Anti-Dublin Incinerator campaign appeal to attend Oral Hearing
dublin |
environment |
feature
Monday April 21, 2008 14:44
by Rory Hearne - on behalf of CRAI
hearner at yahoo dot co dot uk
Local opposition
The Combined Residents Against the Incinerator (CRAI) which is made up of residents from Ringsend, Irishtown, Sandymount and other parts of Dublin is currently making presentations to the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) Oral Hearing on the proposed mass-burn incinerator, planned to be built by Dublin City Council on the Poolbeg Peninsula in Dublin City.
CRAI submitted 3000 letters of objection to the An Bord Pleanala Hearing in October 2006 but despite this An Bord Pleanala granted planning permission to Dublin City Council (DCC) to build the 600,000 tonne mass-burn incinerator. The next stage in this process is the EPA is deciding what sort of waste pollution licence it will grant to DCC for the incinerator. CRAI is calling on the public to attend the hearing and make their voice of opposition heard.
Related Links:
EPA Proposed licence decision
DublinWaste.ie debate
Coverage on JohnGormley.com
The aim of this article is to encourage those who oppose the incinerator in Dublin to do something to help. They can do this by joining CRAI and speaking at the oral hearing. CRAI is paying for all legal costs and the costs of bringing experts to speak at the EPA itself. We need funds to keep the campaign going. Membership of CRAI can be gained by donation, a small sum. (20 Euro or whatever you can afford) (contact Frances Corr for details 0877715825).
There is a time allocated to CRAI membership to attend the hearing this Tuesday 6.30pm-8pm at the Gresham Hotel, O Connell St. Short Statements can also be given in writing by members and the will be read into the evidence or members can attend in person and make a statement.
The oral hearing will continue for at least a week.
CRAI held a protest at the first day of the Environmental Protection Agency’s oral hearing into the proposed Dublin Incinerator on Monday April 14th. Frances Corr of CRAI speaking at the protest said:
“The proposed mass-burn Dublin Incinerator is a flawed, dangerous, extravagant and a totally unsuitable solution to the waste management of the Dublin region. The site is completely unsuitable. We will show at this EPA Oral Hearing that the EPA must refuse this licence in order to achieve sustainable development. The proposed incinerator will require guaranteeing a waste stream and tip fee contract which mitigates against recycling, reuse and reduce principles.
The Draft EPA licence stated that all waste should be pre-treated to remove the waste that should be recycled and in fact DCC is objecting to this, and other, conditions. This demonstrates that DCC want a mass burn incinerator that will treat 600,000 metric tons of waste in order to make it economical for the private partners Covanta/Dong.”
Furthermore, CRAI asked Minister Gormley to expand on his recent statements that incineration is no longer government policy and clearly define what will replace incineration. If this were known the campaign believes it would be a matter of considerable influence on the outcome of this oral hearing. Recently issued figures for predicted waste disposal in the Country appear to show that, if alternative modern technologies are adopted, the total available national supply of residual waste for incineration would be of the order of 627,000 tonnes. We are asking the Minister to confirm this figure and state what proposals are before him to introduce these technologies.Clearly if this figure is correct the required capacity of the proposed Dublin incinerator has been seriously overstated and, therefore, if the policy is implemented it would lead to the incinerator becoming redundant.
Speaking at the protest, Rory Hearne of CRAI said:
“It is vital that the general public hear the evidence presented at this oral hearing. Residents and their experts will explain the dangerous health and environmental implications for the local and city-wide population if this incinerator goes ahead. We are focused in this campaign on explaining that this is a Dublin incinerator not just Poolbeg. It will affect people across the city in terms of the dioxins released, the increased waste charges required to keep the private operators in profitability, and the increase in traffic. In particular from a sustainability perspective it is very clear that if this incinerator goes ahead it will be a major set back for recycling and reduction waste strategies because all the waste coming from Dublin (and perhaps beyond) will have to be directed into the incinerator to facilitate the incinerator to run at full capacity to ensure the private operators gain their financial return.”
Maurice O Brien of CRAI has been documenting the important details of the hearing to date. Much of this Fridays session of the EPA Oral Hearing into the proposed Dublin Incinerator was devoted to technical matters, with the examination completed of Mr. Twomey (DCC), a new witness in Mr. Behor, vice-President for sustainability of Covanta, the dominant partners in the Public Private partnership set up to design, build and operate the facility if it is ever built. He set out the operation of the proposed filters to remove toxic material from the flue gas, and was still being queried about details by Community Representatives, particularly well by Joe McCarthy, when the lunch break was called.
At the first session Sinn Fein's Mary Lou Macdonald and Daithi Doolan gave concise and cogent presentations, while the afternoon one contained a vivid and worrying presentation from Doctor Stefano Montanari that much improved the hearing's understanding of the formation and distribution of very small particles that can wreak havoc on the human and other receptor bodies, leading to long term serious illnesses like cancers, diabetes, vascular disease and many others.
But perhaps his most sensational evidence was that it is now possible to identify the source of these very small particles so that, in future, the cause of fatal illness can be identified after death.
The day finished with several brief presentations by Ruari Quinn, T.D., and Councillors Lacey and Humphries before the hearing adjourned to Monday at the same location.
The evidence given to date will require analysis by the Chair and the EPA Board, but the general trend is that it adds strength to the argument that the proposed facility is the wrong project in the wrong place.
Evidence on Thursday at the EPA Oral Hearing at the Gresham Hotel into a licence for the proposed Dublin Mass-burn Incinerator largely concerned the possible effects on the natural environment and air quality. In examination by community representatives it became clear that, in several aspects, best protection had been compromised in the interest of cost savings. (Perhaps not surprising when an official "cap" was placed on the cost before any negotiations even took place!)
It was also admitted that the best protection from environmental damage would be to locate the facility, if it were absolutely necessary to build it, in a less sensitive location.
It then emerged that no study has yet been made of the damaging effect of very small particles that would be emitted, the so called "nano-particles". These are now being recognised as the most deadly material to emerge for the incineration of municipal waste.
Even if the licence is granted to Dublin City Council CRAI will continue to oppose the incinerator and has a number of options open. CRAI has sent a legal summons to the Minister for the Environment John Gormley, the Irish State and Dublin City Council to answer the charge in court regarding their failure to enforce EU Directives in relation to the planning and development process of the Dublin Incinerator. Community mobilisation and protest will and is continuing.
For information contact:
Frances Corr: 0877715825
May Kane: 0876994279
Rory Hearne: 0861523542
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Comments (8 of 8)
Jump To Comment: 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8This is an important topic which exposes the Greens and John Gormley especially in government with Fianna Fail. its vital that this issue wins. This is a Dublin wide issue and should concern all.
Yet another waste project built on unconstitutional law? - see at http://www.indymedia.ie/article/87134#comment226586
The EPA are arbiters of their own decisions, hardly a satisfactory situation. Gormley has been a real disaster since his appointment. In fact the Greens have largely betrayed their electorate.
Press Release:
Minister Gormley must issue Ministerial Order to Dublin City Council to stop the Dublin incinerator now
Up to 50 local people from Ringsend, Irishtown and Sandymount made their opposition heard to the proposed Dublin incinerator at the EPA Oral Hearing on Tuesday evening April 22nd. Many expressed their disappointment that they had elected John Gormley to stop the incinerator yet now as Minister for Environment it appeared he is not using his powers to halt the planned mass-burn Incinerator.
Speaking at the Oral Hearing Rory Hearne, member of Combined Residents Against the Incinerator and the People Before Profit Alliance Dublin South East said:
"John Gormley must act now to stop the incinerator. The EPA Hearing has revealed the mass-burn incinerator will release dangerous dioxins across the city, affect traffic and will compromise the ability to reach recycling and waste reduction targets. The Minister could issue a Ministerial Order to order Dublin City Council to abandon its plans for the incinerator. This would result in DCC being sued by the private company who is planned to run the incinerator, Covanta, however the local community believes that would be a small price to pay to protect the health and environment of the community and for John Gormley to honour his pre-election promises."
Contact Rory Hearne 0861523542 for info
www.peoplebeforeprofitdse.wordpress.com
ESEM image of a cancerous tissue of liver
with a living cell containing
nanoparticles in the nucleus
http://galwaytent.blogspot.com/2008/04/tony-rat-nanopat....html
[Published as Creative Commons]
ESEM image of a cancerous tissue of liver with a living cell containing nanoparticles in the nucleus.
There is an overcapacity of incineration in Europe, why not supply the European Market with the supply we have here and it would give us the space to plan to have no commercial municipal incinerator of such a gigantic capacity which will compete with reuse recycle and reduce - we could look at alternatives and plan for the future, and allow the industry that produces waste take the responsibility of dealing with it. We have still not got proper figures of what waste we do have, at present to really plan an incinerator of this size. The tax payer should not have to shoulder industrial waste.
See past indymedia story "Over 3000 objections to proposted Poolbeg Incinerator in Dublin."
Have you all got your brown bins in Dublin yet?
http://galwaytent.blogspot.com/2008/05/how-to-do-dirty-....html
The original message from Utah as to how a government spread depleted uranium particles over the state is here:
http://www.sltrib.com/davis/ci_9121177
The Galway Tent's interpretation is here:
http://galwaytent.blogspot.com/2008/05/how-to-do-dirty-....html
And repeated below (above url is better)
May 1, 2008
How To Do A Dirty Bomb Over Dublin
May 1, 2008: The US Government "mistakenly" dumped depleted Uranium into an incinerator. Osama Bin Liner has similar advanced plans lodged in a special purpose offshore entity starting in Luxembourg. The ConadVantage.
Currently, Bundesrepublik Deutschland, its alleged by others, sends illegal radioactive medical waste to The Balkans (result of a political quid pro quo on statehood). At the Bord Pleanala Hearing the Chief DONG Engineer said they could stop illegal radioactive medical waste activity by asking the drivers for their ID cards! (See hearing transcripts). Homer was impressed.
How To Do A Dirty Bomb Over Dublin?
When you want to send metallic nano-particles over Dublin just dump depleted Uranium into the 20th century Dublin Bay Incinerator (depleted Uranium is low in actual radioactivity; the issue is metallic nano-particles causing Gulf War Syndrome).
To see this through Gary Gilmore's eyes, or DCCs, just use the best available technology as per the following article, dated May 1, 2008, from Utah.
---------------------------------
Incinerator doesn't want a repeat incident
But skeptics say the plant's changes likely won't boost safety
By Matthew D. LaPlante
The Salt Lake Tribune
Article Last Updated: 05/01/2008 01:57:46 PM MDT
Do you turn it away? Do you pull off to the side and dump it on the ground, potentially increasing individual exposure by digging through it trying to find the waste that set the alarm off?
- Wasatch Integrated Waste Management District director Nathan Rich, wondering what would happen if instruments did detect depleted uranium in shipments of waste at the Layton incinerator.
The director of the Layton incinerator where Air Force personnel mistakenly burned several pounds of depleted uranium over an eight-month period said his agency is “taking reasonable and appropriate steps to ensure this doesn't happen again.”
But Wasatch Integrated Waste Management District director Nathan Rich lamented it is unlikely that any of those steps could have prevented what occurred over the last year.
Rich said his plant was exploring two modes of additional control on the waste that comes into the incinerator for disposal. He said it was likely the plant would institute a policy requiring all users to sign a document making them responsible for the content of the waste they wanted destroyed. He also said he is exploring the possibility of placing a radiation detector at the plant.
Plant managers say that Hill Air Force Base officers promised ahead of time that there was nothing dangerous in the waste they delivered in eight shipments to the incinerator. As such, Rich said, it is unlikely that requiring further documentation would have prevented the recent burn incidents.
“My understanding is that the base would have filled out the paperwork and said, 'There's nothing hazardous here,' ” he said. “But it might help us with some liability issues.”
And that, Rich said, might prompt incinerator users to think harder about what they are burning.
Rich also wasn't sure that a radiation-detection system would actually identify a small amount of depleted uranium, like that fed into the Layton incinerator. “And even if the radiation detector does go off, then what do you do?” he asked. “Do you turn it away? Do you pull off to the side and dump it on the ground, potentially increasing individual exposure by digging through it trying to find the waste that set the alarm off?”
Brian Moench, co-founder and president of Utah Physicians for a Healthy Environment, said he isn't comforted by the steps being taken to prevent further problems of this sort - not only on the part of the incinerator, but also on the part of the military, regulators and government officials.
He said that in addition to an investigation into what went wrong, Utahns need to demand a fundamental shift in the way they think about radioactive waste. “I think the basic misconception that seems to permeate everybody involved in this process is that low levels of nuclear radiation are acceptable,” Moench said. “And they are not acceptable.”
mlaplante@sltrib.com
http://www.sltrib.com/davis/ci_9121177
Posted by The Galway Tent on Thursday, May 01, 2008
All very well to whinge about incineration.
The fact is we recycle less than 2% of our waste in this country. The rest of our 'recycling' is exported for other people to worry about. Our landfilling rates are still increasing despite all the efforts to get people recycling. Having a 'no waste' society is a great idea, but it is ludricous to sugest that this may be achieved anytime soon.
I agree that all organic waste should be digested (and the resultant gases burned!), all possible recyclables should be recycled - but you are still left with an awful lot of material.. eg. around 14% of Irish waste in 2006 consisted of nappies.. what do you do with these?
It should be noted that countries with the highest incineration rates in the EU (Switzerland Denmark) also have the highest recycling rates. the competition with recycling theory doesnt really hold. There is more than enough non recyclable waste being produced in Dublin and the surrounding area to warrant an incinerator.
Incineration not an ideal solution, I dont think anyone is arguing that it is, however EU waste incineration emmissions limits mean it is a sound option. In terms of dioxin, furans and all pollutants the emission limits are very low- minimising public health risk.. (how many cars in Dublin? they all produce dioxins). Electricity and excess heat is generated from waste incineration, reducing oil/coal imports (combustion of which also produces significant pollution problems)
Landfilling at our current rates is a scandal and an absolute environmental disaster. People can whinge all they like about incinerators, meanwhile we continue to fill up the country with shit. Much as i dislike the term, this is NIMBYism in its most blatant form. Very typical and rather unfortunate.