Call for Aughinish licence probe
Mr Ahern is visiting the Co Limerick plant to view the construction of its €125 million combined heat and power plant which will feed most of its energy into the national grid.
But an internal EPA memo has revealed that almost one million tonnes of waste dumped in giant lagoons at the plant were classified as "hazardous" seven years ago.
The 1997 EPA inspectors memo also found that:
There was "extensive ground water pollution" in 33 plant observation wells.
Air emissions of sulphur dioxide were double the World Health Organisation quality guidelines.
The Mid-Western Health Board asked if the Agency had assessed the likely impact of these levels on the health of the public.
The latest EPA annual report, however, contradicts that evidence and says the 861,121 tonnes of red mud is "non-hazardous".
This has prompted the local Cappagh Farmers Support Group (CFSG) to call on Mr Ahern to bring in a team of international experts to investigate why "misinformation" is being given out by the EPA.
"We have raised concerns about possible health effects on families and farm lands for the past decade - now we have concrete evidence the EPA inspectors found the red mud ponds contained hazardous waste," CFSG spokesman Pat Geoghegan claimed.
The EPA has questions to answer about why it changed its designation of the waste from "hazardous" to "non-hazardous" and why it issued a licence to the company a year after its inspectors issued a damning memo, Mr Geoghegan added.
But an EPA spokeswoman rejected claims it provided "misinformation" when it changed the classification.
"The red mud is not hazardous waste and it was not hazardous in 1997 - it is the liquid that transports red mud to the stacks that is highly caustic," the EPA spokeswoman said.
This red mud has to be collected and neutralised prior to discharge to Shannon Estuary and that is happening, she added.
On the "extensive ground water pollution," the EPA spokeswoman said that when they licensed Aughinish Alumina they asked them to extract and treat the ground water and the company has done so since.
"This ground water is not a risk to health because it is saline and no one will drink salt water," the EPA spokeswoman said.
The EPA said they carried out a €5m multi-agency investigation into the operation of the company, but failed to find a cause for the health problems in the region.
An Aughinish Alumina spokesman insisted yesterday the company had complied with regulations laid down by the EPA when it granted its Integrated Pollution Control licence.
"The red mud has been designated non-hazardous and the ground water contamination is being remedied in line with our environmental management strategy," he said.
"All the breaches have been rectified over the past 21 years. This company is wide open to anyone to test its operation," he added.
Mr Ahern's spokesman said it was a Department of the Environment matter.
An Environment Department spokesman said they did not see any conflict between the inspector's report and the EPA's decision to issue a licence to Aughinish Alumina.
"This is based on the information we got from the independent EPA and we do not see any need to bring in an international independent inspector," the spokesman added.
1: Will he bring in outside independent investigators to examine how the Environmental Protection Agency granted a licence to Aughinish Alumina?
2: Will he designate a specific agency to take overall responsibility for monitoring the health data base of people and animals living near the plant?
3: Why was the red mud waste at Aughinish Alumina first designated hazardous and then changed to non-hazardous?
4: Is he concerned that the sulphur dioxide emissions are double the guidelines recommended by the World Health Organisation?
: Farmers in Askeaton notice deaths and birth deformities in cattle and horses.
: EPA-led probe looks at animal and human health.
: The Geoghegan family give blood, hair and urine samples to Mid-Western Health Board to be tested for industrial pollution.
: The health board lose all but two of the Geoghegan's samples, which were not tested.
: EPA report finds no conclusive reason for human and animal health problems.
: The Cappagh Farmers Support Group (CFSG) claim there are 64 cancer cases in a four-and-a-half mile area close to Askeaton, three times the national average.
: Health Minister Micheál Martin agrees to look at the health problems in Askeaton. A €5m inquiry by the EPA and the health board fail to find a cause. The Consumers' Association of Ireland's analysis of the report claims industrial pollution is at fault.
: Cattle die mysteriously again. Dept of Agriculture refuses to introduce ongoing screening, despite veterinary advice to do so.
: Documents show doctors were told the Geoghegan samples were tested. Mr Martin's inquiry fails to produce any findings.
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