Oct 16 – GSD Says Lloyd’s Documents “Are Full Of Holes” – Feetham Calls Them A “Marketing Ploy”
With works for the new Government-approved LNG power station set to start on Monday, the GSD says reports issued by the Government are not safety reports, they are reviews which are “incomplete and inconclusive”.
The Leader of the Opposition, Daniel Feetham, said he has read the documents published by Lloyd’s Register and Shell on behalf of the Government, and said that they have huge gaps with regards to their safety material.
During a press conference held at the GSD headquarters earlier today, Mr Feetham said these assessments had no risk assessment safety reports on various aspects of the proposed LNG facility, including the power station itself, the bunkering facility, or what the GSD highlights as the most important, the movement of LNG fuel from the ship to storage facilities.
Mr Feetham said: “Lloyd’s Register were only commissioned on the 26th September, indicating there brief review has been thrown together in three weeks. The original Lloyd’s Register reports were crafted over three months
“It's important to point out that the comprehensive safety reports we published earlier this year ran to 90 pages and we were falsely accused of redacting by the Chief Minister, these fragmentary reviews run to fewer than 30 pages.”
He said the published report from the Government has been “significantly redacted”, with links to PDF files which were not provided, but do exist.
Mr Feetham added that these reports are just a marketing ploy, and the complete design will be dealt with at a later date. He added: “The Chief Minister will deal with it after the election, when it won’t cost him any electoral harm. This is not honest politics, Mr Picardo needs to lay all his cards on the table, and that is not what he is doing.”
The report commissioned by the Government didn't look at bunkering facilities, and the GSD say that at present there are no ships which use LNG as fuel in the Gibraltar area.
The GSD say there are still a number of risk assessments to be undertaken as indicated by Lloyd’s Register, including a scenario of a rupture in one tank which then has a major effect on the remaining storage tanks.
GSD Chairman and election candidate Trevor Hammond described the situation as a “travesty” and nothing more than a marketing ploy. He said even though this has been considered by Shell, they have not published this internal evaluation. He added that it’s a bit like doing your homework and marking it yourself.
The Opposition also believes that Shell is still required to pursue further risk mitigation, but this is yet to be demonstrated.
Robert Vasquez, who will also be standing for the GSD in the upcoming election, raised concerns about the resupply of the storage facility occurring every two weeks, as this is the riskiest part of the operation of the facility.
Mr Feetham concluded: “My comments here have not been comprehensive, there are other serious question marks that time precludes us from addressing.
“All these caveats indicate to anyone willing to take time to read the detail that Lloyd’s Register are being entirely non-committal in their assessment, they do not wish to be associated with the risks in this project without a lot more work being conducted. They are positioning themselves as far from any consequent liability as they possibly can, presumably while still getting paid.
“There is ample evidence in the Lloyd’s Register review that the safety work is far from complete and these documents have been rushed out to confuse the public. No one in Government seems to understand Risk Assessment methodology, or they would have realised how full of holes these documents are. They are unable to support their own conclusions with evidence and bring us no closer to establishing the safety of this project.”
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