Bondi+ and the power station
An impression of what the Sargas power station would look like in Delimara
So, watching Bondi+ tonight we learned not a few things.
1. All that talk about shipping CO2 to Denmark and burying it means nothing because Denmark hasn’t been asked and it hasn’t been costed anyway.
2. The ash residue from burning coal-based ‘biopaste’ might well be radioactive, according to Edward Mallia.
3. I was right in deducing that John Dalli’s presence in this roadshow means that Gaddafi’s Libya figured somewhere too, or why else would Sargas have bothered with him?
Sargas’s CEO said that they were in talks with Libya to have Malta’s power station residue, radioactive or not radioactive, dumped there. Dalli must have thought he’d got it all sewn up: sell the power station to Malta and the radioactive waste to Libya, which has no environmental or health controls. Imagine that: a government MP negotiating this kind of thing. No wonder Gonzi got rid of him in the only way he could.
4. That demand for the power station’s output will be ensured “because electricity will be cheaper and so people and industry will consume more” (Sargas’s CEO). Fabulous, and really environmentally sound.
5. They have estimated that the power station will entail a capital outlay of between EUR800 million and EUR1 billion (but they’re not quite sure because it all depends). As to where the money is coming from, we have a choice: either we pay the entire sum ourselves or we get a free lunch. Some mysterious and unnamed investors will pay for it and demand nothing in return except for recouping their EUR800 million outlay over the long, long term.
6. Sargas’s CEO has known John Dalli for many years, but he didn’t tell us where they met or how. Dalli then worked for Sargas on a “completely different project”, but we weren’t told what the project was or whether he was a cabinet minister at the time or just an MP.
7. The consultancy work that John Dalli did for Sargas was to “get us an appointment with the government, which he did and for that we are very grateful”. So let me just get this straight: MPs in Britain were forced to resign in a major ‘cash for questions’ scandal when it was found that they received money for asking specific questions in parliament. But here we have a government backbencher who was paid by a commercial company to get them an appointment with his prime minister. Am I the only one who thinks this appalling, and the silence surrounding it even more so?
8. Michael Briguglio of AD spoke very well. Buying this ‘Frankenstein technology’, he said, is like buying the Titanic even as it is sinking, because you need a ship. It is not the technology of the future, he said, but the technology of the past, driven by the coal industry at a time when civilised countries are moving away from coal. We don’t want to be the guinea-pigs of Europe, he said, adding that this untried technology could have tragic consequences.
9. Tonio Fenech made the point that the Labour Party started up a panic over polluting heavy fuel oil, but now wants to embrace a coal-fired power station. Again.
10. We discovered that Karmenu Vella, Il-Guy, picks his nose on television and takes the time to look at what he has brought out before bothering to answer the finance minister. Also, that he still talks with that laid-back gangster drawl that might have been cool in 1974 but now only serves to make him sound like somebody with incipient dementia.
11. Joseph Muscat got involved in all this when he heard John Dalli banging on about it on Super One and gave him a ring for the details. And John Dalli – an EU Commissioner, if you please – brokered the meeting with Sargas.
12. We learned that if Marlene Farrugia becomes our Utilities Minister, we will have a major problem, compounded by the fact that Muscat will be prime minister concurrently. She is the Utilities Spokesman for Labour, Labour has committed itself to ‘Il-Pjan ta’ John Dalli’ (I’m quoting Tuks Farrugia here), Super One keeps pushing Sargas, but Marlene Farrugia has never met Sargas, gone to a presentation of their project, or received a briefing. When Bondi asked her how she got her information on the project for which she is spokesman and which her party is pushing, she said: “Fittixt fuq l-internet u ma kienx hemm bzonn immur il-presentation meta nista’ naqra r-rapporti ta’ gurnalisti abbli.”
13. Another thing I noticed is that every Labour Party spokesman, from its leader downwards, who has sat across that table from Lou Bondi, feels the need to tell him that he doesn’t understand, and that the reason he doesn’t understand is because he won’t listen when they try to make him understand (infehmek, as distinct from nispjegalek). The arrogance comes off them in steaming waves.
14. The last thing I learned from the show is that Labour really doesn’t have a clue what it is going to do about giving us cheaper water and electricity without raising taxes. At no point in this long-drawn-out debate has it been more obvious than when Marlene Farrugia said: “Nghiduhom fil-mument opportun.”
34 Comments Comment
Reply to Johannes Click here to cancel reply
No doubt you will be shocked and stunned but I agree with most of what you say here. However wouldn’t you agree that the Sarga deal will go through if a big enough bribe is offered? And given the amount of trouble Sarga have gone to already the bribe or bribes are only a matter of time if they are not already on the table, sorry under the table. If you think that is unlikely to happen it’s about as unlikely as MEPA backing the Government in their HFO decision.
[Daphne – It’s Sargas, not Sarga. And it’s fascinating that you seem to suggest here that the deal will go through if the company bribes the government, when it is quite obvious that the deal struck is with Labour, though Sargas itself appears to be completely unaware of it. ]
What an amateurish party. I don’t understand what people see in MLP.
No wonder Dalli couldn’t believe the reports coming out of Libya at the time. All his plans were going up in smoke as were his contacts.
I hardly ever watch TV but I did watch Bondi + yesterday. I have to say I was appalled by the shallowness, lack of knowledge and arrogance of Marlene Farrugia.
You missed the ignorance and the stupidity.
Interesting to find out!
What was that person seen in the background in one of the clips at the Sargas Conference doing there? Is this the same perspn mentioned with Bastjan Dalli in the Mater Dei case?
If I am an auditor and own an audit firm why would I be interested in attending a product presentation on the “latest” brain surgery equipment?
I hope that all the nature / environmental NGOs speak against that monstrosity being placed in the entrance of Masraxlokk bay. Maybe the man behind this proposal is Mintoff, who will probably ask for more compensation for his “L-Gharix” .
nr. 5 If investors are to recoup their outlay, that means the very low electricity rates will have to go up to cover the cost.
I honestly think that the most important fact that came out from Bondi+ is that the PL (and Ms Marlene Farrugia) now seem to be against the Sargas project per se, and seem to favour only a very small part of that project, namely the Carbon Capture part, which part has been totally rubbished by AD’s Michael Brigulio yesterday and today in The Times.
So it’s back to the drawing board for the PL. Imma l-aqwa li l-kontijiet ha jorhsu ZGUR. Marlene still needs to search the internet for some new technolgies. And then we wonder why they say “Nghiduhom fil-mument opportun.” Tal-biki.
Mela l-ewwel qalilna biex immorru Bateman flok BWSC. Issa nafu li kieku smajna minnhu, sena wara kien xorta jghidilna li ghamilna hazin ghax kien imissna morna Sargas. L-unika haga li hemm konsistenti fih hi li ma tridx taghti kaz dak li jghid – ghadu tifel.
Most tragically, they’ll still get voted in. Then again, maybe it’s the price we all have to pay for Labour to then lose the subsequent three elections.
People always fall prey to the “grass is greener on the other side” syndrome, without really considering and evaluating what a Labour government will do (and not do) for Malta.
Alas, being disillusioned with PN should not mean an automatic vote for PL, but rather a change of vote to another candidate within PN.
One thing that has been bothering me with the Dalli proposal, and I am sure that it must have been voiced, but can’t find reference to it. In line with the possibilty of bad weather, is it such a hot idea to plonk a power station in the sea?
Italian TV news: wind turbine destroyed by very rough seas yesterday.
The Marsaxlokk/Birzebbuga bays will surely be affected by a modification of water current patterns. Just like the neptunes waterpolo pitch in Balluta.
What a monstrosity!
Daphne, thank you for setting out clearly and concisely what we would all like to say, but in so many more words.
On a side note, can someone illuminate us if that floating hotel might once again cause a problem to the view from the Gharix that may require another hefty compensation?
I have to add, Michael Briguglio is turning out to be more professional than all Labour party spokespersons I’ve seen so far paraded on Bondi+.
This power station debacle has left Labour with egg on its face.
Posted an earnest comment asking pointed questions on Super One’s youtube clip and it was immediately pulled down.
Let’s see how they recover from this as the longer they take the more rancid the smell becomes.
If the PN wants to lose PL some votes, they have to make it easier for AD to get seats in parliament.
[Daphne – Rubbish. AD’s voter base is ABC1 not C2DE. Any votes AD gets come straight from the PN ‘fold’.]
nr. 7 No. Lots of people think it’s appalling but they keep quiet, most of all MaltaToday.
Marlene is smart enough to realise what a public relations disaster this proposal has caused for Labour, (once a Nationalist…).
[Daphne – Oh, very smart. How smart can you be to join Labour? She’s smart with money and property deals, I’ll give her that, but not with much else.]
She made it a point to mention the target in global temperature reduction to combat climate change, to appeal to the young voter.
Given that she distanced herself from Dalli’s exclusive right to ecology, perhaps she would like to look up what the chemistry and materials engineering department of the University of Messina is up to;
http://www.scientificamerican.com/article.cfm?id=chemical-process-makes-fu
It’s only sixty miles away, and there’s always Acireale and Acitrezza and their festi to enjoy on the way up.
The most alarming thing was to hear the Dalli clip where he said, oh, it’s all biopaste fuel. And then you hear from Sargas CEO that biopaste is only 10% of the fuel, the rest being coal.
What also came out is that Marlene Farrugia at the end of the interview basically gave the game away and admitted that they are not committed to the Sargas proposal.
To me that was an admission that this is just another Super One/Muscat/PL stunt to buy votes raising false hopes.
Whatever comes of the proposal, I do not agree with the way this has been politicised. I could not give two hoots who proposed it, either, it could have been Mintoff himself, if it makes any sense then it certainly deserves looking into.
In my eyes Tonio Fenech was the only person who spoke with any degree of reason about this matter, and who did elaborate coherently as to why the complete package was more complex than initially appears, and not necessarily as rosy, although worthy of looking into. I’ll ignore all his inevitable “environmental impact assessment” and similar token phrases dropped into the mix.
I wish someone could simply switch off Marlene Pullicino.
I totally disagree with your comment about Michael Briguglio. He only amply demonstrated why AD is where it is – nowhere – and why that is exactly where it will stay. Coal is here, coal will be used as a source of energy until it is depleted, and all his comments were totally meaningless nonsense, if there is a problem with coal it is only extreme naievety from people whose best efforts result in cheap catch phrases and comparisons that could possibly imagine that humanity will let it lie untouched several hundred metres underground rather than technology be roped in to make it a more environmentally sound source of energy.
Here’s coal for you:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Energy_in_the_United_States
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Energy_policy_of_the_People%27s_Republic_of_China
In particular, note: “Coal use in the world increased 48% from 2000 to 2009.”
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/05/11/world/asia/11coal.html
Obviously here in Malta all the decisions we make will have an effect on the entire planet, because we lie at the centre of it, and the well informed discussions every know it all blue or red Joey Freddie and Gracie engage in are avidly followed by governments of the rest of the world so that the wisdom may be imparted upon them and they may all follow Malta’s example. Or perhaps not.
Sweet irony:
“Posted by: Guidocforte — 08/12/2011 16:06:58
@ Sargas ………..You are wasting your time and energy to convince this arrogant government. Take my advise and pump about 4 million euros from under the table to somebody ………and you will get what you want in a jiffy”.
http://www.maltatoday.com.mt/en/newsdetails/news/national/Sargas-plant-can-run-on-gas-Norwegians-insist
The proposed investment is more than €2000 per head and if total sum is added to our national debt plus government institutions debt we will just be in Italy’s position.
Kurt the Coconut is at it again… he had a lovely response for Simon Busuttil’s criticisms.
I gave him a piece of my own mind, but needless to say, he obviously won’t read it! http://mattborgi.wordpress.com/2011/12/09/kurt-the-coconut-defends-joey-taghna/
I cannot understand how these people think they can bluff their way through –
You forgot to include that Dalli guaranteed an electoral victory for GonziPN if an agreement was reached with Sargas therefore reducing the cost of electricity bills by 50 o/o.
Would it not be nice if Michael Briguglio writes about the Sargas Frankenstein technology in a blog on MaltaToday?
This old tune must have been Joseph’s childhood favourite:
“I’m forever blowing bubbles”
I’m forever blowing bubbles,
Pretty bubbles in the air,
They fly so high,
Nearly reach the sky,
Then like my dreams,
They fade and die.
Fortune’s always hiding,
I’ve looked everywhere,
I’m forever blowing bubbles,
Pretty bubbles in the air.
[Daphne – In Burmarrad, with a grandmother who took him to Mintoff rallies? Hardly. He was probably rocked to sleep to the tune of Ma Taghmlu Xejn Mal-Perit Mintoff.]
“Nghiduhom fil-mument opportun” simply means “we haven’t got a damn f****ng clue yet….u toqoghdux tiksruna id-devozjoni. Cara daqs il-kristall”.
The bottom line is that Joseph Muscat was/is trying to sell us pie in the sky once again.
All his posturing is just a peurile act to impress us with his supposed “ghaqal”, which he has absolutely none of. If he had any, he wouldn’t even have tried to pass this half baked rubbish idea as “the solution”.
How on earth can he halve the electricity bills whilst doubling Enemalta’s debt?
The fact that Sargas could finance it themselves makes absolutely no difference. A billion Euro is a billion Euro whichever way you slice it up. Someone’s got to pay the expenses, interests and profits over and above for this company, and that’s us – the Maltese consumer.
This is not to mention that they have NO IDEA on many other factors which will impact the tariffs in other substantial ways – the cost of the fuel, the cost to dump the waste, etc etc. So just saying the bills would be halved is plain fantasy.
Who now still believes Joseph’s crap is just a dangerous fool with a vote.
Marlene distanced herself nicely from everything and everyone and latched on to the only positive side of the whole thing – that we need to seriously look into technologies that scrub the pollution to avoid hefty fines. I wonder if she was watching the programme and made up that position on the spot, or if she had made up her mind beforehand.
One more thing: the biopaste is only 10% of the fuel and the rest is coal? That’s like sayng “this plant works on coal, but if you throw in up to 10% of anything else it will burn it too.”
Biopaste is just a buzzword that makes this all sound green. Brigulgio put forward the greens’ perspective on this quite nicely.
Lord hear us, Lord graciously hear us.
Does anyone recall Jason Micallef on Bondi + promising to cut the utility bills by half?
Was he kicked upstairs because of his big mouth?
And here’s Joseph:
http://www.timesofmalta.com/articles/view/20090614/local/muscat-says-he-cant-commit-on-future-electricity-prices.260804/comments:3
I wonder if the former resident of “L-Gharix” would be able to acquire thousands of euros in recompense for the “improvement” of the view attained by this projected monstrosity.
The PL is pushing for Sargas’ coal-fired power station, which bases its bargaining strength on the exportation of its probably radioactive by-product, and this when Joseph Muscat made such a fuss about the containers filled with the waste produced by the new power station extension, being transported through Malta’s streets.
This comment is completely unrelated to this post, so I apologise for that.
Is anyone else annoyed by Cameron’s move yesterday? Going through the BBC articles the Eurosceptics in the UK seem to be having a field day.
Sadly enough, a couple of comments “from Malta” made their way into the articles, congratulating Mr Cameron for being stronger than his Maltese counterpart.
I find it rather tragicomic that the only people who seem to be happy about this decision are the British Conservatives (even UKIP said this was a terrible decision) and some Maltese (“socialist,” or perhaps I should say “progressive, liberal, and moderate”) Eurosceptics.
Here are just a few of the questions that are confusing my admittedly limited mind:
– how did it come to pass that this magical Sargas non-polluting (for Malta, as the crap by product would be exported, just as we’ll do with the chosen power plant), mega-cheap solution only appeared on the public scene when work on the new power station in Marsaxlokk was already under way? Wouldn’t it have been simpler – an open and shut case, if we are to believe Sargas’ claims about the wonderful benefits of its technology – had the company tendered its bid at the opportune time?
– the local councils of Marsaxlokk, Zejtun, Marsascala etc have been up in arms over the existing power station site in Marsaxlokk, the technology to be used for the power station extension, the recycling plant in Marsascala … you name it. Bully for them. Would they care to share their thoughts on having yet another power plant in Marsaxlokk?
– Marlene Farrugia (ex Pullicino) stated that she has done some internet research on Sargas. So have I, if only for a few minutes. The Sargas website features a company/ technology project plan illustration (http://www.sargas.no/about-sargas/history.html). Unless I misunderstood, it informs that so far Sargas has only implemented a CO2 capture Demoplant in Vartan, Sweden. In September the company announced that it has established major commercial partnerships, that is it found partners to produce and market its technology (http://www.sargas.no/about-sargas/business-idea/52-industrial-alliance-to-roll-out-low-cost-ccs-and-electricity.html). Sargas expects to have the first plants in operation in 2014. Is the PL not concerned that we would be used as guinea pigs for the technology, just as it was with the power plant actually being implemented in Marsaxlokk?
– how does the PL reconcile its cheerleading for Sargas with presumably having to issue a fair and public call for tenders and adjudicating impartially, when or if it is in government?