When environment groups were summoned to the Ministry last month for their comments on amendments to Environment Impact Assessment (EIA) regulations they were shocked by the proposals put forward. The new regulations suggested changes to the criteria by which projects should undergo assessment for environmental damage. It was evident that the regulations appeared to be carefully tailored to allow certain projects which might be in the pipeline to escape such assessment.
Suspicions aroused, Flimkien ghall-Ambjent did its homework, delving deeper into European legislation on EIAs, only to discover that before exempting developers from the obligation to carry out an EIA, member states bind themselves to:
Inform the Commission, prior to granting consent, of the reasons justifying the exemption granted, and provide it with the information made available, where applicable, to their own nationals.
Further investigation has revealed that since accession no less than 17 Government Notices have been quietly passed allowing the waiver of required environment assessments. In addition to the recently highlighted Fort Cambridge case, these exemptions resulted in no environmental damage assessment of projects such as the Bugibba artificial beach, which spilled out into the marine ecosystem last winter. Many projects were indiscriminately pushed through to appease developers, though in the case of the beach, the developer was the Malta Tourism Authority.
Other serious waivers among those investigated by FAA included the development and later expansion of a water fun park at Bahar ic-Caghaq. This had been hotly contested by residents and the outcome might have been very different had an EIA been held. A large touristic development at Ramla Bay which normally should have required a detailed assessment before the issuing of a permit also had its EIA waived. The proposed development borders a candidate Natura 2000 site and the project’s lack of a proper study will put Malta in a very dim light with regard to measures to stop species loss under Malta EU commitments toward biodiversity targets.
In the light of proposed changes to Malta’s EIA regulations which will make it easier for large developments to go ahead without adequate Environment Assessments, the overlooking of such a fundamental EU Regulation in order to favour developers’ interests is a further indication of the Maltese authorities’ lack of resolve to protect our environment.
It is a very sad reflection that Maltese civil society should have to turn to the EU Environment Commission to implement the protection of citizens’ rights which its own Parliament has been elected to ensure.
