Agriculture Minister Phil Gawne says he is confident aggregate from the River Mersey won’t contaminate the Island’s coastline when it is used at Ronaldsway Airport.
The material is being extracted from a five square-kilometre area of the Mersey Estuary and will be used to fill the airport’s runway extension.
Yesterday in the House of Keys, Mr Gawne faced questions from Onchan MHK Peter Karran over the issue.
Afterwards, he said his department was monitoring the work and although he didn’t expect any pollution from the aggregate, he wouldn’t hesitate to take action if any problems arose.
He told Manx Radio:
"I think some concern has been expressed by people in the environmental movement that perhaps the department was coming under pressure not to fulfill its obligations properly.
"We are absolutely clear - I certainly am very clear and made it clear to all the officers - that, bearing in mind what I said at the start, that this is a very important area, we are going to make sure the department properly fulfills its role in terms of protecting the marine environment."
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