Delimara gas plant, LNG vessel approved by MEPA

The Malta Environment and Planning Authority today approved the Delimara power station permit applications following a gruelling eight-hour meeting.  

The big debate centred around the berthing of a tanker providing liquefied natural gas to the new 215MW plant at Delimara, inside Marsaxlokk harbour.

Two seperate votes on the gas-fuelled power plant and the floating storage facility were taken and both went through with nine votes against two. The two negative votes came from Natioanlist Party representative Ryan Callus and Alex Vella from the Ramblers association. 

MEPA board hearing Delimara gas plant - video Ray Attard

A number of MPs, mostly from the Nationalist opposition joined the large crowd of people who converged to the hall in Valletta for the anticipated hearing. The Opposition member on the MEPA board Ryan Callus tabled a motion to postpone the decisions until a maritime impact assessment is carried out and until Greek expert Georgios Papadakis carries out further studies on the effects that an ignition source close to the gas facility will have.

The motion tabled by Callus and seconded by Ramblers Association representative Alex Vella was defeated by nine votes against two. While the vote was being taken, members of the public asked for the expulsion of a person sitting in the hall who took a photo of the board members despite MEPA chairman's warning that the media was not allowed to film or photograph the votes. 

Despite fears that sparks might fly, with the exception of a few isolated incidents, the meeting was relatively calm. As the discussion was opened for the board members, following a six-hour marathon of presentations and interventions from members of the public, a man was evicted after calling board member and opposition MP Ryan Callus a "clown."

The man only walked out after Callus refused to continue his intervention and MEPA chairman Vince Cassar warned that the meeting would not procede unless the man was thrown out by the police. The man, claiming to be innocent, walked out saying "I'll do anything for this government."

Prime Minister writes to MEPA chairman

After a 30-minute delay, the meeting commenced with MEPA chairman Vince Cassar  informing the audience that he had received a letter by Prime Minister Joseph Muscat informing him that “even if an appeal is lodged with the authority’s tribunal after its approval, works on the project would go ahead.” 

The MEPA chairman explained that this procedure was legal and in line with the authority's procedures.

MEPA lawyer Robert Abela explained that the law invoked by the Prime Minister was "the rule and not the exception" and explianed that in the power plant application an appeal was highly improbable since only the applicant and objectors could file an appeal. However, since there was no official objection filed, only Enemalta could lodge an appeal. 

In regards to the application for the jetty, green NGO FAA together with Enemalta can file an appeal, however, Abela noted, the objection was done in regards to archeological remains on site. 

The first spat between board members came before Enemalta’s project director David Galea made his presentation to the MEPA board members and the large crowd present at the hearing, held at the Mediterranean Conference Centre in Valletta.  

Nationalist MP Ryan Callus’s request to have the judicial protest filed by Marsaxlokk resident and fishing community leader Ray Bugeja read out was rejected upon the advice of the authority lawyer Robert Abela who informed the board that he had already filed a counter letter in court.

Cassar had to intervene, warning Callus and other board members that he was the one who made decisions. 

Maritime impact study not carried out

Finally, the hearing gets started by Enemalta’s project director David Galea and architect Peter Zammit who gave a technical presentation on what the Enemalta applications consisted of and outlined the different options which the company considered before settling for a floating storage facility inside the harbour.  

Galea insists that the option of having an offshore storage vessel and regasification facility was ruled out at the initial planning phase because this was an untried and new technology, which posed security problems in the case of bad weather and would have disturbed maritime traffic.

Zammit explained that the necessary studies on whether the storage vessel was at risk due to the heavy maritime traffic in the area were undertaken and concluded that Transport Malta had confirmed that big vessels servicing or making use of the Freeport and oil storage facilities in the Marsaxlokk harbour posed no danger. 

In his presentation over the Environment Impact Assessment, architect Paul Gauci, said a full maritime impact assessment study had yet to be carried out and the initial traffic studies showed that there were some 2,500 annual shipping movements at the Freeport.

In Enemalta’s presentation conclusion David Galea took the floor again and stressed that “Enemalta needs an urgent reform to avoid major national adverse social and economic consequences" and could not postpone decisions any further.

He added that the economies of scale did not make the conversion of Enemalta’s existing facilities to gas feasible and explained that the corporation has gone for “the best available technology.”

MEPA team manager and architect Michelle Piccinino went through the authority’s policies which apply to the two applications and explained that historic considerations and light pollution were among the objections filed by civil society. 

Piccinino added that Transport Malta did not object to the two applications because, despite the floating storage unit would be anchored inside the harbour, there would be ample room for vessels to manoeuvre.

Highlighting the main concerns raised during the EIA process, a representative of the authority’s environment directorate echoed the study’s coordinator Paul Gauci’s call for a maritime impact assessment and said that the aesthetic and visual impact on the area would be “natural and irreversible.” She added that the project was "justified" by Malta's economic, and policy requirements and commitments. 

MEPA's planning directorate explained that it was also backing the proposed project since this satisfied all criteria.However, the directorate is recommending a bank guarantee of €500,000 and a planning contribution fee of €125,000. 

Expert plays down cloud fears 

Georgios Papadakis, a chemical engineer with over 20 years experience in the control of Major Accident Hazards and author of two European Commission Guidelines concerning the Seveso Directive Safety Reports and Inspections, reiterated that the Delimara power plant poses minimal risks, and calculated at one fatality in 100,000 years.

He added that LNG’s properties meant that the gas was safe and the dangers of creating a flammable cloud were negligible. The expert said that a cloud would disperse in two minutes and the possibility of an ignition source was very remote. However, if a cloud were to ignite, this would burn very slowly and no flame would be produced, he said.

The Greek expert who was assigned the risk assessment analysis of various accident scenarios by the Occupational Health and Safety Authority, added that a final study based on operational data will be carried out at a later stage.

Reassuring that Electrogas, the project’s operators, would only be allowed to run the plant if clearance permits are issued, Papadakis said that LNG tankers would only call into the Marsaxlokk harbour to refuel the plant between eight and 12 times a year.

Judicial letter read out 

After a series of presentations which took up almost three hours of the hearing, MEPA chairman Vince Farrugia opened the discussion to the floor and board members.

However, before the discussion, the authority’s secretary read out the judicial letter filed by Ray Bugeja, the head of the Fisheries national fisheries cooperative, calling on the authority to postpone its decision in the absence of a maritime impact assessment study.

Bugeja is also demanding that a comprehensive study is carried out on the risk of a gas cloud catching fire if an ignition is caused in the area surrounding the plant by Papadakis. 

In its reply to the judicial letter, MEPA’s legal advisor Robert Abela expressed “shock” at the demand which came at such a late stage and insisted that it was an attempt to impose conditions on MEPA. The reply also noted that Bugeja was alone in objecting to the project and no Marsaxlokk resident had filed an official objection with the authority as determined by MEPA’s regulations. 

In another letter read out during the meeting, it traspired that the fisheries cooperative, dissociated itself from Bugeja's comments and insisted that teh cooperative's members were in favour of the project. 

MEPA lawyer Robert Abela also pointed out that Bugeja, who claimed to be a Marsaxlokk resident, was in fact registered in Gharb, Gozo on the electoral registry. 

Debate opens

Green NGO Flimkien ghal-Ambjent Ahjar, who had filed an official objection over archaeological remains in the area, did not make a presentation over these objections. After taking note of the persons who were interested in making an intervention, MEPA chairman Vince Cassar said that each speaker would be given three minutes to address the meeting.

On hearing this, Nationalist MP George Pullicino noted that this time limit was “unfair” and did not make sense after having heard a series of “repetitive” presentations which lasted over three hours.

The first speaker, Marsaxlokk mayor Edric Micallef pointed out that constitutionally, he was the “representative of all Marsaxlokk residents.”

In clear reference to the Nationalist Party’s insistent criticism on the project, Micallef said asked “are you in favour of the conversion to gas?”  

“For the benefit of the residents’ health, the council is in favour of the project, however we insist on the pursuit of the gas pipeline which would give the country a permanent provision of gas,” he said.  

PN president and Ray Bugeja's legal representative, Ann Fenech, said that the authority's claims that the fisheries cooperative secretary was not against MEPA taking a decision but was only asking for the postponement of the decison until a maritime impact assessment is carried out.  

Fenech went on to accuse the MEPA board of failing to fulfill their obligations since the authority did not carry out a study on the impact of a possible ignition source, such as an accidental one, on the power plant and surrounding areas. 

Green Party deputy chairperson Carmel Cacopardo said that the EIA was incomplete since no maritime assessment study was carried out.

Backing the relocation of the floating storage from inside the harbour to an offshore location, he also said “I would rather shift the risk from the power plant and residents to the storage vessel outside the harbour.”

Cacopardo added that the Vaccari report had a “hidden” reference to the dangers posed by flammable gas clouds which was being overlooked at the country’s peril.

MEPA chairman Vince Cassar said that it was “useless” reopening the discussion on whether the storage should be inside or outside the harbour since a decision to rule out the second option was taken in the initial stages. 

Chief officer and harbour master Captain David Bugeja said all necessary studies were carried out and shown in the presentations. He said the nautical study that had to be done was of an operational nature linked to the way the ship would be manoeuvred inside the port.

He added that from a nautical perspective the 125,000 cubic meters vessel was being considered as any other commercial tanker in the harbour, some of which were much bigger.

In reply to a number of questions on his study, Papadakis reassured that he had taken all “worst case scenarios in consideration, together with the worst case consequences possible.”

The Greek expert added the risk analysis covered the eventuality of involuntary accidents and noted that the study took the largest release rate for gas from a hole in the inner tank of 1.7 square metres, which made all calculations very conservative.

Papadakis said that an immediate ignition source was less dangerous for residents. Because it did not pose the same risks as that of an already dispersed cloud.

Following relatively calm proceedings, the MEPA chairman had to threaten a few rowdy members of the audience with eviction after former minister George Pullicino was interrupted and called a “liar” after stating that 91% of Marsaxlokk and Birzebugia residents were against the floating storage vessel berthed inside the harbour.

The Nationalist MP shed doubts on claims that the option of an offshore storage facility was dismissed becasue it was a new technology, since there were 11 such facilities in current use. Pullicino also asked whether the storage vessel would be self-propelled or whether it would need to be tugged out of harbour in case of an emergency.  

After a brief interrogation by MEPA board member Veronique Dalli, Hans Pasman, a Dutch professor on chemical risk management gave a presentation in which he explained that moving the floating storage unit offshore was the best solution to mitigate the risks posed by the storage and regasification process. 

Pasman argued that the risk analysis should look at the consequence zones, however this was dispelled by the Greek expert Papadakis who countered that if this was applied internationally, no plants would be SEVESO approved.

He also refuted the Dutchman’s assumptions over extendable gas clouds, explaining that these would disperse before reaching an ignition point.

No bidders proposed offshore facilities

Afrer opening the discussion to the MEPA board members, Enemalta's project manager said that no bidder had proposed an offshore Floating Storage Regasification Unit. In reply to Ryan Callus' questions, added that the risks related to the movements of large vessels in the harbour would be under control according to studies carried out by Transport Malta. 

"I do not feel comfortable voting on this project when certain questions I have have not been answered clearly. To make a clear decision I would need to see all stuidies, including a maritime im pacyt assessment which has not yet been done," Callus said.

In reply to a question by Callus, Papadakis said that the possibility of a gas cloud reaching the power plant depended on the weather conditions and if thyat was the case "there is 99% chance that the cloud ignites." However, he added that it was highly "improbable" that a cloud reached the plant and the operators of the plant can apply a number of measures to dilute the cloud and avoid the probability of thiks happening. 

The Greek expert added that vehicles used on the jetty are safe because Enemalta could make use of cars which are ignition free. 

Prompted by MEPA board member, Veronique Dalli, an OHSA representative confirms that the power plant application is in line with all EU health and safety regulations. 

Two applications

The two applications under consideration deal with the combined-cycle gas plant and the regasification facility; and the construction of a jetty for the LNG tanker.

Environmentalist organisations like Din l-Art Helwa claim the berthing of the tanker inside Marsaxlokk is a “hasty short-cut” to allow government to deliver on its promise to cut utility bills, before any further risk assessments are prepared.

Earlier this week, DLH requested all necessary studies to be concluded before MEPA takes a decision on the location of the LNG tanker. “It is unacceptable that relevant documents bearing weight on the crucial safety aspect of the tanker’s location are still being withheld from the public only days before the hearing.”

The PN’s executive committee president Ann Fenech, also a maritime law expert, has also filed a judicial protest in the name of Raymond Bugeja, the head of the Fisheries national fisheries cooperative, calling on MEPA not to decide on the LNG tanker until after a maritime assessment is carried out.

Labour-led Marsaxlokk council is expected to support the siting of the LNG tanker inside Marsaxlokk, saying the change from heavy fuel oil (HFO) to gas will improve air quality.