The government should fuel the extension of the Delimara power plant with diesel rather than the more polluting heavy fuel oil and do away with the expensive filtering system that comes with using the latter, according to a group of environmental groups.

The group pointed out that when questioned on the choice of fuel, the Finance Minister recently said there was nothing to prevent government going for gas oil or diesel rather than heavy fuel oil other than the higher electricity unit cost due to the higher price of the former.

But the NGOs said the higher price of the fuel could be offset by the fact that the expensive collection and exportation of hazardous waste could be ditched altogether.

No contracts for hazardous waste disposal would be required, they pointed out, save for some minor filtering.

The NGOs maintained they could not accept an option which carried a serious threat to public health and asked both sides of the House of Representatives to agree on a motion requiring Enemalta to use gas oil and not heavy fuel oil.

Friends of the Earth Malta, Flimkien għal Ambjent Aħjar, Nature Trust (Malta), the Ramblers Association Malta, the Gaia Foundation and Saħħambjent said they were "greatly concerned" by the major public health issues involved in the emissions of the proposed Delimara Power Station extension.

They pointed out that the disposal of the hazardous waste generated by heavy fuel oil was very expensive and hazardous in itself.

Even if the system worked perfectly, Enemalta itself admitted that a logistics failure preventing regular export of the waste would mean an interruption in power generation, with consequent power cuts as recently experienced, the NGOs pointed out.