Marsaxlokk mayor lukewarm on Delimara's floating LNG facilities

Marsaxlokk Labour Mayor Edric Micallef will insist on further environmental impact studies if the new Liquefied National Gas facilities are located on a floating platform outside the perimeter of the existing Delimara Power Station.

Although the call for expressions of interest for the new power station proposed that the LNG facilities be located onshore, consideration will also be given to bidders who present alternative solutions in which at least a part of the LNG facilities would be installed on a floating platform moored close to the Delimara Power Station.

Micallef made it clear that the council would prefer a situation where all facilities are located on the site occupied by the present power station, as proposed by the Labour Party before the general election.

Asked whether the council would demand a full environmental impact assessment on a new power station, which would include new gas storage facilities, Micallef replied that no studies are needed to assess the impact of gas, which is a cleaner fuel than heavy fuel oils, but that further studies would be required if the floating platform proposal was accepted.

Asked to react to the government's announcement that it will not shift the BWSC-constructed Delimara station to cleaner, but more expensive, diesel in the period before the LNG facilities are completed, Micallef replied that although the council would still prefer this option, it no longer considers it the first priority.

"The greatest health problem for Marsaxlokk is not the BWSC extension, which at least contains abatement technology, but the older Phase 1 power station, which burns HFO without any abatement".

According to Micallef, the most positive thing about Labour's proposal is that it would do away with the use of oil in Phase 1. It would be rendered redundant by the new, privately owned power station, while converting the BWSC plant to gas.

Yet when further pressed, Micallef acknowledged that the council would prefer that the BWSC plant be converted to diesel before its conversion to gas. This can be done immediately, as the BWSC power station can operate on both HFO and diesel.

For Micallef the priority presently is to ensure that the new government keeps its two year deadline to convert the existing BWSC power station to gas.

In December 2011 the Marsaxlokk council expressed its disappointment that the MEPA board had decided in favour of HFO, when the cleaner alternative of gasoil was available.

The council lambasted MEPA's decision, saying the 10 votes in favour did not reflect the presentations by experts put forward by the Marsaxlokk, Birzebbuga and Zejtun councils throughout the hearing. "One of the factors that emerged from the hearing was that Enemalta admitted that it wanted to use HFO so that it could remain financially viable... to the detriment of the south's environment and people's health".

But Micallef insists that the council, which was very active in the campaign against the HFO-fired Delimara plant, will submit the new power facilities to the same scrutiny. "The fact that a Labour government was elected makes no difference for us".