Issue link: https://maltatoday.uberflip.com/i/163731
11 News maltatoday, SUNDAY, 1 SEPTEMBER 2013 No changes to National Energy Policy, despite Labour's big push for gas Labour is following a precedent set by former administrations by not applying a timeconsuming Strategic Environmental Assessment on the impending change to gas for the island's energy needs. By JAMES DEBONO THE government will be forgoing any changes to Malta's National Energy Policy because it would require a time-consuming Strategic Environmental Assessment (SEA) that would mean months of public consultation, possibly delaying Labour's most important project – the Delimara gas power plant. Despite undertaking one of the most radical reforms in the energy sector, which will shift Malta's energy needs from oil to liquefied natural gas (LNG), no changes are being proposed to the National Energy Policy. The issue was raised by the SEA focal point – the office that coordinates the country's SEA Directive obligations – by chairman Kevin Gatt, in correspondence with Konrad Mizzi's ministry for energy. The SEA focal point is the authority responsible for guiding public authorities on the implementation of the EU directive on Strategic Environment Assessments, which obliges member states to carry out an impact study on any plan which has an impact on the environment. The SEA is also a requirement for any revision of an official plan, such as the National Energy Policy. The focal point wrote to the ministry to "elicit their views on whether the National Energy Policy needs to be revised in light of the government's plans for the development of an LNG terminal and a new gas-fired power station". Replying to questions by MaltaToday, Kevin Gatt made it clear that the focal point has no authority to force any ministry or authority to conduct an SEA. "However when it becomes aware of an initiative that is being undertaken by government which may require an SEA, it is duty-bound to contact the responsible authority, drawing their attention to their obligations under the SEA Regulations," Gatt said. In reply to the focal point, the energy ministry said it did not exclude a future revision of Malta's energy policy, but revealed that no such revision is currently taking place. Nationalist precedent The current government appears to be following the precedent set by the previous administration. Malta's National Energy Policy was revision. The previous Nationalist government was questioned for not conducting an SEA on the local plans approved in 2006. This led to a EU probe which eventually absolved the government from any wrongdoing on the basis of a technicality, namely that the local plan revision process was commenced before 2004, when the directive had just come into force in Malta. In fact the draft local plans had been prepared in 2002, with the final drafts, which included major changes, being issued four years later in 2006. No plan for land reclamation Energy minister Konrad Mizzi will not propose changes to the national energy policy, so that the Delimara gas plant and LNG terminal will not be subject to delays from a timeconsuming public consultation approved by the previous government in December 2012, two months before the election and two years after the approval of the extension to the Delimara power station – namely, the BWSC heavy fuel oil power plant – and three years after issuing the draft energy policy. But back then, the Labour Party had criticised the government for taking such decisions in the energy field, most notably the construction of the HFO-fired Delimara plant in the absence of an approved energy policy. As stated by then-shadow environment minister Leo Brincat to MaltaToday in 2009, "It is a matter of deep concern that government seems to be project driven rather than policy driven in the energy sector." But elected in 2013 on a platform which included a commitment to reduce energy bills, specifically by hiving off 40% of the energy supply to a private company supplying gas to Enemalta, Labour is now inclined on carrying out this major decision without changing the energy policy. The energy ministry in fact told the SEA focal point that it was fully aware of its legal obligations, but that "as yet no updates or modifications have been made to the existing en- ergy policy and accordingly no SEA has been carried out". Furthermore the ministry stated that when the policy is revised "an SEA, including the required public participation and consultation, will be undertaken in terms of the Strategic Environmental Assessment Regulations." But the ministry also specified that the SEA regulations only apply to plans and programmes which contemplate a number of projects within them, and do not relate to single projects. The ministry is claiming that "single projects" are subject to other regulations which assess their impact on the environment, such as those imposing the standard environmental impact assessment environmental impact assessment (EIA). In fact an EIA is already being undertaken on the impact of the new power plant and LNG terminal at Delimara. Experts in the field who spoke to MaltaToday insisted that, although the conversion to gas is expected to have a positive environmental impact, as it would replace heavy fuel oil, an SEA would address broader issues than an EIA on the specific Delimara gas terminal project. "It would assess the different alternatives for gas provision, including the pipeline option, and it would also assess the energy balance proposed by the government, which could result in an under-utilisation of the Malta-Sicily Interconnector, which has the least environmental impact," an expert on EIA procedures told MaltaToday. Labour's conversion to gas will in fact mean utilising just 20% of the Malta-Sicily Interconnector, an electricity cable connecting the island to the European mainland grid. SEA for local plan revisions An SEA will however be employed on the environmental impact of the government's plans and programmes for the proposed revision of local plans, the planning guides for Malta and Gozo's towns and villages. "The SEA focal point has already drawn MEPA's attention to its obligations in terms of the revision process to local plans and has obtained what is considered positive feedback thereto," Kevin Gatt told MaltaToday. Gatt is advising the Malta Environment and Planning Authority to carry out the SEA concurrently with the various stages of the local plan But no SEA is being required to assess the current government's land reclamation plans, Kevin Gatt has confirmed. "The land reclamation project is not seen to satisfy the definition of plan or programme," Gatt said. This is because so far no formal plan or programme has been issued by the government on this topic. The government has so far limited itself on issuing an expression of interest for companies interested in land reclamation projects, in the absence of any studies or guidelines. But this could all change if the government heeds the advice of planning ombudsman David Pace on a 'marine subject plan' to regulate the development of the coast and surrounding seas. Although the planning ombudsman does not refer specifically to the government's land reclamation plans, a marine subject plan to regulate the development of the coast and surrounding seas would necessarily include land reclamation. According to the SEA directive, MEPA – like all public authorities – is obliged to carry out an impact assessment on any plan which has an impact on the environment and land use. This would mean that the environmental impacts of land reclamation will have to be assessed. So far the government has shirked this obligation by not issuing any formal plan on land reclamation, simply issuing a call for expressions of interest without any guidelines on where such a development should be.