Backbencher Franco Debono returned like a bolt from the blue yesterday, filing a Parliamentary motion calling on Enemalta to stop using the polluting heavy fuel oil at the Delimara power station.
The motion also calls on Enemalta to remove oil storage tanks sited in the middle of a residential neighbourhood in Birżebbuġa.
It follows a series of attacks on the government by Dr Debono, who is currently locked in dispute with the PN executive committee over the latter’s decision to ban him from contesting the next election on the party ticket after he voted with the Opposition to force the resignation of Home Affairs Minister Carm Mifsud Bonnici.
Just yesterday, the committee circulated its agenda for a meeting on Monday in which Dr Debono’s appeal from its censure will be settled.
Asked by The Times about the timing of the motion yesterday, Dr Debono pointed out that he had spoken about the problems raised in the motion for years but also acknowledged that the move was directly linked with the executive’s decision.
“I filed this motion because it is clear that the legislature is nearing its end and this is an urgent matter, he said, but added that the motion “takes into account the party’s attitude” towards him.
In a reaction, the Finance Ministry, which is responsible for the power station, pointed out that the government planned to switch Delimara to gas eventually but argued that the cost was prohibitive unless the EU co-finances a pipeline to mainland Europe in the next budget, which it has indicated it might.
The ministry also stressed that the commissioning of the Delimara extension would be making sure the old and inefficient Marsa plant could be shut down.
Over the past months Dr Debono has been indicating that he might scupper a series of legislative initiatives announced by the government such as the IVF and cohabitation bills, once Parliament is reconvened after the summer recess on October 1.
However, yesterday’s motion is probably the most robust signal that he intends taking his grievances with the party to Parliament.
Asked whether the Opposition would support Dr Debono’s motion, a Labour party spokesman said the party “will announce its voting intentions when a date for discussion is set.”
Asked if their support would mean that a prospective Labour government would immediately switch to cleaner and more expensive fuel if elected, the spokesman simply said: “Joseph Muscat has already made it clear that a Labour government would start the process to have a gas-fired power station. That commitment stands”.
Meanwhile, fellow backbenchers Jesmond Mugliett, who had also been critical of the decision to run the power station extension on heavy fuel oil, and Jeffrey Pullicino Orlando, who is now an independent MP, could not be reached for comment up to the time of writing.
In the motion, Dr Debono protests the “snail’s pace” with which the government had treated the issues surrounding Birżebbuġa which he has been raising since 2008.
He demands the immediate removal of the oil storage facility known as the Shell tanks, which, he points out, have been on site since 1979 and which are posing a great risk to the residents.