The ESG wish to report on a meeting held with the Ministry for the Environment this week when a short presentation was given to the Minister and his staff by the ESG on the petition made to the Environment Commissioner in Strasbourg. The ESG is pleased to say that this generated much interest from all present.

The ESG and its lawyer, David Dumas QC from Hassans, updated the Minister of the latest developments with the European Commission and that the complaint filed by ESG and GONHS was being taken forward by the EU authorities.

At the end of the meeting the group also submitted letters on a number of issues of concern to the group such as bunkering pollution, data from monitoring stations and news of the start of an epidemiological study being launched on the other side of the border by La Junta.

The ESG has been invited to a Bay forum calling for an open, solid and detailed epidemiological study to be done which is taking place in Algeciras this evening. The call has been made to include all the trade unions, political parties and environmental groups in the area, including the nationwide unions and the political parties. The intention is that such a united front of social, political, environmental and neighbourhood organisations will demand a full study to address pollution impact on health throughout the Bay. Concerns exist on both sides of the border that the incidence of cancers and other serious illnesses are higher in this area than elsewhere because of the heavy industrial activity.

There are some people who might think that this type of forum simply can’t work because of the fragmented nature of political parties and groups in Spain. Also the fact that out of the many past altruistic efforts, these have been hijacked by political parties to suit their own agenda.

The ESG is well aware of all these issues but considers the need for a full epidemiological study to be paramount above all other issues and so is worth giving this a try. Since the fundamental problem is a cross border one the format for any study would need to be clearly demarcated to include Gibraltar in a geographical sense although any study here would need to be under the control of our own authority. However the ESG would expect to see our own Government embark on parallel studies without delay.

The ESG considers the matter important enough to take part in this introductory meeting in Algeciras and see if this time an effective and apolitical approach can survive beyond the first meeting. The other environmental groups share these concerns and commitment of the “end goal” and each will stipulate the terms for continued participation today.

The E.S.G. received numerous complaints from members of the public on Wednesday concerning a powerful and nauseating “rotten eggs” stench.

A Bucket Brigade team sent to investigate discovered that a strong stench of hydrogen sulphide, which probably originated from fuel oil, was washing over the South District and the Town area.


This fact, in conjunction with the westerly wind direction, strongly suggested that bunkering in the bay was the source of these emissions (several ships were taking bunkers at the time).

The team proceeded to take a sample and has sent this to an independent laboratory in the United States for analysis. The E.S.G. has promised to make the results public as soon as they arrive.

This is the latest in a series of such incidents, which proves that the government has failed, so far, in its commitment to identify and eliminate the source of these noxious gases in order to protect the public from their negative health effects.

The ESG met with the Minister for the Environment and his technical advisors last week. The issue of benzene peaks was raised by the group who was informed that Government would be making a statement to the House the following day on the matter.

The group remains dissatisfied with the Minister’s answers as reported in the media. He has stated that daily benzene levels are likely to be from traffic emissions. The ESG is not querying those readings. What the ESG brought to the Minister’s attention was sudden and elevated benzene peaks of over 50µg/m3 (EU legal upper limit of 10µg/m3) which occurred on the 24/8, 20/10 and the 24/10 at times when traffic was low but when activities like bunkering were most likely to have taken place.

In his answer to the House as reported in the media, the Minister pulled out 3 dates (3/3, 24/8 and 1/12), of which only one correlates with the aforementioned data (lifted from the same monitoring website) and which, apart from the 24/8 data, were all less significant, registering at less than 25μg/m3 albeit for longer duration. The much higher readings were not explained in the House of Assembly nor in response to the ESG or to the public.

In the overall but, so far, relatively short period of monitoring, it appears that sudden, elevated levels of benzene could be said to be rare. However, the group reiterates its concerns that sudden high levels of benzene in the air become acutely toxic and will therefore cause direct harm on our health, even if these high levels are short-term.

The ESG wishes to inform the Government that many residents in Gibraltar continue to be very concerned and that the public still requires a full explanation from Government as to the likely source of these peaks. It therefore awaits the results of its investigations without further delay.

The ESG wishes to comment on the recent spillage of fuel oil within the Bay. This was found to have been caused by the bunker “Eileen” resulting in the polluting episode affecting a stretch of Spanish coastline and a fine imposed upon the polluter.

It is understood that this particular spillage was due to human error when one of the connecting transfer valves was left open allowing the fuel to flow into the Bay. This type of oversight is potentially very damaging to the environment; this time it was a moderate spillage, next time the quantities could be significantly higher with tragic consequences for our marine environment and wildlife.

The ESG welcomes the heavy fine of 900,000 euros as well as other sanctions which have been imposed by the authorities on the owners of the Bunker “Eileen”. We trust that these sanctions will serve as a strong deterrent, encouraging bunkering vessels to operate in a manner that emphasises safety and best practices , thus minimising the likelihood of similar incidents in the future.

ESG and Bucket Brigade sees Junta declaration as BIG STEP FORWARD
but asks what is being done about BENZENE??

The ESG and Bucket Brigade congratulates La Junta de Andalucia for the recent announcements made in the Spanish press of its demands for all industries in the Bay to make immediate operational changes to dramatically reduce emissions.

The “Consejeria” gives the green light to an order which strengthens the controls, and forces industry to use fuels which have less negative impact on the atmosphere. It has established measures to reduce with immediate effect the levels of sulphur dioxide (SO2) being put out by industry to fall within levels stipulated by the EU Directives.

For Power Stations it has outlawed the use of fuels with sulphur content greater than 1% by weight. This measure alone should see a considerable reduction in the levels of sulphur dioxide in the air. If SO2 levels continue to be exceeded the relevant Environment Agency will have powers to reduce these which could include the forced reduction of electricity production by the offending power station. Under these new laws, industry is asked to reduce excessive pollution incidences associated with upsets in production, or on start up and stop needs, by adopting cleaner fuels and better operating controls with particular emphasis on particulates and sulphur dioxide.

For the Refinery the Consejeria stipulates that preference should be given to the consumption of natural gas as fuel and it prohibits the use of any other gaseous fuel with sulphur content greater than 0.24%.

Furthermore, all emissions will be come under close supervision with the installation of web cams to survey the use of flaring and real time monitors to feed data directly back to La Junta. All these measures are expected to be in place as from the beginning of October when medical tests will also start on selected sectors of the populations living close to the industrial complex.

These are the steps that many, including the Bucket Brigade have been calling for, for some time now. To see the Junta enforce these regulations must be seen as a huge and positive step forward in fighting the disgraceful and harmful levels of pollution to have existed in this zone for so long. It shows that increased pressure from the population on both sides is working but must be maintained.

When the ESG and GONHS first launched its complaint to the European Commission nearly three years ago it was against a backdrop of denial by industry and Spanish authorities. This important development now needs to be supported by appropriate actions taken by the industries and this time there will be even more people watching to ensure that it does.

Benzene excluded?
Pleased with these developments, the Bucket Brigade, remain concerned that benzene emissions appear not to have been specifically targeted as have sulphur dioxide and particulates. Benzene is among the worst pollutant present wherever oil or fuel is stored, handled or processed and tighter regulation of this deadly toxin must also be prioritised. This will therefore be the target of the ESG and Bucket Brigade action plan for the autumn which will aim to look at the impacts of our own bunkering emissions as well as the massive levels of benzene known to exist outside the Refinery.

Government’s scathing attack against us because of our criticism on the way they handled the Wilmington issue must not go unanswered. It’s suggestion that GONHS did not support our statement came as a surprise, as the joint position was debated between the two groups before being released to the press. In a letter to the Gibraltar Chronicle, dated 4th November, GONHS stated its position on the bunkering issue, which in essence, does not differ from our own and confirms that our press release was issued in good faith.

Further, for Government to intimate that we had failed to show proper respect for Gibraltar’s independent judicial process was totally wrong, uncalled-for and mischievous.

It is also regrettable that Government stated that we are fuelling the anti-Gibraltar politically motivated bunkering lobby, which could be interpreted as an insinuation that we are in collusion with that lobby. Nothing can be further from the truth and most sensible citizens will be only too aware of the great efforts that we, as a group, have always made to remain totally outside of any political allegiance. Because of our environmentalist concerns, we wish Gibraltar’s bunkering business to be run in an environmentally safe manner. As an environmental group we feel that what would be unreasonable, irresponsible and nonsensical (to quote the accusations levelled at us by Government) would be for us not to speak out against what we believe is wrong.

We believe that any single hull tanker carrying heavy fuel in our waters, be it for refuelling or for transit on to the refinery or elsewhere, represents an unacceptable risk to Gibraltar, because of the grave consequences of a major oil spill incident. Besides the damage to our marine ecosystems it would also affect our desalination plants which are situated on the western side of Gibraltar, thus threatening our capacity to produce potable water. Damage to our tourism industry as well as the long-term effects on the general health of the population resulting from the consumption of fish from the area must not be overlooked.

It is therefore unfortunate that, in spite of the consequences of such an accident, the Government has not taken all the appropriate legislative steps to minimise this risk.

It is the Government of the day that is entrusted by the people to legislate and pass laws that meet the best possible standards needed for general protection and safety. And on this occasion Government has failed to do so, hence our criticism. We feel that Government’s handling of this matter demonstrates once again a lack of adequate environmental management which, we believe, stems from the insufficient importance it gives to environmental issues in general.

We must remind Government that for us this is not a political argument. We are presenting our arguments from an environmental point of view which is an important aspect in this affair and should be heard with the respect it deserves. We could be accused of not displaying the cold aloof detachment and subtlety necessary to interpret the economic, legal, or political dimensions of this matter. However, we have spoken from the heart and with the interest of our society and our environment as our priority. We believe that economic prosperity and environmental safety are not incompatible as some people might wish to believe. Our over-riding priority for bunkering would be that it should be carried out with the highest possible standards available. To act otherwise would be a folly in such a busy, restricted bay.

We finally wish to remind Government that the ESG group was conceived and developed exclusively for the protection of our environment. We will not be silenced and cannot, and will not, hold back statements on issues which we consider to be fundamental, because these might be used, by some party or other, as fuel in a political argument.

ESG committee

While always appreciating the courageous actions carried out by Greenpeace, the ESG question the decision by them to respond to what is a complicated and evolving situation.

Campaigning for a better environment the ESG cannot regret the action yesterday but instead hope that Greenpeace will also consider the many factors polluting and damaging the ecosystem in the Bay and surrounding region.

In a week that sees inspectors visiting from the EU to also inspect Gibraltar’s bunkering practices it would appear to an observer that Gibraltar is the major threat to our environment. The complaint lodged with the European Union by the ESG and GONHS, clearly illustrates the enormity of the problem facing the environment in the Bay and it also clearly explains the origin of the worst polluters.

The ESG would earnestly request that Greenpeace become involved in the fight against the degradation and poisoning of the Bay by the heavy industrial presence in the Campo de Gibraltar area. Vested interest and politics prevent ordinary citizens from ensuring the right to a healthy life and environment. The ESG urges that Greenpeace in future consults with all the concerned parties before taking what could be interpreted as supporting a calculated and politically driven step again in the future.