In my letter of 23 February with the above heading, I did not include two very important statements written by four world-renowned experts on LNG transportation, hazards and risk assessments.

These experts say: “It is legitimate for an inquiring and concerned public to ask pertinent questions. And by the same token, it is legitimate for those well versed in LNG safety to answer those questions. It is totally inappropriate for segments of the media and groups of citizens to engage in fear-mongering and initiate campaigns of mis-information” (my italics).

The second statement with which these experts concluded their report: “Managing LNG Risks: Separating the Facts from the Myths”, says: “Finally, since the Cleveland accident of 1944, the LNG industry has amassed 60 years (now 70 years) of transportation and operational experience worldwide without a single casualty being inflicted on the general public.”

I suppose readers would be interested to know more about at least one of these experts. So I’ll just mention the first one: Dr Georges A. Melhem. Dr Melhem has led and participated in many LNG studies that focused on issues associated with LNG facility siting, LNG transportation, LNG hazards and risk assessments, and LNG public testimony. Dr Melhem holds a Ph.D. and an M.S. in Chemical Engineering, as well as a B.S. in Chemical Engineering with a minor in Industrial Engineering. His colleagues, Dr Ashok S. Kalekar, Dr Sanjeev Saraf and Henry Ozog are all, similarly, very highly qualified.

May I remind readers, especially those in Marsaxlokk and Birzebbuga, of what the PN had told them during the election campaign of just one year ago about the new gas power station at Delimara. They had also tried to scare them about the possibility that the LNG tanks, which were to be located on land next to the power station, could blow up. They hadn’t invented the “50 atomic-bombs explosion” at that time. Nobody believed them then. Nothing has changed since then except that the LNG tanks will now be on a LNG tanker anchored near the power station. Having realised that their scaremongering didn’t work last year, the PN upped the fear-mongering by adding the possibility (“even if there is the remote chance of this happening once in 10,000 years”) of an explosion equalling that of “50 atomic-bombs”!!

If one didn’t believe them then, how could they be believed now when they are ridiculing themselves with the extremely exaggerated stories they are saying today?

 Eddy Privitera

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