Malta faces imminent risk of EU court action over Marsa

The European Commission could be preparing to take Malta to the European Court of Justice over the emissions from the Marsa power station, after having issued a warning back in February 2012.

A government source privy to EU policy affairs said Brussels was mulling court action six months after having sent a reasoned opinion to Malta calling on the government to comply on industrial emissions.

The case relates to the government's delay in closing down the Marsa power plant, which is still being operated because it still provides a portion of Malta's energy demands.

The Commission is expected to say that Malta has "failed to protect citizens from noxious air pollution from a major power plant."

Until late yesterday, however, the only comment from a spokesperson for the Environment Commissioner Janez Potocnik was: "No decision has been taken yet on the possible follow-up to the reasoned opinion."

Back in June 2012, the Commission said it was concerned that Malta had not yet closed the power station, issuing a reasoned opinion to the government - the second step in an infringement notice issued by Brussels.

Under the Large Combustion Plants Directive, Marsa's four combustion plants were not supposed to exceed a 20,000-hour limit between 2008 and 2015, but all four plants went over that ceiling in 2011. The plant will have to be decommissioned by not later than 2015 - in the meantime, the government pays a daily fine for operating the power station, due to its emissions.

The power station produces 45% of Malta's electricity, but MaltaToday is informed that the Commission has been told that the Malta-Sicily interconnector will not be ready in time for the Marsa power station to be closed down by 2013.

Six months ago in June, the EC claimed that Malta was "failing to protect its citizens from pollution emitted by the Marsa power station".

The Marsa power plant was brought back into operation in 2012 due to a delay in bringing the Delimara plant online, in violation of the Large Combustion Plants Directive, the scope of which is to protect human health by limiting harmful emissions.

The government initially failed to reply to a letter of formal notice sent on 28 February 2012 within the stipulated two-month period. The formal notice is the first stage in a process that may lead to the Commission pursuing litigation.

This revelation will certainly stoke the flames of Labour declarations that Malta's power stations were "disease-generating factories", adding more 'fuel' to its claim that a natural gas terminal and power station are needed for the sake of environmental health.

News that Marsa had been brought back into operation was met with typical chagrin from the Green Party. "The people of Marsa, Paola, Hamrun, Valletta, Fgura and many other areas will once again have to suffer due to increased pollution because of this government's incompetence,"Alternattiva Demokratika chairperson Michael Briguglio said last year when the plant was reactivated.

"The Nationalist government expected to rush through the process for the commissioning of the Delimarapower station with no objection... the rush came about because the government did not plan the phasing-out of Marsa even though it had promised it would be closed down, first in 1995 on completion of the first Delimara plant, then in 2004 on EU accession to the European Union."