EPA gets 1,900 complaints from public
And 90% of these complaints related to smells emanating from sites.
A total of 2,481 specific incidents were notified to the agency by the public throughout the year.
The EPA completed 198 audits and 692 inspections of such waste and other licensed sites in 2010.
Up to 814 formal notifications were made by the EPA to businesses about non-compliance during the same time period and 121 meetings were held about non-compliance.
Up to 25,750 samples were taken and analysed for chemicals. Samples were taken from rivers, lakes, groundwaters, tidal waters, landfill leachates, IPPC effluents, waste water discharges and air emissions.
The work was undertaken as part of national monitoring programmes including the Water Framework Directive Surveillance.
EPA Director General, Mary Kelly repeated at the launch of their annual report yesterday that “climate change is the single biggest environmental challenge we face in this century”.
“Domestically, major challenges still exist to achieve real reductions in greenhouse gas emissions. The EU 2020 target is particularly difficult for Ireland to achieve as it excludes those sectors covered by the emissions trading scheme and applies to agriculture, transport, residential and other sectors, where it is much more difficult to achieve reductions.
“Developing policies and measures which see Ireland significantly increasing energy efficiency and its use of renewable energy sources will be critical to meeting these targets,” she said.
Last year, the EPA reported that emissions would exceed the EU 2020 target with current policies, even under the most ambitious scenario.
