ESG Press Release
NO! to New Refinery
19th January 2016

FURTHER TO RECENT NEWS THAT IRAN IS LOOKING INTO BUILDING A NEW REFINERY IN SPAIN – SEEN AS HIGHLY POSITIVE BY THE SPANISH GOVERNMENT

“The ESG wishes to make clear that it intends to place its weight behind every effort to stop plans to build a new Iranian/Spanish Oil Refinery in the Bay, notably Algeciras.

This region, says the group, is already under considerable pressure from the poorly managed CEPSA Refinery in San Roque. The long-term air and water emissions from the Petrochemical complex are widely believed to be causing higher rates of cancers and other diseases leading the Bay to be part of the “Triangle of Higher Mortality” studies published by the esteemed Professor Joan Benach, a public health expert from Barcelona and his team.

The ESG, with the support of the international law firm Hassan’s, and the Gibraltar office in Brussels, is awaiting news from the European Commission on the compliance standards at the CEPSA Plant, as its emissions continue to cause concern among bay populations.

The prospect, therefore, of a second Oil Refinery going up in our Bay is totally unacceptable and we sincerely hope that all tiers of civil society, both here and throughout the Bay, will join the fight to prevent this from happening.

Another factor, which must be considered, is the effort Europe is making to rule out future fossil fuel use as it joins the world in addressing climate change challenges and meeting targets. We shall also therefore be lobbying Brussels to urge them not to issue any permits for new refineries and stop any major expansion of the present refinery.

The ESG will be taking this issue up with Government and other long-term partners in the region to explore the next steps.”

Links to story:
http://www.europasur.es/article/comarca/2199164/margallo/ve/cerca/iran/instale/una/refineria/la/bahia/algeciras.html

http://www.elmundo.es/economia/2016/01/18/569cbd75e2704e4e108b461b.html

ESG Radio Newsletter 7th January 2015

Hi- the first of our 2016 broadcasts and we look ahead to the New Year with concerns for our environment, but also with optimism that the answers lie in finding and applying solutions. Together.

Some useful information for you: next DPC meeting will be on the 27th January at 9.30am Charles Hunt Room, John Mackintosh Hall. This meeting will look at revised plans for Rosia Bay as well as the skyscraper Eurocity application among several others. While the full agenda details will emerge a week before the mtg, you can see possible inclusions by getting on the eplanning site via egov.gi – and setting yourself up with a name and password to log on and view all validated applications.

You can then select key dates for information on deadlines for objections, etc. It’s clear that many projects cause concerns in the community and its important that the Town Planners and the DPC hear these. This is the point of eplanning to be more inclusive and improve on information sharing – both ways. In the past it was extremely difficult to get information on any application as one had to physically go to Town Planning and spend hours poring through huge files and plans. This has now been replaced by online access to information. This is a huge step forward and we urge everyone to make use of this to help Gibraltar develop more collegiately. This has been a long-term ESG aim.

While more the remit of pure conservation and fishing lobbies, the ESG has also been approached by its members regarding the blatant raking and fishing off Waterport Terraces by Spanish fishing boats during the festive period. We shall be meeting with Government shortly to discuss their approach on this and share our members concerns.

Some movement on cross border pollution – we are pleased to confirm that questions sent by the ESG to MEPs Ashley Fox and Molly Scott Cato, with support from Sir Graham Watsons team and David Dumas QC of Hassan’s, have been tabled and published on the European Parliament website. We now await the Commissions response. The questions concern requesting an update on its monitoring of the Refinery and associated industry on compliance given the on-going excessive and poorly managed emissions, and, the need for an urgent timetable of investment by Spain to rectify Western Beach sewage contamination by la Linea municipality. More news on this once we have had the Commissions response.

Good news and on the actions by the Commission in response to Spanish environmental groups and citizen protest, is the stopping of plans for development of the Valdevaqueros zone in Tarifa, a protected area in its own right. This is great news at the start of the year. Lets hope the Commission can use its muscle on pollution issues in the Bay too.

On the LNG front of course 2015 saw several meetings and detailed discussions that we held with various project leaders. Our latest submission was yesterday for the Scoping Report, a precursor to the full EIA for the LNG storage plant. The ESG worked on this over Xmas and relayed points we believe need to be included under the EIA process.

The ESG thanks its members and the public in general for its support and interest in our efforts during 2015. Looking forward we shall continue working for our aims and objectives for a healthier Gibraltar and Bay area. You can find more details on our esg-gib.net website where you can also join up as well as read about our work over the years. Next newsletter will look at Gibraltar’s current status on energy use and its renewable energy plans.

Thanks for listening and wishing all a healthy and ever greener 2016!

ESG Radio Newsletter 3rd December 2015

Hello – well this week has seen a flurry of activity in Paris, for the start of the much-anticipated Climate Change Summit. People everywhere will be watching and waiting to see if meaningful steps are taken at this point to steer humanity in the right direction. David Attenborough, the world-renowned naturalist was asked if he felt confident about the talks this time. He said he wasn’t and that the scale of the problem was hideous.
However he added that it seemed to him that the danger is becoming more and more clear to the people attending this conference and that there is, at last, the chance that something might come out of it.
Attenborough is backing the Global Apollo Programme – a 10-year plan to make renewable energy cheaper than the use of fossil fuels.

This programme suggests that developed countries of the world get together the scientists of the world to solve the remaining problems – in the gathering, transmission and the storage of energy. He believes that if we do that everyone will benefit and that the oil and coal, which is causing all the problems, will remain in the earth where it does no harm at all. The arguments for such a programme are powerful.
We recommend you read the report available on line: just Google Global Apollo Programme.
Lets hope that that this programme can obtain real support and traction at the current climate talks session.

These talks would have had far greater profile in the world media had they not been superseded by the horrific acts of violence in Paris a few weeks before. Add to this the tragic scenes of humanity on the move with the refugee crisis and it is clear that attention and resources are currently being directed towards issues of security and humanitarian aid. With climate change posing worsening conditions for countries around the world, these issues, we are told, will only grow making the current Paris Talks the most important issue going on at the moment.

Our WishList, published online leads with Climate Change and Energy calling for wider discussion locally so we, as a community, can understand and participate in the current drive to reduce our own impacts. We realise that Government has an Energy Policy that sets out its plans to meet renewable energy targets and this is also welcome. More dialogue and debate is needed at community level on such a major issue.

An update for those interested in the LNG and Power Station issue. The ESG has held a number of technical meetings with experts over the past few weeks and is now once again assimilating information given. We have also obviously taken every opportunity to express our concerns and calls for what we consider to be the key issues and best outcomes. More will be published separately soon. See esg-gib.net for more info.

Finally, a date for the next DPC meeting –taking place on the 11th December, possibly the last one of the year. At its usual time of 9.30am at the John Mack Hall, Charles Hunt Room. The agenda should be found online tomorrow.

Thanks for listening!

ESG Press Release re LNG and Clarification sought 20th November 2015

The ESG would like to voice its view following a number of consultations held with Government and its agencies on the proposed LNG Storage for the new power station.

Naturally we welcomed the opportunity of meeting HSL and Shell and being able to directly place our key concerns and questions to them.

Some of our issues were allayed – some not. Arising from those meetings, and in the knowledge that additional hard facts and information will emerge from the many reports, assessments and EIA coming up, the ESG is taking the opportunity offered to ask Shell a number of unanswered questions which we believe need clarification in what is Gibraltar’s largest project today.

The questions which we are asking directly to Shell at this juncture are based on: making available previously requested documentation; for worst case scenarios to be technically explained and resourced; and for all alternative or potentially alternative sites to the North Mole for LNG storage to be presented including risk evaluation, costings, designs and explanations on decision given.

All this is especially pertinent given an unexpected development this week when Mr. Joe Bossano stated clearly that Shell’s only interest in supplying LNG for the power station is the bunkering business it will facilitate – something that has been consistently denied when raised by the ESG. Also very worrying to us is the declaration that the storage tanks at the North Mole could be servicing the bunkering requirements, with the necessary increase in the re-fuelling frequency this will represent. This has again been categorically denied at the highest level in Government when raised by the ESG in recent meetings. The ESG therefore calls for urgent clarification on these comments.”

ESG Radio Newsletter 12th November 2015

Hi there- midterm break over and election hustings are now well underway. The ESG has published its wish list along with several other NGOs and Associations. For those who still may not have seen or read our wish list you can find this on our website at esg-gib.net. It includes 15 separate areas we continue to monitor and lobby on.

The first is on Climate Change and the need to engage the community more widely with issues relating to this major global challenge. We call for public presentations on Gibraltar’s approach in addressing this important issue, which primarily involves choices and use of energy, waste and recycling management, transport and more. It is true to think that with the internet and social media more people are better informed, but in order for every country, however big or small, to meet what will become increasingly harder goals and targets to reach over the next few decades, communities must be on-board for these measures to succeed. For this, good information and collaboration is essential.

So no surprise then that our next headings include energy, pollution, traffic and recycling. We make recommendations and discuss issues from our perspective having tracked these in Gibraltar for over a decade. Others are waste, sewage treatment, bunkering and shipping, conservation, mobile masts and awareness and planning. Here, another important fact to highlight is the on-going Environmental Action and Management Plan, which transposes Gibraltar’s “Environmental Charter” into action and therefore an extremely important document. We should remember that the environment is not a side or singular issue and it affects every aspect of our lives. Therefore the action plan and its aims and timelines are critical in achieving a better environment and thus, a better quality of life for all. Many are still unaware of this Plan which is published on the Dept of Environments website. As an NGO we monitor the plan and any delays and lobby for an update of the plan to be published that will reflect actual timings on major projects.

Finally we understand that many in our community continue to be concerned about the threat to health from the Oil Refinery and associated petrochemical industries and the lack of a robust, cross border epidemiological study and confirm these critical issues are also contained in our Wish List.

The ESG is also preparing questions to be tabled in Brussels via Gibraltar’s MEPs on such matters as well as the unresolved issue of Western Beach.

As reported in the media the ESG has met with experts regarding the issue of LNG. We presented our concerns and heard some reassurances. We now await publication of more reports as well as the detailed analysis that will come from the EIA that will be publicly available as it goes through the DPC process. The issue, for us, is still open.

Finally and back to Climate Change – We had mentioned the possibility of a rally planned for the end of this month in support of a global movement urging world leaders to stand firm and do the right thing on climate change. However, as this date now coincides with our own elections locally we have decided to postpone the rally for the time being. Any updates will be published. Thanks to those who have already expressed an interest in taking part.

Thanks for listening, for more info email us at esg@gibtelecom.net