Issue link: https://maltatoday.uberflip.com/i/260953
maltatoday, SUNDAY, 16 FEBRUARY 2014 26 Letters Send your letters to: The Editor, MaltaToday, MediaToday Ltd. Vjal ir-Rihan, San Gwann SGN 9016 | Fax: (356) 21 385075 E-mail: newsroom@mediatoday.com.mt. Letters to the Editor should be concise. No pen names are accepted. The decision by the Nationalist Party executive not to allow the three main contenders for the leadership post to take part in public debates or in direct debates between themselves is regrettable. This decision militates against the golden rule of politics: the confrontation of ideas. This is a necessary process before arriv- ing at an informed decision. By exclud- ing this process, the electors will be less informed before casting their vote on the next Party Leader and eventual Prime Minister. This decision could only have been arrived at after calculating the potential fallout that could arise from a no- holds-barred debate. By so fearing, the executive has closed the doors to a lively debate. It is too simplistic to state that such a debate is unnecessary, as all three contenders hold the same fundamental beliefs. It is also extremely misleading to try and give the impression that there are no differences between the contestants. There are differences of style, attitude, approach, anchorage and emphasis. There are also differences of substance, differences of direction. Is it to be a vote for retaining the status quo, or a vote for change? The differences go far beyond obvi- ous differences of character. Their very respective DNAs differ. Lawrence Gonzi's humanity, John Dalli's drive and Louis Galea's vision make them all, luckily, very different indeed. These differences should all be laid bare in front of the electors before they cast their vote. What better way for this to happen than to open up the contest to a three-way debate? This would certainly be more enlightening than the present stale reporting of press releases, press conferences and meetings with councillors privately or in groups. Of course all contestants share the par- ty's fundamental beliefs and are all united in their praise of Dr Fenech Adami. But beyond this, they all have their own idi- osyncrasies and political stands on issues. These need to be brought out even at the price of the party appearing momentarily less united. After all leadership battles in all political parties are bloody affairs. This is both healthy and necessary in a democracy. The Nationalist party is not the homogeneous party it appears to be. It incorporates a rainbow of ideas. It does contain conservative Christian demo- cratic and liberal groupings. Indeed this is its very strength. It is also to the merit of Dr Fenech Adami that the party has managed to rally around its ranks persons from such varied political leanings. The prevailing circumstances when the choice of leader is taking place must also be taken into account. This too dictates that there should be a debate so that one can appreciate the merits of each contestant to operate within this changed political milieu. The choice is taking place at a time of difficult economic conditions and fast social changes. The circumstances are totally different to the time when Dr Ed- die Fenech Adami became leader. In 1977, the political situation was dominated by a climate of threats to local democracy and institutionalised corruption. The unions were under attack, the police acted beyond their legal powers, the institutions were completely taken over by the government of the day, and human rights were under attack. In short, the new leader's political programme was the restoration of democracy. This, fortu- nately, is no longer the case today. Today's battleground is the regeneration of the economy. The electors must know where all three stand; what their solutions are and what vision they have to solve today's problems. The person leading the country will be facing different challenges to those faced by the Fenech Adami administrations. This three-way debate should be held and chaired by an independent and pro- fessional journalist. In order to give the event a national status it should also be transmitted live on PBS. Does the PBS board not feel it has the duty to host this debate? This event is not just a simple internal affair. It is a national issue. The party is also elect- ing a prime minister-in-waiting. Since the event carries national consequences the Public Broadcasting Service should rise to the occasion. Its ethos is to render a national service. This is a golden op- portunity for the public service to render a national service. The occasion deserves nothing less. The debate is tantamount to democracy at work. Wanted – A three-way debate EDITORIAL • FEBRUARY 15 2004 Naught for your comfort The account of Edric Micallef 's "re- markably non-partisan stance" on LNG use at Delimara, published on the 9 February edition of MaltaTo- day, has a central lacuna as well as a cloud of incorrect technical detail. Here is the heart of the matter: "We are not comforted by state- ments that an accident can happen only once in 10,000 years. It could be any day between tomorrow and 10,000 years from now. It could be tomorrow." That statement blows up Micallef 's earlier contention that "the council would only be ready to accept this temporary so- lution [FSU inside harbour] if risk assessment (RA) studies show this as a safe option". A RA, however detailed, can only give a prob- ability, unacceptable to Micallef. "Further studies" will still provide no certainty, which is what Micallef is asking for. When James Debono made the logical point that a "guar- antee" of safety would require no further movement of ship, Micallef then fell back on an exclusion from harbour on the rather lame grounds of "visual impact". Surrounding that deep lacuna there is a whole cloud of techni- cal slips that simply ruin EM's case. He initially asked for just a float- ing LNG store (FSU); it was other people who suggested a full FSRU moored outside. In the demand that the ship be located "further offshore" and "outside the port" EM forgets the fact that relocation is in- deed almost impossible because of the planned infra-structure (re- gasifier on-shore) and also the already-chosen ship. Placing the FSU outside the harbour will require passing liquid NG at a temperature of -150C through an in- sulated and armoured underwater pipe some 2-3km long: a difficult and costly piece of engineering. So if the ship is to be moved out of harbour it must be a different ship: a FSRU, which has both storage tanks, and re-gasification unit on board. That way the line to the power station will carry gas, rather than very cold liquid; and gas transport by pipe- line is now a mature technology. Studies of the possible effects of weather on security of supply are available. A FSRU can be sold or its lease terminated if and when we have a gas pipeline. We would not be left with any decaying expensive hardware. Micallef has even got it wrong on diesel vs HFO, and I say this as one who supported the use of diesel against HFO at the original IPPC application to MEPA in Decemer 2011. At that stage Enemalta argued that diesel at BWSC (the Marsa com- parison was invalid and in fact irrelevant) was more expensive than HFO, just as Micallef quotes Minister Konrad Mizzi as saying now. Here Micallef is demanding not "the best option for the residents" but the impos- sible. For the best (and unavoidable) reason for sticking to HFO for BWSC (until conversion to gas) is that there is not enough diesel stor- age capacity at Delimara to cover full BWSC running, as against initial testing. The above makes this "remark- ably non-partisan approach" vanish into thin air. That is not to say that Micallef has no right to a partisan approach. But neither can we nor M'Xlokk live on partisanship alone. There is as yet no clear evidence that HFO-BWSC with exhaust scrubbing is any worse than Diesel- BWSC without. Enemalta has already said it does not have the time or money to explore alterna- tives to the Electrogas proposal. Government can provide both: 'time' by stronger utilisation of the Sicily IC, and 'money', from the well-advertised IIP bonanza. E.A. Mallia Attard Former Nationalist minister Dolores Cristina was quoted in a local newspaper as saying: "this principle [the separation of Church and State] poses serious dilemmas, espe- cially to those MPs who value their Catholic beliefs very highly... I have no doubt that several MPs are cur- rently experiencing moral dilemmas as they face a vote involving civil unions and gay adoptions". Her comment is a graphic example of Jean Jacques Rousseau's observa- tion in The Social Contract that the Church claims to be above the state, and is thus a disruptive force, divid- ing the citizen's loyalty. Over the years, during Mass on national holidays, Malta's bishops urged MPs to legislate according to their religious beliefs. So, it comes as no surprise that several MPs are cur- rently experiencing moral dilemmas – and probably feeling anxious and anguished too. Malta's MPs should never allow an auxiliary bishop to threaten them with moral sanctions. Isn't there a provision in Malta's statutes that prohibits Catholic prelates from threatening MPs with their self- imposed sanctions and interdicts , as they had done in the early 1960s? I suggest that Malta's MPs should keep in mind the following paraphrase from President John F. Kennedy's speech: "I believe that the separation of Church and State is absolute, where no Catholic prelate would tell Members of Parliament how to act... where no public official accepts instructions on public policy from the Pope or any other ecclesias- tical source; where no religious body seeks to impose its will directly or indirectly upon the public acts of its officials." John Guillaumier St Julian's and re-gasification unit on board. That way the line to the power station will carry gas, rather than very cold liquid; and gas transport by pipe- line is now a mature technology. Studies of the possible effects of weather on security of supply are available. A FSRU can be sold or its lease terminated if and when we have a gas pipeline. We would not be left with any decaying expensive hardware. Micallef has even got it wrong on diesel vs HFO, and I say this as one who supported the use of diesel against HFO at the original IPPC application to MEPA in Decemer 2011. At that stage Enemalta argued that diesel at BWSC (the Marsa com- parison was invalid and in fact irrelevant) was maltatoday , SUNDAY, 9 FEBRUARY 2014 10 News 'All for gas… outside our harbour' Marsaxlokk mayor Edric Micallef hints at meeting the Labour government midway on accepting gas storage inside the harbour, but only under a guarantee that the vessel will eventually be relocated further outside JAMES DEBONO LABOUR mayor Edric Micallef is taking a remarkably non-partisan stance by demanding the relocation of Delimara's LNG-storage vessel outside the Marsaxlokk harbour. The vessel is crucial to the new 200MW power station that will run on natural gas, serving as a floating gas terminal inside the harbour. But Micallef says the Marsaxlokk local council is not changing its stand under a new government: "We are behaving in exactly the same way as we acted when the previous administration proposed the BWSC plant. On both occasions the govern- ment and Enemalta presented their proposals and submitted their stud- ies, and on both occasions we have given our feedback after consulting technical experts." So far satisfied with the way public consultation is taking place, Micallef insists that the LNG vessel must be relocated further offshore to ensure greater peace of mind for Marsax- lokk people. "When the BWSC power station was discussed, the council insisted that the plant should work on diesel and not heavy fuel oil, because it was less polluting. Now we are discussing natural gas, the cleanest of all fuels. It's the top-notch option. And we want the shift to take place in the shortest time possible," he says. "Although there could be a percep- tion that the process is being fast- tracked to meet the government's political deadlines, no step in the planning and impact assessment process is being bypassed. This is very positive," he says of the way the public consultation is taking place. Stakeholders were invited in July 2013 to submit their proposals for the terms of reference of an environ- mental impact assessment, before the successful bidder for the LNG plant was even chosen. "We made it clear that our preference was for the storage to be located on a ship and not on tanks in Delimara, as sug- gested by Labour before the election when the proposal was attacked by the PN." Micallef says the council wants the offshore storage facility to be tempo- rary. "Ultimately we would like the power station to be connected to a pipeline which supplies us with nat- ural gas from somewhere else." He points out that land-based tanks are not as easily removable, saying that the liquid petroleum gas tanks in Qajjenza are still there even if operations have been transferred to Benghajsa. "There is a tendency in the country not to plan ahead. Clearly an offshore plant is easier to decommission as this would simply mean that the ship would depart for somewhere else. There would be no need to get rid of the gas tanks." In the latest plans, the ElectroGas vessel will be located further ashore to a jetty and connected with a pipe- line to the regasification plant, but still located in the Marsaxlokk bay. The council wants the ship to be anchored further offshore outside the harbour. "In all our reports we insisted on the tanker being located further offshore. We still want it out- side the port," Micallef says. However the council is ready to consider positioning the vessel in the Marsaxlokk bay as a temporary solu- tion, until plans are made to relocate it outside the harbour. Micallef makes it clear that the council would only be ready to ac- cept this temporary solution if risk assessment studies show this is as a safe option, and if the power station is not built in a way that would make the relocation impossible. "That is why the relocation outside the port should be considered in current plans. We do not want to end up being told relocation is impossible because the infrastructure does not permit it," Micallef says. One of the possible options is to locate the vessel on the other side of the Delimara bay and connect it to the plant through a pipeline passing through Hofra iz-Zghira, which is al- ready connected to the plant through a tunnel used for the plant's cooling system. Micallef however concedes that residents want the switch to gas to take place as soon as possible, and that he does not want to prolong the process. "That's why we are ready to accept a temporary loca- tion of the FSU in the harbour until arrangements are made to relocate it outside the harbour." But he will turn down the tempo- rary solution if studies show this is not safe. The major risk is the re- mote possibility of the dispersion of a cold vapour cloud from the FSU. Micallef insists that studies should address the worst possible scenario. "We are not comforted by state- ments that an accident can happen only once in 10,000 years. It could be any day between tomorrow and 10,000 years from now. It could be tomorrow." While the council's technical re- port on this risk is based on mete- orological data from Cartagena in Spain and not in weather conditions in Marsaxlokk, Micallef says he is partly satisfied by a reply from EIA coordinator Paul Gauci, that local data was used to assess the stabil- ity of weather conditions. "This is how things should we done… we ask questions made by our experts and we get answers." So if the council is satisfied to have a ship safely located within the harbour, why would it insist on its further relocation offshore? Micallef says it's the visual impact of the ship in the harbour, a fact clearly pointed out by the EIA with regards to the dramatic impact on the landscape. But Enemalta also does not have the luxury of locating the storage facility outside the port, which can compromise security of supply because of bad weather. Micallef however says that the energy cor- poration must be more sensitive to Marsaxlokk residents' requests. "If they have studies showing that lo- cating the ship further offshore is not possible or feasible, they should publish them. We will not be satis- fied until a proper study is conduct- ed to assess the possibility of relo- cating the ship further offshore." MEPA decides whether to al- low Enemalta continue to run its BWSC turbines on heavy fuel oil in March: Micallef says the council has already informed energy min- ister Konrad Mizzi it will demand the switch from HFO to diesel until the entire Delimara plant switches to LNG. "Mizzi told me it will create fi- nancial difficulties as diesel is more expensive than HFO. I understand the financial concerns on the state of Enemalta, but as a council we have to demand the best option for our residents," Micallef says. He adds that there is a notable difference between the present situation to that under the previ- ous administration. "At that stage the choice was between HFO and diesel, and they opted for HFO. I have to recognise that the present government is working on building a plant fuelled by natural gas which is even better." The mayor says the government now intends to present a series of infrastructural projects for the Marsaxlokk community as com- munity compensation for having been exposed to the power station for the past two decades, an idea first discussed during a Cabinet meeting held in Marsxlokk in July. Micallef praises Konrad Mizzi for taking a prominent role in push- ing these plans, among them a roundabout to slow down incom- ing traffic, and another "plan- ning gain" project in the form of a long-promised national park at Delimara. jdebono@mediatoday.com.mt Edric Micallef Separation of Church and State