Galea from Enemalta clarified that the Livorno FSRU was unique in its configuration but it was only responsible for four per cent of Italy's natural gas supply. Responding to Mr Pullicino's argument that prices from interconnector to Sicily would be cheaper, Mr Galea said at the peak when Malta required most electricity was the period when interconnector prices would be highest.

Hans Pasman, a professor on chemical risk management, said the potential consequences were very large if a gas cloud escaped and ignited over Marsaxlokk. The solution was an FSRU out at sea.

Prof. Pasman insisted it was not just the risk zones that should be taken into consideration but also the consequence zones.

Prof Papadakis refuted the argument, saying risk zones were an acceptable international standard to analyse such risks.

He questioned Prof Pasman's assumption that a flammable cloud would have reached Marsaxlokk before it found an ignition point. "Why not assume the flammable gas cloud travelled all the way to Valletta and then fine an ignition source there?".

Fisherman Carmelo Bugeja insisted that placing the gas storage ship on Hurd's Bank would have caused problems for small-scale fishermen who use the area to fish.

Antoine Vella asked whether the Freeport would have to stop operating when the storage tank was being replenished, since the sea corridor would be reduced as a result of a second LNG tanker.

It was a similar concern expressed by PN MP Tony Bezzina.

After the interventions from the floor, the chairman opened the discussion to the Mepa board members.

Board member Ryan Callus, the PN representative, said it was true that the 110 metre chimney would be removed but six other smaller chimneys with a total combined length of more than 300 metres would be built. Mr Callus asked Enemalta to clarify why it increased the gas storage facility to 125,000 cubic metres from 60,000 cubic metres, as originally planned.

Mr Galea from Enemalta said that in the bidding process the corporation gave a maximum limit of 180,000 cubic metres and left bidders to determine how best to manage storage.

When asked by Mr Callus, he denied that Enemalta had received any bids for an offshore FSRU during the bidding process.

Mr Callus insisted he was not comfortable voting for this project when certain issues were not yet decided such as how sea access to the LNG tanker would be controlled in a way which made it an ignition-free zone. He also could not understand why Enemalta was not considering shifting the Has-Saptan fuel dolphin in the middle of Marsaxlokk Bay since it would be very close to the LNG tanker.

ADJOURNMENT MOTION DEFEATED

Mr Callus asked various questions to clarify aspects of the studies, as the hall emptied.

Dr Papadakis said in reply to one of the questions that while the risks of a gas cloud were very small, should there be such a cloud, there was an 8 per cent chance it reaching the power station, which was an ignition source. Much depended on the measures taken to disperse the cloud, should it exist, and wind conditions.

Mr Callus said he was not comfortable voting on the projects at stake given that the maritime impact study had not yet been done and other reports were at a preliminary stage. He moved a motion asking the board to postpone a decision until the maritime impact assessment was carried out and Prof. Papadakis updated his studies.

Mepa board member Alex Vella also expressed concern at the absence of a maritime impact assessment. He asked what would happen to the project if the maritime study found problems with the FSU's location.

He seconded Mr Callus's motion, but it was defeated by nine votes to two.

The board then voted in favour of the development permit applications by the same margin. No filming was allowed during the vote.

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