[Date Prev][Date Next][Thread Prev][Thread Next][Date Index][Thread Index]
query concerning a proposed Incinerator in Ireland
- To: "'dioxin listserv'" <dioxin-l@essential.org>
- Subject: query concerning a proposed Incinerator in Ireland
- From: "Corcoran, Fionnuala (Dublin)" <corcofio@MLE.CO.UK>
- Date: Wed, 2 Jun 1999 13:18:49 +0100
I have a query concerning a proposed Incinerator in Ireland.
Ireland currently does not have any incinerators and currently exports some
types of waste to other countries. Under European legislation we are now
required to dispose of our own waste. Local people have only recently
learned of the proposal which seemingly has been under consideration for
some time and has already had 'scientific' research carried out by the
company behind the proposal. The only information I currently have is the
extract below from a newspaper article appearing in the Irish Independent on
the 24 May 1999.
The proposed incinerator site is 18 miles (29km) from the center of Dublin
which is Ireland's largest and most populated city. The site is across the
road from housing and a few hundred meters from fairly dense urban
development. The area surrounding the site to the west is farmland and to
the east is all urban development. As Dublin expands the area surrounding
the proposed site is due for much more urban development. Ireland has a
population of almost 4mm and approx. 2 mm of those would be living within
60km of this incinerator.
I would appreciate if anyone can answer my questions / let me know if our
concerns are justified
1. We are concerned that this proposed incinerator poses a risk to
human health. Given the proposed types of waste (per the article below) do
you believe this will pose a serious threat?
2. I have heard that the air pollution produced by such an incinerator
would typically travel 10 to 20km before falling to ground, and could travel
as far as 100km. Do you believe the areas most at risk are those within the
immediate vicinity (1 or 2 kms) of the site, those within a medium distance
of the site (10 to 20 km) or all those within 100km of the site?
3. Are there any suggestions or guidelines from other countries as to
where incinerators should be situated? Given that Ireland's most dense
population is in the area surrounding the capital city Dublin, does it not
make sense to site the incinerator in a more sparsely populated area?
4. I have read on the dioxin internet site reference to EcoLogic an
alternative to incinerators. Does anyone have anymore info on this? Is this
really a viable alternative? Is it being used/ considered by many countries?
Please direct any replies to:
Email: CorcoFio@exchange.ie.ml.com <mailto:CorcoFio@exchange.ie.ml.com>
"A proposal for a hazardous waste
incinerator near
Kilcock, Co Kildare, has stunned locals who
fear
cancer causing emissions including dioxins.
They say
the plan will kill their town and pose a major
health
threat. Jerome Reilly reports
More than 1,600 children will spend their
schooldays
within sight of the near Liberty Hall sized
venting
stack of Ireland's first hazardous waste
incinerator
on the outskirts of Kilcock, if the £56m
project gets
the go-ahead.
This is no ordinary super dump for household
refuse.
It's proposed that the incinerator at
Boycetown,
running seven days a week, 365 days a year
will be
capable of dealing with 100,000 tonnes of
hazardous
wastes a year as well as 50,000 tonnes of
ordinary
domestic waste.
The cocktail of dangerous by-products burnt at
temperatures in excess of 1,200 degrees is
expected
to include 10,000 tonnes of medical waste,
10,000
tonnes of agricultural wastes, 1,000 tonnes of
filter
cake and tank bottom sludges, pharmaceutical
organic solvents, pharmaceutical and other
organic
sludges.
These are the technical terms for the most
dangerous waste in the country the deadly
excreta
of the Celtic Tiger.
It's the waste that nobody in this country
wants and
which we currently export to other countries
for
disposal at a cost of £41m a year.
But no matter how well managed and
technologically advanced the proposed plant,
it is
certain there will be some level of emissions
of toxic
substances into the atmosphere including
dioxins the
most sinister and complex poisons of the lot.
This subtle and insidious group of chemicals
cause
cancer and impair hormonal, immune,
developmental
and reproductive systems.
Dioxins have been associated with heart
disease,
liver damage, hormonal disruption,
reproductive
disorders, developmental destruction and
neurological impairment.
Dioxins have been found in human milk, been
linked
with endometriosis and diabetes. It has
figured in
bone and skin diseases and been implicated in
reduced sperm counts, according to a soon to
be
published book `The Dioxin War' by author
Robert
Allen.
The question is this. Would you allow your
child go
to a school and spend up to eight hours a day
for 12
years of their young lives within a stone's
throw of a
facility where unavoidable by-products are
dioxins in
the air, no matter how minute the quantities?
Fintan
Hurley, his wife Deirdre and their three
daughters
aged under 10 will literally have the
incinerator site
opposite their front door.
``I am very, very fearful of the impact of a
hazardous waste incinerator on the health of
my
family and the entire population of Kilcock
and
surrounding areas.
``It will kill the town stone dead. It will be
a disaster
if this goes ahead. We will fight every step
of the
way,'' Fintan told the Irish Independent.
There are already reports of house sales
falling
through and the prospect of declining property
prices
just as the rural market town in the heart of
Kildare's stud country was preparing for
significant
expansion and population growth.
Its expected new role as the next boom town to
the
west of Dublin is now in doubt.
Residents in nearby towns like Maynooth and
Clane
in Kildare and the villages of south Meath
also view
the prospect with alarm. It will be an uphill
battle for
the promoters of the project to ease intense
anxiety
among residents.
Thermal Waste Management the company behind
the proposal and headed by businessman Martin
Blake are serious people.
They have already conducted a detailed
Environmental Impact Survey running to nearly
300
pages of mind boggling complexity which
attempts to
assess the possible risk to human health and
the
environment.
The EIS concludes that the predicted
concentrations
of heavy metal, particulate compounds and
dioxins
which would be released into the atmosphere
from
the proposed development are well below the
limits
recommended by the World Health Organisation
and
imposed by the Environmental Protection
Agency.
The levels of emissions would also meet the
limits
set in the EU Directive on incineration and
that even
in the ``worst case scenario'' there would be
a very
low risk to the health of the local population
in their
lifetimes.
But the EIS points out that there is
insufficient
information to predict the probability or
severity of a
release of heavy metal compounds or dioxins
during
foreseeable abnormal and emergency situations.
``However, the likelihood of such a
foreseeable
emergency occuring is remote and if it were to
occur, the risk to human health from such
short term
and isolated incidents can be assumed to be
negligible,'' the EIS, states.
For people like Fintan and Deirdre Hurley, and
other
opponents like Pat O Brien and local GP Dr
Arthur
Courtney the plan came like a bolt from the
blue.
Like all community groups opposing a wealthy
major
industry they have now been thrown into a
fundraising initiative to get their own study
completed as well as a crash course in degree
standard science to educate themselves on
incineration and how to mount a successful
lobbying
campaign.
``We are taking on an organisation with a lot
of
money and with plans obviously well advanced.
We
have been hit with this disaster at a very
late stage .
A lot of people knew about it long before the
people
living here did,'' said Fintan Hurley.
To locals it appears that Kildare is becoming
a
dumping ground for everyone else's waste.
About 10 miles away, the village of Kill
became the
site of a massive landfill dump for the
household
refuse of Dublin after a bitterly fought
battle.
Four miles away from Kilcock in Maynooth
another
group are currently fighting proposals for a
huge
landfill dump not far from Moyglare Stud.
There is an urgent need to grasp the nettle
and deal
with Ireland's mountain of waste which is now
running to 42 million tonnes a year 400 kg for
each
person in the State. But Kildare people
believe they
are getting more than the lion's share.
The EU backs incineration and will provide
substantial financial backing to Governments
for
such projects. Brussels has told Ireland that
we
must, along with every other member State,
dispose
of our own waste.
Aspokeswoman for Thermal Waste Management
Nuala Macklin says the project is designed on
the
principle of ``Waste in No Waste Out'' and
that it
would bring environmental and economic
advantages.
``Ireland will now have the capacity to
dispose of its
own industrial waste, which will serve as a
significant incentive to attract new industry
and
preserve existing jobs,'' she said.
``The company intends to use United States
technology which recycles waste into raw
material
which can then be sold on for use in the
construction
industry or in products like ceramic tiles.
Electricity
will also be produced which will be sold to
the ESB
for the national grid,'' she said.
Boycetown near Kilcock was selected because of
its proximity to a railway line to aid safe
transportation of hazardous waste, and because
of
the nearby motorway system.
Residents living near the N1 near Gormanstown
in
Co Meath and on the N9 near Kilgowan south of
Kilcullen may be surprised to learn that these
two
locations were also considered.
They were not chosen because neither site had
access to a railway line and, although close
to the
primary roads system, were deemed too far from
a
motorway, according to EIS.
However, it appears certain that the company
faces
a battle for the hearts and minds of Kilcock
residents, who cannot understand why an
incinerator
should be built so near a centre of
population.
Fintan Hurley believes the major factor in
choosing
Kilcock is that it is a small community
without the
resources to mount major opposition.
The site is adjacent to constituency of
Environment
Minister Noel Dempsey and in Charlie
McCreevy's
electoral heartland.
Mr McCreevy was briefed by the company in
April
1998, while some local councillors were
informed
some time ago. Residents are angered that they
found out about the plan in recent weeks. The
issue
will dominate the forthcoming local elections.
``How can they consider building a toxic waste
incinerator so near to schools and a growing
tow.
It's insane,'' says Fintan Hurley.
Fionnuala
Tel: +353 1 6058508 Fax: +353 1 6058617
Email: CorcoFio@exchange.ie.ml.com <mailto:CorcoFio@exchange.ie.ml.com>