Asphalt plants, chemical factories, and cement packing facilities will soon need environmental permits if new legislation proposed by the Environment Ministry becomes law.  

Those three categories are among 18 new sorts of operations that will need approval from the Environment and Resource Authority (ERA), a draft bill presented on Wednesday states.  

Earlier this month, the Ombudsman ruled that Malta’s 11 asphalt plants should be regulated by ERA.  

The ruling came after San Ġwann and Iklin residents raised complaints about a toxic smell of tarmac caused by the Bitmac asphalt plant. Residents faced a dead-end when trying to have the issue resolved as ERA said it was not responsible for regulating such facilities.   

The draft legislation is now open to public consultation until mid-April. 

What is the government proposing?

According to the draft law, any operation within the 18 listed activities that did not previously need an ERA permit must get provisional clearance within six months after the regulations go into force.  

They will then have four years to submit an application for a full environmental permit.

“The four-year transitory period for the full environmental permit is being given to provide some time for the manufacturing industry to comply,” a spokesperson for the environment ministry said.

Public to be given power to object to ERA permit applications

According to the amendments published on Wednesday, the public will also be able to register their interest in most permitting applications and submit objections through ERA’s online platform. 

“The public and the applicant himself will also be invited to attend the ERA board meetings, as the new regulations expand which permitting decisions must be made in public,” an environment ministry spokesperson said.  

Interested parties can then appeal a decision before the Environment and Planning Review Tribunal, the spokesperson said. 

Besides introducing new provisions, the draft bill combines, into one document, a large number of legal notices that currently determine which activities, interventions, and activities require an ERA permit. 

Three tiers of permit 

Permitting will also be divided into three tiers, according to the risk activities pose.  

Level three operations, such as fish farms and fuel stations, carry the most risk to the environment.  

ERA will have nine months (270 days) to process those applications and applicants will need to pay a €2,500 application fee. Objectors will have 30 days to file their representations. 

ERA will have four months (120 days) to process level two applications, such as for the storage of hazardous waste and non-hazardous waste collection. Those wanting to object will have 20 days to do so, and the applicant must pay €1,500.  

ERA will process level one applications - activities such as gatherings of more than 50 people in protected area or interventions on protected trees - within three months and objectors will only have 10 days to submit their representations.  

Members of the public can submit their opinions on the draft legislation to the government till April 17.   

In a statement on its website, the office of the Ombudsman welcomed the Bill, which it said is in line with a recommendation that its Commissioners made on January 24.

The Commissioners had recommended that the Environment and Resources Authority propose specific regulations relating to asphalt plants to the Minister responsible for the Environment within a reasonable timeframe.

Which activities will get a six-month grace period?

Factories and industrial activities that currently require an ERA permit will still need to obtain one. The proposed new law seeks to add the following activities to the list of industrial activities requiring a permit. 

Any of the below industrial activities that do not currently have an ERA permit must obtain provisional clearance within six months of the law being passed and and must then apply for a full permit within four years. 

1. Land reclamation
2. Animal slaughterhouse
3. Rendering plant
4. Quarrying operations that were previously not covered by ERA
5. Manufacture of computer, electronic and electrical equipment and optical products
6. Manufacture or processing of asphalt or other non-metallic mineral products
7. Manufacture and blending of chemical and B 27 fuel products and man made fibres (fire works factories are excluded)
8. Galvanising or sand blasting of materials exceeding 10 tonnes
9. Manufacture of rubber and plastic products
10. Manufacture of animal feed with a production of more than 10 tonnes every day
11. Yards on land for repair and maintenance of vessels, aircraft and other transport
12. Operations with a discharge of liquid to sea, land, storm or rainwater drains or culverts
13. Marine container terminals
14. Shipyards
15. Wholesale of solid, liquid and gaseous fuels, and industrial gases
16. Cement packaging facility
17. Cement terminal
18. Manufacture of pharmaceutical products and pharmaceutical preparations