Onus of responsibility

The core issue that I addressed at the media conference outside Hexagon House in Marsa last Monday was: What is holding the government back from seeking the true cause of the noxious smells?

My biggest concern was that, as in the case of the black dust issue, which Alfred J. Vella has been also asked to look into, a report drawn up by the same learned professor on air quality in Hexagon House before the Mepa environmental protection directorate moved into the building was equally inconclusive, falling short as it did of singling out the core responsibility for such odours.

Meanwhile I placed full responsibility for a solution of this problem on the Prime Minister since apart from being the Minister responsible for Mepa he also happens to be the Minister for the Environment.

In the press conference I asked him point blank: since in his parliamentary question reply 13240 (January 12, 2010) he stated that Mepa had written to the WSC to take action against the company that had resorted to discharging waste illegally through sewers and culverts, after it was allegedly caught in the act by Mepa employees, did he not think it was high time that he informed one and all when Mepa took note of such an irregularity, whether any pressures were brought to bear on it to refrain from taking action, when did it actually take action, and what action has the WSC taken in turn to bring the said company to book? It will also be in the public interest for the government to confirm or deny whether the company in question was Waste Oils Company Ltd or not.

Meanwhile since the Prime Minister stated (in PQ 8659 dated June 1, 2009) that a permanent solution to the noxious smells issue in Marsa would only be eased once all the relevant environmental permits pertaining to enterprises in the area are fully implemented, can he kindly explain why, in spite of a June 2009 statement that Falzon Waste Oils had submitted the relevant applications in July 2008 and that the application had by then reached the stage of a public consultation, according to the Marsa mayor no such consultation has been held to date and consequently the relevant permits have not been issued yet. An explanation for such undue delay is also highly warranted.

There has been no confirmation or denial as to whether the technically competent professor who drew up the Air Quality Report On Hexagon House in late June 2008 ever did any consultancy work on behalf of the company in question or else represented them during any Mepa hearings. I also asked the government if it is aware of any statements, declarations or conclusions that identify the company in question as "a significant emitter of potentially harmful substances" at any time and in any study of sorts?

I also asked whether there were any circumstances when the company in question failed to fully honour the conditions of its existing permits, Mepa included.

Rather than lambasting a particular firm, my sole intention was to ensure that the Minister for the Environment who happens to be the Prime Minister can reassure us that any enforcement of breaches of environmental laws is carried out without any undue delay and without applying or resorting to any double standards. The PL's accusations of alleged foot dragging on the government's part made in the House since months ago were never rebutted publicly or in Parliament.

Meanwhile it might be in the public interest were the government to publish all the documentation relating to Waste Oils IPPC Application (IP 0002/08) as well as to specify whether at any stage any mention is made therein to the need to tackle the problem of H2S emissions to eliminate uncontrolled escapes of hazardous gas.