Half of heaviest environmental fines issued to government entities

Half of the heaviest fines for breaching environmental rules were issued to government entities, information tabled in parliament shows.

The Environment and Resources Authority (ERA) has imposed eight fines over €25,000 since it began operating in 2016, totalling around €343,000.

Six of those were for offences related to removing trees.

Taxpayers footed four of the fines as government entities paid a total of €255,000 in contraventions.

Environment Minister Miriam Dalli provided the information following a parliamentary question by Nationalist MP Rebekah Borg.

Borg only asked for fines over €25,000 to be listed, meaning that smaller fines handed to government entities were left out.

The first fine ERA issued was in 2018 and was handed to the company Subsea 7 Offshore Resources (UK) Ltd, a private company that delivers offshore energy services.

It was handed a €25,000 fine because one of its vessels for a voyage for scrapping was without an environmental permit.

The government’s waste management company Wasteserv was fined €30,000 for operating without an environmental permit.

In 2018, Infrastructure Malta also had to pay a fine of €25,000 for cutting trees without a permit.

There was a two-year break before a Thomas Azzopardi was fined €37,500 for operating without a permit.

The information given in parliament on Monday shows that the transport ministry paid the two largest fines of €100,000 in 2021 for “breaking rules about the care of trees and woodlands”.

One of those fines was for uprooting trees to make way for the Ta’ Qali concert area.

The most recent fine was issued to the contractor Road Maintenance Services Limited, which was slapped with a €37,500 fine for unlawful felling of trees last year.