OPEN LETTER TO MINISTER FOR ENVIRONMENT FROM ESG Dated 20.10.03

On the 28th August we wrote to the Honourable Ernest Britto, Minister for the Environment regarding the levels of noise pollution emanating from the power stations, and expressing concern at the proposed expansion of the OESCO power station. Given the public interest and concern over this matter, the letter to the Minister was made public. Regrettably nearly two months have elapsed and the Minister has failed to reply. We therefore have now come to the conclusion that his intention is to ignore our letter, our concerns, and the concerns of the many families who live near the generating stations and who have to suffer the consequences of totally unregulated noise and air pollution, and the unwelcome prospect of further expansion.

We feel compelled to remind the Minister once again of the points we brought to his attention in our letter. Our first grievance was that given our concerns regarding the serious noise pollution affecting the south district, and the fact that OESCO continues to operate in breach of noise regulations, he failed to tell us, when we met, that there were plans to expand the generating station.

The failure of the Environmental Agency to serve noise nuisance abatement notices on both OESCO and the MoD power stations was also raised in our letter.

Lastly, we reminded the Minister yet again, that the Environmental Agency is not measuring our air quality because it lacks the necessary equipment to do so, and that Gibraltar remains in breach of this pertinent EU Directive since 1995.

Given the importance and the seriousness of the issues raised in our letter, we did expect a reply from the Minister, and his silence on the matter is difficult to explain.

If the Minister believes that by ignoring us, we and the environmental problems that we bring to his attention, are going to disappear, he is mistaken. We must remind the Hon. Britto that as Minister for the Environment, he has a duty to be fully accountable to citizen’s genuine concerns. By refusing to address these genuine concerns, the Minister is doing a disservice to his Ministry, the Government, and most importantly, to the public he has been elected to serve. We would urge the Minister to explain to the general public, and in particular to the long-suffering residents of the south district, what he is doing, if anything at all, to tackle the problems of noise and air pollution that emanate from the generating stations. The matter is of utmost importance. It affects people’s health, and he owes us an explanation.

The ESG will submit a petition to the Minister at the end of this week signed by nearly four hundred residents close to power plants in Gibraltar demanding for urgent action on this long-standing problem.

ESG COMMITTEE