EPA almost certain to grant incinerator licence

IT is almost certain that the country’s first commercial toxic waste incinerator in Ringaskiddy, Co Cork will be granted a waste disposal licence by the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), it emerged yesterday.

Indaver was granted planning permission for the controversial €95 million incinerator by An Bord Pleanála, despite objections from its own planning officer.

An application for a waste management licence, required for the incinerator to begin operating, has been lodged with the EPA.

However, the Oireachtas Public Accounts Committee yesterday heard that the EPA has never turned down an application from a company which has already received planning permission.

When questioned by the committee, EPA director general Dr Mary Kelly insisted that the planning permission status of an application would not influence an EPA decision to grant a waste disposal licence.

“The planning process and the licensing process are two parallel decisions,” she said, adding there was no guarantee a licence would be issued simply because planning permission had already been given.

However, when pressed by Green Party finance spokesman Dan Boyle, Dr Kelly was forced to concede that the EPA has never refused a licence to a company which had already received planning permission.

Mr Boyle said it seemed applying for planning permission before a waste license had been issued was a “bit like building a house before you see if you can connect to any of the services you need.”

Dr Kelly declined to speculate on whether Indaver would be granted its license and said the EPA could only deal with cases as applications were made. “It is really a matter for the applicant in which order they do it. We just have to take an application when it comes,” she said.

Dr Kelly told the committee that an EPA review of the environment found dioxin levels were extremely low. That review had also closely studied the situation close to 11 incinerators in seven locations and had found no difference.

“We have found nothing different between dioxin levels in those areas and dioxin levels in the rest of the country,” she said.

According to EPA projections, if all the regional waste plans are put into place and all incinerators were working they would account for 2% of dioxin levels by 2010. By contrast, the uncontrolled burning of waste in back gardens was responsible for 84% of dioxin levels.

“We would be much better off educating people that if they are concerned about dioxins, it’s coming from backyard burning and not where you think it’s coming from,” Dr Kelly said.