Maghtab X-Ray and other secrets

When it comes to information Government practises a mushroom farm approach to the public... keeping them in the dark and feeding them manure.

This is the year of the EU directive (2003/04EC), destined to propel us out of the information dark ages. The directive reinforces a United Nations convention which protects the public's right to environmental information and ensures the duty of governments to provide it. According to the Foreign Ministry the Maltese government signed the Aarhus Convention in 1998 and ratified it in 2002 without any reservations. Unfortunately, somewhere along the line, an important bit got left out.

At this point in our islands' history of freedom of access to information, officialdom comes across as both fatherly and fearful at the thought of allowing the uninitiated to gaze unaccompanied into the seething depths of Mount Doom - alias Maghtab Rubbish Dump.

The authorities are only letting the public in on select parts of the waste strategy in a fragmented and piecemeal fashion, as shown by the manner in which proposed waste treatment sites around the country were flashed for the first time and for only a few seconds on a sensational TV chat show - a fine way to claim public consultation has taken place.

It is not surprising that public patience over waste issues has worn bone-thin. Newspapers have referred to the "intolerance" displayed at the Marsascala consultation meeting held two weeks ago. In a developing island nation facing stringent EU targets for environmental improvement a little healthy intolerance can go a long way. When it comes to the waste management strategy people are not in a trusting mood. And there is more to come... more strategy and less trust.

Emissions clause removed

To begin with, you do not have to be a lawyer to discover that LN 217/01, the legal notice transposing the international convention into local legislation, has conveniently left out a crucial clause concerning emissions when it comes to applying the Aarhus convention in Malta.

Whether this was the result of a reservation submitted by the Maltese government at the time of negotiating the convention, or a failure to include all the provisions of the Aarhus Convention in the local law, is a question that has been put to the Foreign Ministry.

The document, known as the Scott Wilson Kirkpatrick report, is a scientific profile of Maghtab commissioned in 2002. In June of that year the Ministry for Resources and Infrastructure, together with UK consultants organised a workshop on the rehabilitation of dump sites at Maghtab, Wied Fulija and Qortin. It was announced to the Press that "Stage One" of the landfill restoration strategy was to be a review of information relating to the sites which became known as the Maghtab X-ray.

Finalised in 2003, the report was sent to Brussels early last year but a very low profile was kept on the home front. The truth about dangerous substances found at the uncontrolled dump has been kept under tight wraps despite numerous calls for the report drawn up by British consultants to be released for public viewing.

The Aarhus Convention, while providing for confidentiality of commercial or industrial interests, makes a distinct exception when it comes to pollution: "Within this framework (of protecting economic interests), information on emissions which is relevant to the protection of the environment should be disclosed."

Government wriggled furtively out of its obligations under Aarhus on this. Now the administration is being haunted into compatibility by EU directive 2003/4EC on public access to environmental information which comes into force this February.

The directive reinforces Aarhus and leaves us in no doubt as to our rights: "Member states may not provide for a request to be refused where the request relates to information on emissions into the environment."

The right of the public to information regarding emissions should override economic interests according to the international convention. Not so, argues WasteServ, still clinging to the report:

"The Scott Wilson report will form part of the Aerial Emissions Control tender for Maghtab, Qortin and Wied Fulija. Since this report forms part of these tender dossiers, to be issued within the next few weeks, it is suggested that this report is not circulated as yet.

WasteServ Malta Ltd gives two reasons for this: "The first reason is that this work cannot be seen as a stand-alone. The second reason is that it must be ensured that any information related to this procurement process is made available to all parties concerned simultaneously."

Observers say that one good way to make sure that the information is made available to all parties simultaneously is simply to come out with it and make it public.

The Aarhus Convention time limit for disclosing information about emissions is one month from the date of request and a maximum of two months if the information is particularly voluminous or complex. The Maghtab Residents Association requested access to the Scott Wilson Report last November.

Jigsaw puzzle

"Disgraceful" and "outrageous" are words that were used recently to describe the mob scene at the Marsascala hearing on the upgrading of Sant'Antnin Recycling Plant at the existing site. The mob at Marsascala had every reason to be angry after years of denials by the authorities about the stomach-churning nuisance on their doorsteps. Each time they dared complain about the unbearable smells they were fobbed off with claims that the odour came from agricultural sources. On a national level the deception has run much deeper.

The same terms used by decriers of anyone not utterly enamoured with the present administration could as well be used to describe the behaviour of the authorities regarding its dogged refusal to release the now infamous Maghtab X-ray.

Government's anxiety and reluctance over going public with the bad news... at least until local council elections are over is unforgivable. How many times are we to be asked to forgive government for its sins as it persists in its rigid ways?

Why doesn't government come out with the whole story. Secrecy breeds suspicion. There are many questions yet to be answered surrounding the upgrading of the Marsascala recycling plant.

For example, it is unclear whether the energy to be generated by the digester (claimed to be "enough to supply 1,400 homes") will actually be of direct benefit to neighbouring residences or whether the power will be sold to the grid.

If a digester at Sant'Antnin is to provide energy from biogas will this go to benefit surrounding homes or will most of the energy be consumed by the recycling plant itself?

Much mockery was made by the Marsascala residents of an early claim proffered by government when Sant Antnin recycling plant was first built.

They were told it would bring tourists to the locality. Fashion shows would be held starring models decked out in apparel made entirely of waste plastic recovered from the plant.

Now the public wants to know why the Scott Wilson Kirkpatrick report has been withheld from view. Could it be that word might get back to tourism operators that some of our best hotels are in the vicinity of contagion and toxic emissions?

The Malta Labour Party says it wants waste facilities to be spread out around Malta and Gozo. This is a great way of dissipating the NIMBY (not in my back yard) syndrome and exactly what the Nationalist government has in mind, even if it is loath to give away more information than it chooses at any one time. In the middle, AD agrees to the upgrade of the recycling plant - but not unless all the facts are revealed.

As long as people feel they are being excluded when it comes to information they will continue to be unco-operative over projects that fall out of the sky into their locality.

Government must come clean to the entire population regarding the national plan for waste before people can be expected to reach a rational choice. It may be a choice between the lesser of two evils but better to know which devil is which before casting your vote.

Without further delay or excuses, since Government is fast running out of both, we should at this late hour be told what's in Maghtab. The public has a right to know.

razammit@hotmail.com