Issue link: https://maltatoday.uberflip.com/i/188841
9 News maltatoday, WEDNESDAY, 9 OCTOBER 2013 ange energy policy – EC "The energy policy should therefore first be updated, with adequate opportunity for public participation, and screened for an SEA in relation to this modification" – Din l-Art Helwa Konrad Mizzi that Malta's energy policy should be changed before any decision is taken on whether a new gas power station and terminal are developed. "The energy policy should therefore first be updated, with adequate opportunity for public participation, and screened for an SEA in relation to this modification." How to evade an SEA Why government fears an SEA A revised energy policy would also determine the pecking order of energy sources already set in Malta's approved energy policy. This would include determining the share of energy from the Malta-Sicily interconnector – a clean energy source which produces no emissions locally and which on its own will enable Malta to close the polluting Marsa Power Station and minimise the use of the old Delimara Power Station. The present energy policy forecasts that by 2014 around 70% will be satisfied through the interconnector. Domestic production through fossil fuels would be used to satisfy under 30% of total demand, of which under 2% would emanate from the original Delimara installation. According to environmental NGO Din l-Art Helwa, the Labour government's energy plan represents a significant change in the "default pecking order" of energy supply as outlined in page 74 of the National Energy Policy, with a reduction in energy provision through the interconnector and the existing Delimara plant. Moreover, if more energy is generated onshore instead of being imported to Malta through the interconnector, higher emissions from the energy sector may be generated in Malta than envisaged in the current National Energy Policy. If more energy is generated onshore as foreseen by the current government, this may also require larger amounts of cooling water, entailing marine discharge and the consequent further degradation of the marine ecosystem. Furthermore, the alternative gas pipeline infrastructure envisaged in the current National Energy Policy may have fewer intense environmental impacts on land and marine areas around the Delimara plant, when compared to the construction of the proposed LNG infrastructure. In view of the significance of these changes, Din l-Art Helwa contends In view of its rush to fulfil its electoral promise to complete the gas project by March 2015, the government may not be too keen on a time-consuming assessment of its plans. But in view of Malta's legal obligations, the only way to evade an SEA is by simply not modifying the anachronistic policy devised by the previous administration. This could result in an absurd situation wherein the country's energy policy is rendered superfluous by developments already taking place on the ground. In fact, as commission sources pointed out, "The SEA Directive does not require member states to make or change their plans; but the SEA Directive has to be considered if such a decision is taken". While the commission is leaving it up to the government to decide whether to revise its energy policy, it also ominously reminds it that since the SEA Directive has been transposed into Maltese legislation, the EC "trusts that the competent national authorities will follow the relevant rules and procedures in this case". Neither is the commission investigating any breaches of the EIA/SEA Directives in relation to the energy infrastructure developments in Malta, for the simple reason that "no complaints in this regard have been received by the commission services to date". SEA focal point questions government In September, MaltaToday revealed that the SEA focal point – the office chaired by Kevin Gatt that coordinates the country's SEA Directive obligations – had officially written to Konrad Mizzi's Ministry of Energy asking the government 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. In reply to the focal point, the energy ministry said it did not exclude a future revision of Malta's energy policy, to follow the requirements of the SEA Directive, but revealed that no such revision is currently taking place. 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. Mizzi snubs DLH Correspondence published on Din l-Art Helwa's website sheds new light on the government's evasive attitude on this issue, with Mizzi's Energy Ministry failing to reply to the environmental NGO's questions. It was Din l-Art Helwa which alerted the focal point that the new gas infrastructure represents "a significant modification" to the approved energy policy. DLH referred to Regulation 3(1) of the Strategic Environmental Assessment Regulations, LN 497 of 2010, which specifies that "modifications" to plans and programmes also fall under the SEA regulations. Furthermore, Regulation 4(3) of LN 497 of 2010 specifies that only "minor" modifications may be excluded from an SEA. In a letter sent to DLH on 30 August, Gatt replied that it had asked the energy ministry whether it intends to revise Malta's energy policy. It also relayed the ministry's answer that no modifications to the policy were being carried out, but when the policy is revised, the revision will be undertaken in terms of the SEA Regulations. Din l-Art Helwa wrote back to the focal point, noting the ministry's commitment to carry out an SEA at some future date and expressing its concern that "the correct procedures and environmental assessment to be followed when introducing this revision to the National Energy Policy may be ignored". It also asked for details as to how the SEA requirements will be implemented. The SEA focal point replied that the ministry would provide Din l-Art Helwa with the requested details. But on 25 September DLH wrote back to the ministry, indicating that its request for details had still not been answered. "Please can you provide Din l-Art Helwa with your response. As you are aware we have now been waiting for a full reply for three months," it said. The SEA and political football Under the previous administration, the new power infrastructure was backed up by a draft energy policy, which was only approved after the construction of the HFO-fired power station. Then-shadow environment minister Leo Brincat told 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". Once again Malta risks seeing major energy infrastructure both dictated by private commercial interests and developed in the absence of an approved energy policy to back it. Curiously, the SEA Directive was first invoked by Joseph Muscat when he was an MEP. Muscat had asked the European Commission to state whether a plan to develop a number of land-consuming golf courses, in a country where land is so limited, should be subject to the evaluation required by the SEA Directive. At that time the Ministry for Rural Affairs and the Environment argued that the plan to develop Xaghra l-Hamra and other areas into golf courses did not fall under the scope of the SEA Directive "since there is no plan or programme, as defined in the directive, relating to the development of golf courses". After the extension of building boundaries, several NGOs presented a court case regarding the previous administration's failure to submit the extension of building boundaries to a Strategic Environment Assessment. Questions sent by MaltaToday triggered an investigation and a letter of formal notice from the commission to the previous government. But in the end, the government was exempted from the SEA obligation because the local plan revision process had commenced before 2004, when Malta transposed the SEA Directive. The current government has also evaded an SEA on its land reclamation plans by not presenting any formal plan on the subject, in spite of a request by the Environment and Planning Commissioner, David Pace. READ MORE No changes to National Energy Policy despite push for gas http://tinyurl.com/ngob347