Mar 06 - Onus Is On Government For LNG Safety Says GSD
The GSD says that the Chief Minister’s press releases on the proposed LNG installation “are becoming more intemperate the longer the debate goes on” adding that “it simply belies his inability to cope with reasonable debate when it involves any criticism of his administration.”
The Opposition repeats that the Chief Minister "continues to avoid an answer to the simple question" as to why he told GBC that EU law required Gibraltar to offer bunkering services in LNG when, it says, “that is clearly not true.” The party says that Mr Picardo “cannot expect people to accept his statements without question.”
The GSD argues that the onus to “put up or shut up” is not on the Opposition but, instead, “falls squarely on the Government” to publish the studies that it relies on and that, in its view, show that the risk associated with the proposed sites for LNG Bunkering when balanced against the potential consequences to people living in the vicinity is a risk worth taking. That, says the GSD, can only be done by publishing gas cloud models, risk blast and other impact assessments.
A statement from the party continued:
“Anywhere in the EU an EIA would have been produced and published after consultation with the public and any pertinent safety reports would have been made public. Government reticence over the publication of any reports begs the question whether they took the decision to go ahead with this project without having the necessary reports and/or whether the impact of an accident (however small the risk) would be so high that the Government does not want people to know.
“We continue to maintain that the impact of a credible scenario accident at the sites chosen by Government to people living in the vicinity is potentially very high and Government needs to be open and transparent about this.
“Our port has no experience of handling LNG Bunkering, our fire services have no experience of dealing with an LNG accident and the three sites that the Government is considering are very near the cruise liner terminal. We simply cannot see how the Government can just put the onus on the Opposition to prove that LNG Bunkering should not be undertaken from these three locations. The Opposition has acted responsibly and, indeed, the only reason why there is greater community awareness of this issue is precisely because the Opposition has focused on the issue. We will continue to do so.”
