The opposition’s spokesman on the environment, Leo Brincat, has called for a proper budget for the new select committee which would examine the problem of black dust in the south of Malta. The committee should also be able to hold public hearings to hear civil society.

While the opposition did not want to politicise the issue, it was shameful that the government had not tackled it with the urgency it deserved. It now appeared that the government was trying to “bury” this issue while the select committee met. Mr Brincat said that if the committee was to be taken seriously, it first had to gather and analyse all the facts related to the issue to guarantee full transparency by Mepa, Enemalta and the regulator, which would now also be responsible for the climate directorate. To these one must add the environmental health authorities in view of the respiratory problems in the areas.

In order for the committee not to be just cosmetic, it must have an adequate budget not only to hear and receive reports but also to commission reports by independent local and foreign experts, together with officers and experts from the aforementioned bodies.

Mr Brincat called for the committee to be given all detailed reports, including when there were outages and soot blowing at the power station and when a quantity of smoke and soot was released during the night or when it was getting dark.

It was imperative that the committee would have at its disposal reports on circumstances of outages which were heavy enough to increase the load on the filters or when there were wind conditions that stirred up deposits from the Marsa power station waste. This was not a problem of the south only, because Valletta and Floriana were also affected.

In reviewing the reports one could arrive not only at the efforts made by the government but also gauge the authorities’ political will to find a solution to the problem.

Mr Brincat augured that there would not be any objection to hearing certain witnesses, similar to the situation emanating at the House Public Affairs Committee. The people were interested to know how many times the Marsa power station precipitators had been switched off and whether such actions had the blessing of the minister responsible for the environment – the Prime Minister.

Earlier, Mr Brincat said the first studies had clearly indicated the source of the problem, as had a university study in 2000. All pointed to the Marsa power station as the source of the black dust.

At the end of his address Mr Brincat moved amendments to the government motion, calling for a budget for the committee and for the committee to be able to hold public hearings.