10-day extension to gas tanker consultation period 'not enough'

Updated with PL, AD statements

The 10-day extension given in the consultation period on the new power station and LNG tanker was not enough and could not be taken as a sincere gesture, Opposition leader Simon Busuttil said today.

In a letter to Environment and Resources Authority chairman Victor Axiaq (see pdf link below), Dr Busuttil referred to Prof. Axiaq’s letter informing him that the 30-day consultation period was being extended by 10 days.

Dr Busuttil had previously requested an extension saying 30 days were not enough since there were 15,000 pages of documentation about the project which had just been published.

He said that to conclude a consultation process in 40 instead of 30 days was confirmation of how much the authority wanted to hasten its final approval and discourage people from taking part in the process.

If the authority had already decided to approve the permit before it had even considered it, Dr Busuttil said, it should say so.

He called on Prof. Axiaq to revise his decision and extend the consultation period reasonably so as to give everyone the chance to participate in it.

He also hoped that consultation meetings would not be held before everyone had...