Gas plant built 200 metres from fireworks factory

Approved by MEPA six years ago in the absence of an Environmental Impact Assessment, in 2009 the plant applied for an Integrated Pollution Prevention Control Permit, which aims to regulate the environmental impact of pollution.

IPPC permits are intended to minimise pollution from installations which require an environmental permit from MEPA to operate, and must use the best available technique in their operations.

These include selected sites in the waste management sector, power generation, certain chemical plants and farms.

Ironically, documentation presented during the processing of the permit showed MEPA recognising the risks posed by the proximity of the Poligas plant to a fireworks factory, six years after it approved the plant without even conducting an Environmental Impact Assessment.

In August 2009, MEPA’s IPPC committee expressed its concern that no professional emergency plan had been submitted by Poligas, owned by construction magnate Charles Polidano.

“This is urgently required given that the plant which produces acetylene is situated near a fireworks factory,” the committee waned.

After the emergency plan was duly submitted by Poligas, in August 2010 the same committee called on the developers to ensure that in case of an evacuation, the Civil Protection Department, the Police and Hospital are always informed “even in the case of a small emergency.”

Poligas was also asked to appoint an emergency team of trained and certified personnel, to respond to any emergency once the alarm is raised and to ensure easy access for fire engines in case of an accident.

The Poligas plant was inaugurated on New Year’s Day 2006 by Prime Minister Lawrence Gonzi. Despite not being validated by an EIA, the project was approved by MEPA in May 2005.

While an EIA had been conducted on the relocation of the Multigas plant in Kirkop, no such assessment was ever carried out on the Poligas plant.

Asked about the discrepancy in 2007, a MEPA spokesperson had told MaltaToday the decision not to require an EIA for Poligas was simply based on floor space. “The floor area is 654m2 and does not qualify for an EIA.”

Current EIA regulations state that industrial development with a gross floor space of more than 3,000m2 require an EIA.

But the same regulations state that an EIA should be conducted for plants whose manufacturing process uses chemical conversion.

Back then, a MEPA spokesperson said the decision to waive an EIA for the Poligas plant was because it did not involve the storage of “combustible” gases.