Issue link: https://maltatoday.uberflip.com/i/1472276
6 maltatoday | SUNDAY • 3 JULY 2022 NEWS MATTHEW VELLA THE Italian government has is- sued its approval of the Melita Transgas pipeline that will con- nect Malta to Italy. The decree was issued by min- isters Roberto Cingola and Dar- io Franceschini, respectively ministers for ecological transi- tion and culture, despite recent warnings from the Biviere Na- ture Re-serve in Gela about the environmental threat posed by the gas pipeline. A document by the Biviere managing authority recom- mended alternative routes, in view of the large number of im- pacts and high environmental costs, claiming that the route of the EU-funded gas pipeline had been determined on the ba- sis of solely economic criteria. Indeed, the proposed pipeline will not only pass through Nat- ura 2000 sites and a bird and biodiversity area but will pass from the gulf of Gela, an area which already registers worry- ing levels of pollution, owing to concentrations of radioactive uranium 238 and thorium 234. The European Commis- sion said it will be contacting the Italian authorities to see whether a 'verification' is re- quired with regards to the high levels of radioactivity in the seabed around Gela, where the EU-funded gas pipeline linking Italy to Malta is planned. The concentration of the two radioactive elements which naturally occur on land, in the waters opposite the coast, sug- gests it was dispersed in the sea from landfills, making the site one of the "most problematic" in Italy. The report calls for the re-routing of the Malta-Sicily gas pipeline as this would add up to the environmental degra- dation of past industrial activ- ity. The issue was raised in a question to the Commission by Green MEP Ignazio Corrao, who asked whether the Com- mission will verify the pres- ence and determine the origin of uranium and thorium in the waters around Gela. Melita Transgas will have to comply with a list of environ- mental conditions set by the Italian government, but the Biviere reserve had also re- quested that compensation measures be put in place to mitigate the burden on the in- dustrialised Gela environs. NGOs complain with EC over gas Around €200 million for Mal- ta's hydrogen-ready, gas pipe- line to Italy will be funded by the EU, but four environment groups have also filed legal ac- tion against a list of "projects of common interest" (PCIs) for fossil gas projects. ClientEarth, Friends of the Earth Europe, Food & Water Action Europe an CEE Bank- watch Net-work say the Euro- pean Commission's PCI list has given VIP status to "climate-de- structive projects". The list of gas projects amounts to €13 billion, but the groups say the Commission has not calculated their output of carbon dioxide and methane. Malta's gas pipeline, reject- ed twice for funding due to a change in climate ambitions that were heading in favour of hydrogen, managed to win PCI status during the COVID pan- demic in November 2021. Since then, MEPs have carried the gas projects' eligibility for EU fund- ing, approving them in April 2022, and recognising gas as a transitional fuel while Europe moves towards carbon neutral- ity by 2050. The European Commission's REPowerEU strategy now plans to unleash another €10 billion in new fossil gas infrastructure. The NGOs want the Com- mission to review the approval of the PCI list, and will take its case forward to the Court of Justice of the EU to rule. "The Commission did not consider the impact of methane emissions derived from gas in- frastructure projects – in spite of evidence that these are sub- stantial," said ClienEarth law- yer Guillermo Ramo. "That's unlawful as it directly clashes with the EU's own climate laws and its legal obligations under the Paris Agreement." Methane, the main compo- nent of fossil gas, has a glob- al warming potential over 85 times higher than that of CO2 over 20 years. Experts have clearly said no new gas or other fossil fuel developments should be built if the planet is to limit warming within 1.5C. Natasa Ioannou, climate campaigner with Friends of the Earth Cyprus called an- other EU-funded pipeline, the EastMed pipeline running through Cyprus, a disaster for communities and the climate. "It is not in the interests of local people in the region who will bear the costs of fossil fu- el lock-in, and the harm to the ecologically-sensitive Mediter- ranean Sea. All along the route of the EastMed pipeline people are saying no to new fossil fuel infrastructure and yes to cli- mate justice and to peace. EU funding must focus on support- ing projects that implement just, fair, safe, and renewable energy solutions." Environmental NGOs have the right to ask EU institutions and bodies – in this case the Europe-an Commission – to re- view one of their own decisions for contravening EU law related to the environment. The Com- mission has up to 22 weeks to answer. If the claimants find that the Commission's reply does not fix the legal violation, the claimants can sue the Commis- sion in the Court of Justice of the European Union. Gas extraction and trans- portation not only emits huge amounts of CO2: it is also a big emitter of potent and poison- ous greenhouse gas methane. The drilling and extraction of gas from wells and its tran- sit through pipelines results in emissions of methane – its primary component, which is a 85 times more powerful than carbon dioxide in storing heat over 20 years. Beyond climate, methane also has devastating impacts on human health – via air pollution – and eco-systems. Both the IEA and the IPCC have clearly said no new oil and gas extraction projects should be built if we are to keep warm- ing within 1.5C. Additionally, a recent study found that nearly half of exist- ing fossil fuel production sites need to be shut down early if 1.5C is to be achieved. Italy green-lights Malta gas pipeline despite uranium warning €400m hydrogen- ready gas pipeline still subject of NGO complaint in Brussels over fossil- gas 'VIP' projects eligibility Melita Transgas will have to comply with a list of environmental conditions set by the Italian government, but the Biviere reserve had also requested that compensation measures be put in place to mitigate the burden on the industrialised Gela environs