The Environmental Safety Group said that a confidential audit of the CEPSA refinery conducted by the Junta de Andalucia last year shows that the facility does not meet international standards on pollution control.

Although the audit concludes that the CEPSA refinery complies with its environmental obligations, it also makes numerous recommendations which, according to the ESG, contradict the main findings and expose the real situation at CEPSA’s refinery.

Analysis of the audit, which was carried out independently by leading scientific bodies in Spain following a pollution incident in 2007, was only possible after the ESG used legal means to obtain a copy from the Junta.

The first half of the audit “…appears to be describing another plant altogether and to be dressing up a historically shameful and toxic industry,” the ESG said in a briefing document.

But the audit’s subsequent recommendations point to numerous contradictions and areas at the plant that are described as substandard and not employing best available technology.

“This reveals a plant which is far from meeting its [EU anti-pollution] obligations,” the ESG said.

“The impact from this industry therefore continues to be unnecessarily polluting, harmful and even dangerous in some areas.”

Among key criticisms of the audit is that its authors used data provided by the refinery itself, rather than collected and verified independently.

Among other things, the audit recommends improvements to the refinery’s response to flaring incidents, its maintenance routines and the use of best available technologies.

It also identifies as a priority the need to ensure reliable internal and external electrical systems, given that power failures are responsible for most pollution incidents.

The auditors also pointed to some areas where CEPSA needs to improve its filtering and recovery systems at the refinery, including reducing odours. It found, for example, high peaks of benzene emissions at times.

Yesterday the ESG called for urgency in implementing various improvements proposed at the plant in order to minimise avoidable pollution.

CEPSA has always strongly rejected criticism that it does not meet the required EU standards and that its position is backed by reliable scientific research.

The company says it takes environmental issues very seriously and recently announced a range of future investments in safety issues, reduction of greenhouse gases and improving its environmental performance.

But the green lobby, both here and in Spain, remains unconvinced and is keeping up the pressure.

“It is shameful that only through public protest has La Junta exerted any type of controls over companies like CEPSA,” the ESG said.

“It is why it is critical that pressure is maintained to ensure that public promises made by CEPSA, usually at times when it feels the pressure, are honoured in a transparent and accountable manner, and within a given time scale.”

The group added: “Public pressure led by the ESG in Gibraltar has succeeded in seeing the launch of an independent epidemiological study which is now underway to investigate the rates of cancers locally and potential links to heavy industrial pollution.”

“Firm action must now be taken to accelerate the cleaning up process at the CEPSA oil refinery as a historic and current major polluter in the region.”

The ESG, which described CEPSA’s recent announce-ment as “a public relations exercise”, has sent copies of a dossier based on its analysis of the audit to the Gibraltar Government and local political parties.

It has also sent the material to non-governmental groups in Spain for them to circulate across the border.

Members of the group, together with the ESG’s legal advisor, David Dumas, QC, will travel to Barcelona on Monday to meet with public health specialist, Professor Joan Benach, and learn more about his ongoing research into mortality rates in this area.

They will also discuss pollution in this area with lawyers from a firm that specialises in European environmental law.