ESG alarmed over flaring incident

The Environmental Safety Group has expressed alarm over the major flaring incident that occurred on Sunday evening in the refinery in San Roque.

“A mishap at a substation in Pinar del Rey was believed to be the cause of the power failure in Spanish towns, which reportedly was resumed after 20 minutes, the emergency flaring, caused by power failure, did not normalise until close to 3 hours later,” said a statement from the ESG.

“We were advised in our refinery campaigning days that flaring releases untold levels of toxic chemicals into the surrounding environment and must therefore be limited to the shortest possible period.”

“That best practice should see back up power supply at the industry to restore power and limit flaring as quickly as possible, in a matter of minutes.” 

“Best practice on this occasion, did not prevent the noxious fumes which continued for close to 3 hours yesterday.”

The ESG has called on the Gibraltar Government to make an official enquiry to establish all the facts and to clarify whether emergency power supply is in place at this refinery to limit this “extended and dangerous flaring practice, which is a cross-border environmental and public health hazard.” 

For more information on the work that the ESG carried out on flaring and pollution from the Refinery spanning over a decade go to www.esg-gib.net