ESG Radio Broadcast 25th July 2013
We missed our usual slot last Thursday due to the Bermuda games coverage. Clearly a few issues have been on our minds recently and we have issued various press statements to give these the profile we believe they deserve.
One such item relates to the company known as “Nature” whose tank exploded two years ago and an issue that remains embroiled in court proceedings over culpability. The company has announced it is planning to apply to the DPC to re-establish new storage tanks for waste oil at the same site. The ESG considers this is premature at best, and a disgrace given the matter of compensation to the family of the deceased worker remains unresolved.
Obviously Western Beach has also been in sharp focus as recent high pollution readings leading to beach closure only to re-open very soon after, without any details being released officially as to the cause of the pollution spike, was of concern to us.
This is why we called and continue to recommend beach closure. It is an unpredictable situation with a storm drain outlet from Spain over which we have no control. Only last weekend we were sent a detailed report by a western beach user who had contracted an infection in a healing wound after swimming at the beach on the day that showed the highest pollution reading on the Environmental Agency Website. We are waiting to see what the official Government response to our public statement on this is and if the beach will be closed.
Moving on to issues of litter and air pollution: As more and more of us spend time outdoors, we see more litter appear around Gibraltar. There is no doubt that Master Services is working hard in ever more locations to remove the dregs and evidence of late night revelry, but it continues to shock nevertheless when one is confronted by this thoughtless, careless behaviour.
Our surveys so far for this years clean up have confirmed that our efforts are again needed in various areas. With the help of the Gib Defence Police we reccied Seven Sisters, a site only accessible by boat and found significant amounts of marine debris washed ashore. Other areas such as the back of the stadium, a popular canoe area, sees the waterfront bathed in loads of plastic and other rubbish –the old Garrison Gym, another clean up site, is now gathering all types of rubbish, right on the roadside!! The top of Jumpers Bastion is a real eye-sore- with old netting barely hiding the mounting litter and general state of dereliction on a main road – many new hotspots especially in urban areas like car parks are linked to the intense tobacco smuggling going on in Gibraltar today- we all witness this – the rubbish generated is astounding, needs to be tackled somehow.
Interested volunteers, please email esg@gibtelecom.net to register for 21st September Clean Up, thanks!
We move now to air pollution. The south district is a busy area at present, GibDock handling several vessels back to back, even seen the Sunborn, moving out perhaps to allow other jobs to be done! No doubt the cleaning and spraying of these vessels is taking its toll on the air quality in the area, as well as likely noise pollution. The power stations can also be seen emitting very heavy emissions from time to time, these more acute in hot weather with little wind. If fumes persist you should call the official hotline number and report the incident. See items on our news section on home page for hotline numbers as well as links to Govt documents on their plans to tackle these chronic issues in Gibraltar. Make a note the next DPC meeting will be held on the 7th August at 9am at the John Mackintosh Hall.
You can also join the ESG and we can keep you up to date with local and regional environmental issues.
