The environmental regulator appears indifferent to air pollution, putting residents near a Naxxar quarry at risk, the Green Party said on Saturday.
ADPD deputy chairperson Melissa Bagley said a recent study on air quality in the area was the result of residents’ insistence to have the air monitored.
The study found excessive dust particles in 24 of 37 readings taken over six weeks in the area close to homes last June and July. Dust was far more likely to be above the legal limit during the working week.
But the Environment and Resources Authority – Malta’s environmental watchdog and the regulator responsible for monitoring air quality – told residents it did not consider the study to be valid.
“How can people trust institutions if these institutions give them a hard time to find out the truth? How is it that institutions that are supposed to protect citizens from polluters do the opposite?” Bagley asked.
“We need to have institutions that truly have the environment at heart, with strict monitoring and harsh fines for those who pollute and the suspension of any work that causes environmental harm. We have no need for toothless watchdogs.”
Bagley said the ADPD was not against industry or work but wanted abuse curbed.
“Quarry operators need to act with caution. Things have changed and people have become more conscious of the impact the environment has on their health,” she noted. “What was acceptable 50 years ago is no longer acceptable today.”
Air pollution claims the lives of 250 people in Malta annually and at least 250,000 across Europe, according to the European Environmental Agency.
Green Party chairperson Sandra Gauci said: “This is a worrying number of people, especially now that a number of parties in the EU are trying to sabotage the Green Deal and are ignoring climate change.”
“In Malta, we see similar issues – when you see a construction site on practically every corner, or a government who is clueless on how to reduce car traffic, you realise that nobody has the courage to take strict measures to improve the quality of the air we breathe.”
Gauci called for construction sites, including quarries, to be subject to restrictions and for permits to be given out after thorough planning.
Given that the quarries in question have been around for several years, Gauci questioned why residences were allowed to be built so close to them when it is “a well-known fact that quarries produce substantial amounts of dust.”