On the 5th December 2011 the MEPA Board held a hearing on its proposal to grant a temporary IPPC permit to Enemalta for running the Delimara Power Station Extension (DPSE) on Heavy Fuel Oil (HFO) rather than gasoil from Jan. 2012 to Sept. 2012.

Five ENGOs DLH. FAA, FoE Malta, MOAM (Malta Organic Agriculture Movement) and Ramblers Association Malta have issued a statement saying that “three Local Councils, Marsaxlokk, Birzebbuga and Zejtun made a direct case against HFO use in the Delimara Extension. Air quality measurements and emission calculations supplied by both MEPA and Enemalta, especially those relating to the fine particulate matter (PM10 and PM2.5) with the strongest adverse effects on human health, indicated that the situation at the measuring stations was already compromised, in terms of EU air quality regulations. The coming on stream of DPSE could only make matters worse.”

“The installation is of national significance and should not be stopped or hindered. Therefore the Local Councils argued that Enemalta was obliged to choose the least polluting fuel available, in this case gasoil instead of HFO and this it could do without incurring ‘disproportionate’ expense over present cost. In fact it was shown that for the same amount of electricity, the Delimara Extension using gasoil worked out cheaper than Marsa using HFO, as the former would use half the amount of fuel that Marsa is using per unit generated,” the ENGOs said.

“The main effort of Enemalta went into keeping public attention firmly fixed on the future. Given the price difference between HFO and gasoil, the use of these fuels in DPSE is bound to favour HFO. Enemalta argued that if HFO is ‘dirtier,’ the DPSE filters were going to trap all PM2.5 and PM10 and in any case some of those high readings for particulates mentioned by the Local Councils were due to occasional arrivals of Sahara dust,” the statement continued.

“At the hearing, Enemalta presented a ‘study’ by KPMG (not part of the original submission) which was supposed to determine the cost of running the Delimara Extension for 8 months (May-December 2012) on HFO or gasoil. The Local Councils showed that the KPMG ‘study’ was in error at every level. Enemalta engineers, chief technical officer Peter Grima, Ing. Albert Farrugia and Perit Martin Attard Montalto, all present at the hearing, offered no defence.”

“So Enemalta pushed its case for HFO use in the Delimara Extension during a trial period with a totally erroneous report it was unable to defend. Yet despite this being made evident to the MEPA board, no questions were asked and MEPA Chairman Austin Walker, Perit Franco Montesin, Perit Sandra Magro, Perit Elena Borg Costanzi, Mr. Charles Bonnici, Mr. Anthony Zammit, Mr Joseph Vella, Ing. Joe Farrugia, Ms. Christine Pace, Ms. Chiara Borg, Dr. Philip Manduca, Judge Giovanni Bonello and Perit Joseph Falzon M.P. all raised their hands in favour of HFO use in Delimara Power Station Extension on the basis of an erroneous report. The issue of potential serious threats to public health was given no weight. The mirage of serious mitigation of the huge debts of Enemalta, a target which politically and socially sustainable utility charges cannot reach was the decisive factor,” the ENGOs concluded.

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