ESG Press Release re CEPSA Oil Spill      29/09/16

ESG is very concerned about the recent oil spill produced by CEPSA’s mono-buoy and believes the final volume will only be realised after some time has passed given the underwater nature of the leak. The discrepancy on volume has also raised concern with 500, 2,000 and now 2,500litres being quoted by CEPSA, La Capitanía Marítima, and our own Gibraltar Port respectively.

Despite the urgent response by all parties to clean up the oil spill and monitor this incident, it raises a number of important issues. The cause has been reported as a fault in the mono-buoy during the disconnection of submerged pipelines.

The ESG calls for an independent review to be made of all critical infrastructure and systems at CEPSA to ensure such spills are avoided in future. It believes that control of equipment, systems and prevention measures need to be monitored from outside the industry and that penalties for any spill have to be of such magnitude as to cause a new and increased level of care and prevention within industry. With a new and large investment announced recently by CEPSA, the ESG says the Refinery must invest in upgrading infrastructure and safety systems and not simply expand operations and its profitability.

It is well documented that even a few litres of crude oil will wreak havoc on wildlife so 2 tons will have definitely impacted on the bays living environment. Birds and fish need only come into contact or even simply inhale this toxic material to suffer damage or worse₁.

Given the environmental impact of crude oil spills the ESG strongly urges for measures to also be taken at a cross border level to ensure these do not happen again.

1. http://oils.gpa.unep.org/facts/wildlife.htm

Tremendous Clean up Success!

26^th September 2016

Organisers of CUTW would like to thank the 300 plus volunteers, collaborators, supporters and sponsors for pulling off another Gibraltar-wide clean up this past weekend.

The “mountain of waste” was created at the Eco Park facility, with volunteers ferrying load after load to the site based at Flint Road. (see attached picture) Various skips were also filled with the final removal of all rubbish collected to be completed in the next few days.

Volunteers should be very proud of their efforts to help make Gibraltar’s natural environment cleaner, liberated from plastic menace and other harmful materials. Their hard work and hands-on action has also helped highlight Gibraltar’s litter problem.

Contractors’ waste compounded the build up of litter present at various hotspots. These matters will be taken up by the campaigners with all relevant authorities.

A long held objective of the campaign was also achieved this week with the removal of a large steel drum at Seven Sisters by GibDock cranes.

The ESG sincerely thanks the 300 plus volunteers made up of schools, businesses, clubs, associations and Govt agencies for rolling up their sleeves in this, the 12^th year, of the Clean up Campaign on the Rock. Well done!!

A full report detailing the weekend’s great efforts will be published soon.

CUTW 12^th Gibraltar participation!

19^th September 2016

The Environmental Safety Group will be co-ordinating a Gibraltar wide clean up next weekend as part of the global, UNESCO-supported, Clean up the World Campaign. The key date is the 24^th September.

Over 20 teams will be in action locally both during the week and over the weekend raising awareness about littered areas and cleaning up different corners of our homeland.

We start the week with an awareness raising stall and activity at Casemates on Tuesday 20^th from 10.30am to 3.00pm. Displays on the upcoming Clean up as well as information on the campaign’s aims and objectives will feature. It is always impressive to see how this campaign galvanises our community and enables challenging sites to be tackled by pulling together volunteers and resources.

The clean up will tackle green spaces and coastlines, underwater sites and various hotspots. A harbour clean up is also planned.

New to this years’ campaign, and a long held clean–up objective, is the planned removal of a massive steel drum lodged ashore at Seven Sisters. Our volunteers will clear this site of marine flotsam and GibDock will be tackling the challenging removal of the large steel object.

This site is now a designated marine reserve and managed by the Department of the Environment and Climate Change with ongoing programmes such as the replenishment of flora and fauna, litter surveys and the promotion of existing biodiversity with their underwater camera. The removal of all waste, including the large drum, will therefore greatly enhance the area. CUTW Gibraltar is very pleased to be able to contribute to these efforts.

Rosia Bay seabed and pier will also see a great effort this year as many local divers get involved to remove harmful waste from this marine rich environment.

Our “island” environment means loose litter threatens marine life – we need to do our bit to better contain our waste. Our campaign will highlight these problems, which form part of global efforts to eliminate plastics from our oceans.

With education, enforcement and facilities being central to the Clean up Campaign, this hands-on action will demonstrate that while improvements are slowly being achieved, there is still some way to go before we have won the battle on littering and fly tipping and improving our waste management systems.

The ESG would like to thank everyone who helps make the clean up possible – it couldn’t happen without your support.

If you want to volunteer and join a team you need to register asap – please don’t leave it till the last moment – thanks- email esg@gibtelecom.net

Liquid Natural Gas clarification sought once again

In the recent interview by the Chief Minister on the new Power Station and LNG Terminal, we were told that all necessary assessments had been completed.

The Environmental Safety Group agrees that there have been extensive assessments made on the safety and on the environmental impacts of these projects, sited as they are so close to urban areas and to the marine environment. The ESG has always stated its preference for the location of such industrial activity to be away from residential areas.

During the last major discussion at the Development and Planning Commission involving the LNG project, at which the Environmental Impact Assessment certification was examined, the ESG raised a number of issues that were still pending and were of concern. Most of these, we were told, were the remit of COMAH (Control of Major Accident Hazards), which is another level of certification that is required, and the Group was assured that details of this critical assessment and contingency review would be made available when the COMAH investigation had been concluded.

However, with these results still not available, the public now learns that the LNG project is poised to expand even further, with the prospect of bunkering. This is a great concern to the ESG, and no doubt to many residents particularly those of Waterport Terraces, Harbour Views, Sir William Jackson Grove, Mons Calpe Mews, Watergardens etc,. The assurances given by our Government to the ESG in private meetings, and to the public in Press Statements that this bunkering activity would never be supplied by the North Mole terminal now seem to have been made too hastily. When the ESG raised this concern last year, it was irrefutably allayed on many occasions by the Government of Gibraltar, who insisted that there were no plans whatsoever to carry out this activity at this terminal that is designed and dedicated solely to our power station requirements.

If it now appears that either Shell or GoG or both need to promote LNG bunkering activity from the North Mole terminal to justify their expenditure on this project, then the reality of the situation has been misinterpreted by the ESG, and the public, and this is the clarification that we are now asking from our government. Furthermore, we ask how this much higher level of LNG activity can be contemplated without the ‘green light’ that is required from the COMAH investigations.

The ESG Committee