PFOS documentation (FOI)

Request

The Jersey Airport Firefighting ground remediation deed of settlement lodged au Greffe on the 19th October 2004 by the Harbours and Airport Committee has at 8.4 reference to 175 documents related to ten years of pollution and the subsequent claim against the manufacturer.

A

I would appreciate if the States Greffe could provide me with the minutes in relation to the Settlement.

B

I would like the following eight documents relating to the pollution of soil or water by PFOS / PFHS or similar pollutant in the vicinity of the airport since 1970 to the present time:

1. The document dated May 2002 and titled, Exposure of Private water supplies to PFOS and PFHS

2. The document dated January 2000 and titled, Groundwater contamination- second draft chronology of events

3. The document dated July 1999 and titled, FTG Investigation – Factual report

4. The document dated October 2002 and titled, Fate and Behaviour Study – executive summary in layman’s language

5. The document dated November 2000 and titled, data on PFOS submitted to the US EPA by the manufacturer

6. The document dated August 2004 and titled, Review of PFOS Impacts

7. The document dated March 1999 and titled, Interim report on the Contamination Emanating from the Airport Fire Training Ground

8. Document dated July 2001 and titled, Summary of Breaches in the PFOS Advisory Concentration in St Ouens Aquifer

Response

A

Please see the attached document which constitutes copies of minutes that are releasable under the FOI Law. All other minutes are exempt under Article 28 (States Assembly Privilege) of the Freedom of Information (Jersey) Law 2011 (the FOI Law).

SGR Minutes 29.04.2019_Redacted

Exemption Applied:

Article 28 States Assembly privileges

(1) Information is absolutely exempt information if exemption from the obligation to disclose it under this Law is required to avoid an infringement of the privileges of the States Assembly.

(2) Except as provided by paragraph (3), a certificate signed by the Greffier of the States certifying that exemption is required to avoid an infringement of the privileges of the States Assembly is conclusive evidence of that fact.

(3) A person aggrieved by the decision of the Greffier of the States to issue a certificate under paragraph (2) may appeal to the Royal Court on the grounds that the Greffier did not have reasonable grounds for issuing the certificate.

(4) The decision of the Royal Court on the appeal shall be final.

Justification for applying this exemption

Parliamentary Privilege is a form of immunity which is necessary for a parliament to function independently, without external interference.

In 2017 the Privileges and Procedures Committee (PPC) decided that while all minutes of Committees that were appointed under Standing Order 39 of the Standing Orders of the States of Jersey 1966 are subject to parliamentary privilege, those minutes that are older than 25 years will be considered on a case-by-case basis and may be released upon request due to the elapsed time period: the presumption is that such minutes will normally be released.

Committee minutes that are less than 25 years old will not be released as this would be considered an infringement of the privileges of the States Assembly, particularly the Assembly’s right to decide its own internal procedures, including deciding on what information to put in the public domain and the timing and manner of such publication, without interference from any outside authority. This is a fundamental protection for a democratically-elected legislature and the existence of this privilege in Jersey was confirmed by the Royal Court in the case of Syvret v. Bailhache & Hamon (1998 JLR 128).

Part B minutes relating to Jersey Airport Fire Ground remediation - Deed of Settlement are less than 25 years old and therefore subject to the decision of the Privileges and Procedures Committee not to release on the grounds of parliamentary privilege.

B

We have searched our records and have been able to locate four of the eight documents requested. The remaining four documents are not held.

 Harbour and Airports Briefing Nov 2000 (redacted)

Factual summary report March 1999 (redacted)

Groundwater Contamination Chronology 2nd Draft Jan 2000 (redacted)

Harbour  Airports Briefing October 2002 (redacted)

The four documents have been redacted in accordance with the following Articles of the FOI Law:

Exemptions applied:

Article 25 – Personal Information

(1) Information is absolutely exempt information if it constitutes personal data of which the applicant is the data subject as defined in the Data Protection (Jersey) Law 2018.

(2) Information is absolutely exempt information if –

(a) it constitutes personal data of which the applicant is not the data subject as defined in the Data Protection (Jersey) Law 2018; and

(b) its supply to a member of the public would contravene any of the data protection principles, as defined in that Law.

Article 33 – Confidential information

Information is absolutely exempt information if:

(a) it was obtained by the scheduled public authority from another person (including another public authority); and

(b) the disclosure of the information to the public by the scheduled public authority holding it would constitute a breach of confidence actionable by that or any other person.

Justification for applying this exemption

Permission to collect the water sample data was given by property/land owners on the basis that the information collected would always remain confidential.

All property / land owners were written to in 2017 to request consent for their test results and accompany address data to be released. Property/site address details have been redacted where permission was not received or where permission was expressly denied.

Article 29 Other prohibitions or restrictions

Information is absolutely exempt information if the disclosure of the information by the scheduled public authority holding it:

(a) is prohibited by or under an enactment;

(b) is incompatible with a European Union or an international obligation that applies to Jersey; or

(c) would constitute or be punishable as a contempt of court.

The department considers that Article 29 (a) is also applicable in this case.

Justification for applying this exemption

Article 7 (2) (j) of the Water Resources (Jersey) Law 2007 is subject to sub-paragraph 6 whereby the Minister may refuse to make available any information if it - inter alia,

(i) “relates to matters that are or have been the subject of legal or other proceedings (whether actual or prospective) or to any investigations undertaken with a view to such proceedings”

(ii) “relates to matters to which domestic or personal confidentiality attaches” or

(iii) “was supplied to the Minister by a person who was not under a legal obligation to do so”

(Schedule 1, paragraph (d), (f) and (g) Water Laws respectively).

The Minister, in office at the time of requesting consents for disclosure, decided to withhold the address data for test sites where consent had not been received for the above reasons.

Article 33 Commercial interests

Information is qualified exempt information if:

(a) it constitutes a trade secret; or

(b) its disclosure would, or would be likely to, prejudice the commercial interests of a person (including the scheduled public authority holding the information).

Justification for applying this exemption

The department considers that the disclosure of the address data alongside the test results in the case of Commercial site locations in cases where specific consent has not been received is likely to prejudice the interests of those commercial entities.

The address information relating to these Commercial sites has therefore been redacted.