May 11 – Government: Feetham’s GSD Campaign Of Scaremongering And Fear Has Begun
The leaflet on Liquefied Natural Gas which Daniel Feetham's GSD is circulating is both sensationalist and deceptive, according to the Government.
The Government argues that most alarming thing about the leaflet is “how little research Mr Feetham appears to have done” before having the leaflet printed.
A statement from Number Six continues: “The burning tank on the front page, which exploded during the time that Mr Feetham was serving in the previous administration, actually contained diesel and other waste oil products. It is, therefore, almost amusing to see Mr Feetham use a photograph of a burning tank that contained diesel in support of the argument that Gibraltar should exclusively choose diesel as a safer power source for the future.
“In fact, the power station which the Government will construct will burn BOTH diesel and LNG, giving Gibraltar more than just one option.
“Diesel is much more expensive than LNG and is also subject to huge fines because of how polluting it can be. Those fines are amongst the many things the Opposition chooses not to reflect in this deceptive leaflet.
“Indeed, the calculations made in the leaflet are all based on Mr Feetham's own assumptions and conjecture, and are entirely wrong. Also missing from the calculations are the fees payable to consultancy companies that the GSD was committed to. A full and proper comparison will be produced by the Government to demonstrate that numbers provided by Mr Feetham are - as with everything else he does - designed to present only a self-serving analysis, ignoring the real long- term interests of Gibraltar.”
Energy and Environment Minister, Dr John Cortes, said: "The Opposition leaflet is deceptive from its front photo to its back page calculations. There is little in it that is an accurate reflection of reality. The truth that it does reveal though is that Mr Feetham and the GSD are clearly going to set out to spend the months leading up to the general election frightening, scaring and deceiving people about the best and safest solution for power generation for the next 30 years for our nation. The Opposition is now even committed not to allow gas bunkering, which is environmentally safer than oil-based bunkering, thereby ruling Gibraltar out of a bunkering market in the future when the world's merchant fleet is expected to be running on LNG. So much for Mr Feetham’s concerns about bunker revenues being down last year; he would take us out of the market completely in the future! If the community were not used to Mr Feetham's constant attempts at deception and scaremongering as a political tactic, some might have been hoodwinked by this leaflet - but most people have now seen through his childish games. In fact, his whole campaign for Government would be better represented if he just marched up and down Main Street with a sandwich board on his shoulders which read 'The End of the World is Nigh' on one side and 'We are Bankrupt' on the other. Not very inspiring stuff, but exactly what the Partido Popular like to read and hear about Gibraltar!"
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