Officials of the company that will be running the LNG plant have been quoted saying: “Why is there all this fuss? Many LNG carriers go through the port of Tokyo.” What they don’t say is that storage is not on an old ship but on tanks on land. LNG is not being stored on a 36-year old vessel like the LNG Gemini. The officials also fail to inform us that the port of Tokyo is much bigger than Marsaxlokk Bay and is, in fact, three times the size of Malta.
They also did not tell us that in the Papadakis report there is a prominent disclaimer that, if there will be no risks, it will be only on condition that there are no souces of sparks in the vicinity. Doesn’t George Papadakis know that there will be a power station next to the LNG storage? Hans Pasman was right in saying that the reports carried out are so incomplete.
They did not tell us that if, in a storm, the storage ship collides with another vessel or breaks its moorings, as fishermen are saying, and, as a consequence, suffers a rupture in one of the tanks of less than a square metre, the cloud that would leak out would cover the entire village of Marsaxlokk. This could be ignited even with a lighted cigarrette. It had to be Pasman, an expert in risk assessment living in Malta and who knows the constraints of Marsaxlokk Bay, to tell us about this.
The government is trying to make us believe that the LNG project is necessary to lower utility rates. But they’re not telling us that they are committed to buy all energy provided by the private operator of the plant at 9c6, even if electricity could be purchased through the interconnector cable at one third the price. This is so especially because, in Europe today, there exists a free market, thanks to the so-called market coupling. No wonder the private operator is defending the project so strongly.
The government has also not told us at what point is the feasibility study for the Sicily-Malta pipeline, for which we had obtained EU funds. Obviously, they don’t want to publish this study before the decision is taken by Mepa on March 24 (today). The reason is that this report will surely conclude that it does not make sense for a private operator to invest €180 million in a regasification unit on land, only to cease operations and keep it unused because gas is being supplied by pipeline. With this project they are killing the pipeline – March 22.
Questions
Joseph Muscat and Konrad Mizzi’s LNG project is full of gross errors and clouded by cover-ups. No wonder the government has objected to it being discussed by the parliamentary committee for the environment, where it would have had to answer questions regarding the environment impact assessment for the power station and the LNG storage in Marsaxlokk Bay. They want monologues not discussion where questions can be asked and serious scrutiny carried out. A clear sign that they have something to keep secret.
This project is symbolic of the lack of transparency of this government and the Labour Party itself because it was planned and prepared in secret when they were still in Opposition.
They want monologues not discussion where questions can be asked
I agree perfectly with Marlene Farrugia who, on Wednesday in Parliament, said: “None of us are experts and it therefore makes sense to consult experts who can address our questions.” It was for this very reason that we had requested the parliamentary committee for the environment to scrutinise the project’s EIA. It is a pity that, eventually, Farrugia gave in to the pressure put on her by the government so that the committee does not discuss the subject.
The Opposition has long been insisting on the publication by the government of all the studies that persuaded it to adopt this crazy project, a project based on secrecy and concealment.
Many of the studies carried out – and which we have seen – are described by their own authors as preliminary. Only parts of the Papadakis report have been published. This report has less details than the one made by Roberto Vaccari. There are entire pages of input but no details of output. Just risk contours. And even these are not all indicated. We wanted to inquire about them in committee. Obviously, the government shies away from such questions. They want to hide and conceal.
Even the report by Umberto Maffezzoli, commissioned by the OHSA, was kept secret. They published it on Wednesday at 6.06pm, literally minutes before the parliamentary debate. And they published it only after Therese Comodini Cachia and myself had presented a letter to the Mepa chairman invoking our rights according to the Freedom of Access to Information on the Environment Regulations of 2005, so that this report be published. These regulations are part of our country’s obligations under the Aarhus Convention.
Mizzi is now saying that, in a few years’ time, he will be removing the LNG storage ship and replacing it with a pipeline. Where are the studies on the different options and their viability?
The government claimed that a number of simulation exercises were carried out. And what did they show? Publish them! Din l-Art Ħelwa is right to point out that it strongly feels that the Mepa board should not be convened to take the decision that will allow the massive floating gas storage in Marsaxlokk Bay when some of the risk analysis studies have not yet been completed. The board should not grant a permit until all the necessary studies have been carried out and made available to the public – March 21.
Family Park
In the typcial way this government works, in a speech he gave last week, Environment Minister Leo Brincat hinted that the government has an advanced plan to “commercialise” the Marsascala Family Park. He was reported saying that the government will be ensuring that “access to the park will remain free”. Just a sentence. A reference that many ignored but which I noted.
Brincat has a lot of explaining to do about this park. This is the same minister who closed the park as one of his first decisions on the pretext that the waste recycling plant was causing the sulphur content in the air to rise to levels that was “dangerous” to visitors. A poor excuse considering that the workers of the plant itself were allowed to continue operating normally. Now, after a year, the minister has realised that this park is an asset and will, therefore, commercialise it.
The truth is that the minister has no idea how to run the place and wants to hand it over to private interests. If one visits the park one can see the state of neglectit is in. Shameful. And this after saying, in a press conference when the park was re-opened to the public, that a management committee was to be set up. It would not be a bad idea if, after the reshuffle, the Prime Minister kept Brincat in the Cabinet but as minister for incompetence.
It is probable that the Family Park will be “commercialised” so that the government saves money on its upkeep. This government is generous with its cronies but tight-fisted with the families of other Maltese.
If the government is so desperate for money, all it has to do is pay a visit to the Sant’Antnin plant and remove some of the many cronies that have had a job created purposely for them over the past few weeks, the most recent one being the head of One News, Manuel Micallef, who, without any call for applications, was engaged by Wasteserv as an HR manager. And then there is the ex-PN member of Parliament who was most useful to Labour when they were in Opposition and who has now been appointed the official architect of Wasteserve, obviously, with no public call for applications.
This is a government generous with its clique but miserly with the families and children of the common citizens of Malta and Gozo – March 20.
http://georgepullicino.blogspot.com
George Pullicino is a Nationalist MP.