Preparations for the oral hearing with the Environmental Protection Agency, EPA, that opened on Monday 14th April began in earnest with a display in Clanna Gael Fontenoy GAA club on 29th of March by Dublin City Council which was notified to the public by a ‘Project Update’.
This leaflet circulated throughout Sandymount, Irishtown and Ringsend, invited people to an open day for a presentation in Clanna Gael to see how the company Dublin Waste to Energy Limited are progressing with the building of a 600,000 tonne waste burning plant that will be built on the Poolbeg.
The ‘Project Update’ tells how Dublin Waste to Energy Limited is made up of a joint venture between Covanta Energy, USA, a subsidiary of the Covanta Holding Corporation and DONG Energy Generation, Denmark.
DONG now owns Elsam Ireland who were the original successful bidder for the contract. Covanta operates 37 incinerators worldwide. Dublin City Council has signed a contract with developer Treasury Holdings to provide heating for apartments in Spencer Dock from the Poolbeg incinerator, which has yet to be granted a licence from the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA).
The Council has secured planning permission for the incinerator from An Bord Pleanála, but it needs a waste licence from the EPA to operate the plant.
Joe McCarthy and Valerie Jennings were amongst the objectors at the oral hearing with An Bord Pleanála and attended the Project Update. Joe said “There were two significant errors in the material displayed by the Council– they showed the site covering all the ground as far as the nature walk and also showed an air-cooled incinerator when in fact the design for the Dublin incinerator is water cooled.”
Joe told ‘NewsFour’ that they had asked about the electrical efficiency of the plant, which was claimed at the An Bord Pleanála hearing to be over 32%. Joe said that Covanta could not comment on this.
The presentation showed that the community gain focussed on district heating with pictures of some heating pipes being installed in Spencer Dock. A committee is to be appointed made up of three local representatives, three elected councillors, two DCC officials and one representative from the incinerator operator plus an independent chairperson. This committee would decide on how the monies would be spent in the local area.
Joe McCarthy made a number of serious points about Dublin Waste to Energy. He said, “It is very unclear who is actually in charge of this project because originally the winner of the tender competition was to apply for the waste licence and planning permission. This company was Elsam of Denmark. However, Elsam has been bought by DONG also from Denmark but DONG is unwilling to finance the job and have sold a majority interest to Covanta, an American company.
“Dublin Waste to Energy has only completed a conceptual design of the incinerator and they still have to go to market to design and procure an engineering and manufacturing supplier for the incinerator. This means that no authority in Ireland, never mind the public, will have any chance to examine the actual incinerator which will be one of the largest in Europe.”
Valerie Jennings said: “Given our experience with the sewage treatment plant this seems a foolish way to progress with a major plant which will be in operation for more than 30 years at the public’s expense.”
Joe McCarthy reminded ‘NewsFour’ readers “The EPA proposes to issue an official licence to DCC as the operator but the Council has no experience in operating an incinerator. He says that nobody at the event could address the question about the proposed burning of sewage sludge and industrial sludge.
“In fact DCC refused to address these issues at the An Bord Pleanála hearing saying that they were not asking for planning permission for burning sludge, yet at the same time they are applying to the EPA for a licence to burn it. So which is it– will they burn sludge or not?”
The running order for the objectors at the EPA oral hearing in the Gresham Hotel is David Farrell of Synergen Power Limited, Frances Corr of the Combined Residents against Incineration, Maurice Bryan, Joe McCarthy and Valerie Jennings, Lorna Kelly of Sandymount and Merrion Residents’ Association, Damien Cassidy, Sharon McCormack of Poolbeg Quay Residents’ Association, Marco Salino, Mr John Hawkins, James Rowentree, Ryan Meade of the Green Party, Councillor Daithí Doolan and Mary Lou McDonald, MEP of Sinn Fein, Ruairi Quinn, TD of Labour.
Following the oral Hearing, a report and recommendation will be submitted to the EPA Board and a final decision on whether or not to grant a licence will be made.
Mrs. Lorna Kelly said that she had concerns arising from the Inspector’s Report by Inspector Padraic Thornton regarding air quality and water temperatures. Mrs Kelly said that the water temperatures used in the EIS for the incinerator with regard to the ESB cooling water output into the Liffey were unreliable and do not reflect the potential situation where the incinerator is also putting its cooling water into the river.”