‘Convenience should not rank above security’ - De Marco on LNG vessel

Nationalist Party deputy leader for parliamentary affairs Mario de Marco yesterday said that the MEPA board should “bear responsibility” for its decision to approve a jetty for the berthing of an LNG tanker in Marsaxlokk Bay, without proper studies like a maritime impact assessment had been carried out.

De Marco said that the Opposition was not against the switch from heavy fuel oil to natural gas or the reduction of electricity tariffs, but it took issue with the fact that no maritime impact assessment had been carried out prior to MEPA’s vote.

“We outlined a number of alternate proposals, with one being the possibility of having the tanker anchored outside the bay,” he said, citing a similar case in Livorno, Italy.

“The consequences of having the vessel in the bay, however remote, are big,” he said. “The lives of people should not be put at risk.”

Labour wants to build a 215MW power plant whose source of natural gas depends on berthing an LNG tanker inside Marsaxlokk.

De Marco yesterday warned prime minister Joseph Muscat that he was being hasty with his plans “Convenience should not rank above security,” he said.

Nationalist MP Ryan Callus, the PN’s representative on the MEPA board, also took issue at a letter by Muscat to the MEPA chairman Vince Cassar, in which he warned that should objectors appeal the approval of the LNG vessel, the government would proceed with works.

“Although the prime minister is well within his right to send such a letter, I was very surprised at the timing in which the letter was introduced. This could have had an influence on the vote.

“I would have had no problem had the letter been read out at the conclusion of yesterday’s meeting but I feel that it was ‘unbecoming’ to have it read out before the debate had even started,” he said.

Callus also said that it was clear that political interference was evident in the decision that was taken by MEPA. “No other board member questioned the lack of a maritime impact assessment in what should have been an objective analysis… the decision seemed to have been a fait accompli.”

On his part, Nationalist MP George Pullicino said that the reason as to why government was moving quickly on the project was down to money and for political convenience.

Pullicino said it would cost less money to moor the vessel inside the bay, rather than offshore, and that the government was trying to save face after imposing upon itself a two-year deadline for the project;s completion.

“MEPA’s decision is a step in the dark… the government must assume full responsibility if problems arise. On our part, it would have been irresponsible of us, as the Opposition, to not bring certain issues to light,” he said.