Feb 18 - GSD Hits Back At Government Over Power Station Dangers
The GSD has today hit back at Government claims that it is acting irresponsibly by drawing attention to the dangers of an LNG Installation so close to densely populated urban areas.
The GSD says it would remind the Government that it is not best placed to talk about responsibility in this area when in the 2011 GSLP-Liberal manifesto they promised that “any binding agreements entered into in respect of the new power station will be respected” (see page 32) and yet chose to cancel the GSD agreement with Bouygues to build the Power Station at Lathbury Barracks at a cost to the taxpayer of £5 million. That was, says the GSD, a “monumental act of irresponsibility” which has meant that Gibraltar still has to grapple with this issue, nearly four years after they were elected. The Opposition argues that the GSD power station and a complete overhaul of the distribution network would have been complete by now had the GSLP-Liberals kept to their manifesto commitment.
In relation to the question of LNG, the GSD says that the Government is putting the cart before the horse because they have made the decision to build a dual fire power station 300 meters away from Waterport terraces supplied by an LNG installation also located very closely at either the detached mole or the north mole, “without having undertaken the necessary studies to determine that this was safe.” The GSD reiterates that it is the intention of the Government for the LNG Installation to handle bunkering quantities of LNG, which, it says, “are huge quantities by any measure.”
A statement from the party released this afternoon continues:
“It is patently obvious that those safety studies are being undertaken post the award of the tender to Bouygues and not before. That is irresponsible. That irresponsibility was evident in the statements made by the Chief Minister during the Leaders’ Viewpoint Debate when he said the Government could not disclose the relevant safety reports which the Opposition had asked the Government to make public in Parliament, because those reports were in the process of being produced. That startling revelation is repeated by the Government in their communiqué of yesterday when they say: “the rigorous risk assessment process for the power station is now underway”. Surely this should have been completed before the tender process and award.
“The fact is that before LNG installations are built by democratic Governments all over the world, very detailed risk analysis and public consultation would have taken place.
“We would have expected the Government to have commissioned and received detailed risk analysis for different scenarios including gas cloud models and blast risk assessments. This is not about scaremongering it is about safety and in any democracy it is the job of the Opposition to ensure the Government has taken those safety concerns on board. It is not possible, as the Government says, to reduce risk to an absolute minimum; it is possible to reduce risk as low as reasonably practicable in all the circumstances. However, at such close proximity to densely populated areas, even a low risk may not be acceptable to people when you take into account the devastating effect of an accident on large parts of the Western face of Gibraltar.
“This is particularly so, when there has been no public consultation process where the Government has explained with facts and figures, site plans, processes and risk scenarios, what the risks are. This is what would have happened if the Government in the UK had decided to build a LNG Installation anywhere near an urbanised area. It is only by properly informing the public as to the risks in an open and transparent manner and consulting the public that the local population would be able to assess whether they are willing to accept the risk of an LNG Installation so close to their homes.
“We call on the Government to make public all those reports it may have commissioned before it decided to award the contract for a power station at the North Mole.”
