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