The ESG has been busy on various fronts recently.

-Since the major Clean Up in September, when we learned about the volume of accumulated plastic waste washed up on the shores of Seven Sisters Cove, we arranged further clean ups and have so far removed six skips worth of harmful debris which could return to the sea. We would like to advise the public that there is a skip currently on the beach. It is full of rubbish collected by our volunteers and has been covered and secured with a tarpaulin to prevent any been blown out in stormy weather. We hope this skip will be removed soon.

Thanks again to the various services that have helped our volunteers tackle this inaccessible area- namely: GibDock, the MoD, GDP and the Gibraltar General Support Services ltd.

-Our concerns about the waste at Seven Sisters is because much of it is polystyrene used in packaging which breaks down quite rapidly into something called nurdles which mimic plankton in colour, shape and form and is easily mistaken for food by birds and marine life which are all part of the food chain. The material also attracts oil present in water adding to the toxicity of the broken down material ingested by marine life.

-Somewhere along the line we could all be eating polystyrene, what a thought! The fact is Gibraltar is surrounded by sea- we do not recycle plastic- instead, we continue to send this to a temporary dump where it then gets loaded onto trucks and off to the separation plant in Los Barrios. Yes, some of this will be recovered but a lot of this will go to landfill. While at our local dump, some of the plastic will fly onto the cliffs and surrounding seas adding to the soup of lethal waste currently entering the world’s oceans. According to several authoritative studies 75% of debris found at sea comes from land based sources.

Visit our website which is currently carrying a short video on the home page precisely on the impacts of plastic at sea. www.esg-gib.net.

Sewage Issues:

As if this wasn’t enough our seas are also expected to cope with the return of storm drain sewage from la Linea as various reports to the ESG highlight this pollution is now making itself felt at various parts of Gibraltar’s coastline. Clearly our neighbours do not have sufficient funds to deal with this issue and we shall continue to be affected until the municipality is resourced to deal with this cross border issue. We shall continue to do what we can to help resolve this issue and are currently discussing plans with beach users as well as MEP’s to see what is possible. Of course, Gibraltar needs to also get to grips with our own sewage treatment plant Govt promised to set up many years back.

CEPSA:

It’s also worth mentioning that CEPSA appears to have had an oil leak recently in the area of Puente Mayorga, a residential area highly vulnerable to any mishaps at the plant. The company denied culpability and local campaigners, Ecologistas en Accion, challenged this in the Spanish media. Thankfully, it wasn’t a large spill but nevertheless it also ended up at sea washing up in nearby beaches too.

CUTW the Movie:

We would like to end our broadcast with a few positive messages: our CUTW movie is almost ready hopefully by the end of this month and we hope it will prove to be an inspiring and informative tool to ensure the message of the CUTW weekend prevails throughout the year. Our team is busy putting in the final touches and it is looking really good!

Recycle.gi:

This morning saw the ESG paying a visit to a local green company called Recycle.gi. During a busy two hour period around 3 tonnes of paper and cardboard was loaded up on a truck for export to a designated centre in Algeciras. An impressive amount of valuable paper and cardboard waste that will be processed and re-used. It was a very positive experience for the onlooker but really hard work for the company that has coped with a lot of difficulty dealing as it does, with an international border known for its problems and delays. Border inspections also add to the workload seeing the company needing to offload if not all the haul, then part to allow full inspection by Spanish customs. Nevertheless Recycle.gi is committed to their business and the ESG was very impressed with the professionalism and efficiency in their operation. Visit Recycle.gi if you want to learn more about what this young, green company is all about.

Joint Press Release re Western Beach and Sewage at Sea 24th October 2011

The ESG and the Western Beach users have recently been in contact with Sir Graham Watson’s office and have been informed that their petition is likely to be heard by the European Petitions Committee before Christmas.

Campaigners, however, continue to be concerned about sewage pollution from La Linea as all indications are that the recent heavy rains will bring about heavily polluted seas around Gibraltar once again.

Readings

Checking the Environmental Agency website for data reveals that even while not as frequent as desired, the data from most beaches indicates a steady and at times, spiking, level of sewage contamination. Campaigners trust that the Gibraltar Government will maintain sampling frequency at all beaches as it is public knowledge that the Western Beach problem didn’t simply disappear; it was re-routed in the main, towards Eastern Beach coastline. Concerns remain that the time lapse between sample taking and publishing information is still too long (well over a week, for example) meaning that the public cannot rely on this data to check on the safety or otherwise of the coastal waters.

Informed Choice

Although the official bathing season is now over campaigners worry that people are still using the beach as is evident in the recent bursts of hot weather. “Even if people do not swim they may use the beach in good weather,” says Karen Everett. She adds that, “It is therefore vital to ensure that up to date information on the pollution levels at all beaches is readily available and accessible to the public. Storm Drain sewage contamination is clearly already occurring and it is therefore very difficult to know when this can spike creating a serious pollution episode which could affect public health.

Problems at other Beaches

Both Western Beach users and the ESG consider that all efforts must now be made to ensure the situation does not deteriorate further and that monies are provided to the La Linea Municipality by the National Government to resolve this cross border pollution situation.
Anyone can see for themselves that our bathing water quality has dipped considerably this year due to sewage contamination. This slide must stop to ensure the protection of our marine environment and safeguard our beaches for our families to use for future summers.

Campaigners will publish any further developments with their Petition and Complaint lodged at the European Commission and will continue to monitor water quality at Western Beach in case of serious sewage dumping which could see further actions from them. The public are invited to please send in any reports of marine pollution to: esg@gibtelecom.net and sewageatsea@gmail.com

The ESG adds it hopes Gibraltar will soon see progress in our own sewage treatment plant which is long overdue.

VOLUNTEERS CONCERNED ABOUT VOLUME OF WASTE AT SEVEN SISTERS

Last weekend a group of dedicated volunteers carried out a second Clean up at Seven Sisters Beach and filled another three skip loads of rubbish from this challenging bit of Gibraltar’s coastline. An initial three skips had previously been collected by teams during the recent Clean up the World weekend.

For years the area in question has seen the tide dump incalculable quantities of lightweight, polystyrene and plastic bottles (several feet deep!) onto the raised ground beneath the great sea walls on a patch of shore line known as Seven Sisters. The area, as it stands today, is still covered in layers of plastic waste and as such presents a very real threat to marine life, not just in the Bay, but out in the world’s oceans..

After this latest clean up we think its important to raise awareness about this environmental problem. Clearly, birds, fish, turtles, dolphins etc. are at risk as they often mistake small pieces of floating plastic/polystyrene as plankton or other food sources and can be indiscriminately starved and poisoned. Polystyrene packaging in particular breaks down quite quickly into small particles the size of plankton and is easily confused as food so this is a real danger. (See homepage ESG website for short research video on this issue).

While our 18 volunteers rapidly filled over 150 large black sacks of bottles and polystyrene during a four hour period we by no means collected all that was there. The ESG and other volunteers urge the Gibraltar Govt to please complete the job and take appropriate measures to remove the remaining rubbish using whatever means at its disposal. The ESG will be contacting Govt directly about this.

Whatever happens the team of volunteers intend to re-visit the area early next year to monitor the situation and continue clean ups if need be. The ESG is grateful to GibDock for providing crane support, to the MoD for enabling access with their vessel, and to Gibraltar General Services Limited for assisting in skip removal.

The volunteers did an amazing job and ultimate thanks go to them.

See Flickr link on Home Page for photos of Clean up

ESG Radio Newsletter 13th October 2011

Weeks rush past and it seems that everything these days starts and finishes with elections, gossip and comment. More debate is clearly needed on sound policies on all matters, but of course, for the ESG, we welcome as many opportunities as possible to hear all parties courting for votes to explain their environmental policy for Gibraltar. Lets hope these are spelt out soon as while the environment may poll low in order of people’s priority, there is no getting away form the fact that our physical environment is critical to all in dictating the quality of life we enjoy, and on a wider scale, how sustainable our current practices and economies actually are. These are determined ultimately by having the resources and a stable environment in which to live.
Remove these and you quickly see modern societies crumble, ours would be no different.

It’s vital, therefore, that all politicians today have this understanding in mind when standing for election as the pressure for reaction to challenges presented by our environment will only grow with time as raw materials, food sources, and fossil fuels come under ever increasing pressure.

Let’s hope that, as a minimum, all parties have a tangible plan for bringing Gibraltar onto the renewable energy ladder, with a long term vision for eventually making us totally self-reliant with clean energy. Wouldn’t that be good news?

Coming back to our physical environment and issues very local to Gibraltar, we would like to briefly discuss some of those which have concerned us in the last few weeks.

The first relates to the absence of a Captain of the Port. This critical position is still being advertised in the local press and Gibraltar continues operating one of the largest bunkering services in the med without this stewardship. It’s clear to us that the work carried out by Captain Hall in bringing our port into 21st century operational standards was not easy and absolutely necessary and is far from over. This effort also ensured that we saw some progress in terms of environmental safety measures. There are still major issues outstanding such as cross border port co-operation at a personnel and technical level and psychological and practical recovery within the port after the major port fire which took place a few months ago. The ESG therefore believes the replacement with an equally qualified and experienced Captain is urgent and a top priority.

Another matter we shall be commenting on via a more detailed press release is that of a current application with the Development and Planning Commission of a lubricant oil tank farm, to be located quite close to residential areas. Given the fact that the land demarcated for this, while port land, is nevertheless now very close to a number of residential areas the ESG wishes to bring the matter to the attention of the public and will be lodging a formal letter of objection. We know how the existing operations at the port already impact residential areas. Therefore no further industry should in our view, be permitted and an EIA on this current application be carried out and published.

The Gibraltar Government published its Waste Management Plan. While we clearly welcome all forms of analysis and planning necessary for a better environment, we disagree with Govt’s intention of building energy from waste plant, or incinerator as they used to be called. We are also writing to Govt with our detailed objections which fall mainly on the fact that having an incinerator means we shall always need to produce high levels of waste to guarantee efficiency at the plant which will have a detrimental impact on Gibraltar’s ability to meet future EU targets of responsible reduction of waste levels. While Govt is selling this as a green programme, because of the opportunity of producing energy for desalination, for instance) Govt knows this is not a guarantee, just a possibility –another main concern for the ESG is that an incinerator today would produce new air pollution for Gibraltar, something that many would resist.

Please contact us with any questions on local and regional environmental issues. We shall be only too happy to help share any information we have. Visit our website and call us: details as follows:

www.esg-gib.net, tel: 200-48996, or mobile 54960000 and email: esg@gibtelecom.net

The ESG wish to make reference to a number of recent developments concerning our environment which are of public interest.

The first relates to ongoing developments and Govt announcements on the Port area. The departure of a highly qualified Captain in the middle of the current activity and recent major accident is a serious worry. Regardless of the circumstances behind Captain Hall’s decision the ESG believes an equally experienced and qualified replacement should be a top priority for Government. Part of Captain Hall’s mission in bringing an increasingly busy port into 21st century was raising operational standards, especially in the area of environmental safety, and it is vital that this programme of critical change is maintained under a new Captain.

The second matter relates to an application for a Tank Farm going haltingly forward through the planning application process, if indeed it is still current. It is, however, crucial that we give this project prominence as its impact, if permitted, will be widely felt within several residential areas. The issue concerns a new tank farm comprising of nine tanks with a total capacity of 490 tonnes of lubricant oil to supply visiting vessels. This new proposal is shocking given the recent explosion at the Sullage Tanks at Western Arm the accident report of which, while promised, has not yet been published.

The ESG is also concerned about the proximity of the proposed tank farm to residential areas that could be affected by increased shipping movements in the area and associated noise and more air pollution. The development and expansion of the cruise terminal at Western Arm also calls for a halt to further industrialisation of the area. It’s clear that pollution could occur from increased fuel activity leading to problems for our desalination intakes, nearby swimming areas and the marine environment itself.

The Gibraltar Development Plan does state that the land earmarked for this possible tank farm is designated as port land and for light industry use, port services etc. However, given the new housing development in the area whose residents have been promised a cleaner environment with the imminent departure of the power generating station, the last thing, we are certain, they wish to hear, is more industries setting up bringing with them associated environmental impacts and problems.

Clearly an EIA on this project is necessary and the public given ample opportunity to review its findings. But, above all, Government must decide on the side of the public and protection of quality of life which is already impaired in an area afflicted by port and shipping activity as well as by a generating station and desalination plant.

New decisions taken today must reflect a government that has learnt lessons of conflict and impact from past chaotic planning decisions and must not add to them.

In Town Without My Car has organised a debate to discuss liveability in GIbraltar, a key issue central to all ESG Campaigns.

Janet Howitt is a member of the panel joined by : Rebecca Faller (PDP, Joe Cortes (GSLP) and Selwyn Figueras (GSD).

Date: Wednesday 19th October 2011. It kicks off at 7.30pm and will be held at Sacarello’s Coffee House – Irish Town.

Hope ESG members and supporters will be able to attend and engage in the debate.

For more details contact Janet on 54960000

The ESG was this week filmed for an environmental programme broadcast on one of France’s national environmental programmes- the series is called ARTE-

We were invited to participate in a programme focusing on the Bay environment and how this was suffering due to various environmental impacts such as bunkering and the heavy petrochemical activity associated with the CEPSA Oil Refinery in San Roque.

Three Committee members, Moses Benrimoj, Tom Scott and Janet Howitt went thorugh the bucket sampling methodology used to take air samples of polluted air you are literally standing in!

We are hopeful that the programme will be launched mid October and will post the link on the website – Watch this space!!!