Pressure group asks for plenty of objections
LOCAL community environmental activists are now calling on everybody to be aware of and get involved in the Irish Cement ltd planning application to burn thousands of tons of mixed waste as a fuel alternative going forward.
And while we welcome some of the moves away from Fossil Fuels, ie Coal, Coke, Etc, We strongly question some of the items now been proposed, and the long term damage this may do to health / environment and recycling initiatives overall.
This application has spent the last 9 months or so being considered by An Bord Pleanala for Special Infrastructure Development, and has now been granted that status, despite most people and groups believing it did not qualify under this remit.
What we would like to see now is, when the company application is received, and complete, probably next week or so, everybody has 7 weeks to get engaged and send in objections, submissions etc to the board, and we would like to see all of those and more besides.
We want to see people get engaged now in the actual planning process, and to encourage all of their public representatives to do the same on their behalf.
Submission fee for this planning process is €50 each, and while that may be outside the remit of many ordinary people and families at this time, we would hope most of the community groups, plus all of our political representatives would become active and help to represent everybody within what is now a very important phase of this particular plan.
Irish cement currently burn some 180.000 tons of mixed waste and coal, etc and are seeking to expand that to Tyres, Meat and Bone Meal, Sewerage Waste, Hospital Waste, Mixed Plastics etc, A complete and very dangerous cocktail stew of toxic materials, that may well prove very dangerous for everybody living within the north east area. When you add that to what Indaver are already burning in their Incinerator next door, you are almost on 1 million tons of dangerous toxic materials been burnt in this area each year, and some 10 million tons each decade.
Health issues continue to be of major concern within this region at present, with continued and concerning number of people suffering from a whole range of medical conditions and problems, including ever increasing number of people suffering and struggling with various degrees of Cancer, including Leukaemia, Repertory problems like Asthma, Emphysema, also various auto immune problems like GBS, Continue to effect a rising number of people also,
There are far better and much cleaner alternatives for disposal of these types of waste, we don’t have to burn them and in the process put everybody’s health and wellbeing at risk, and our environment groups believe we should be using these alternatives and at least taking the more dangerous elements out of the mix now, before proceeding any further with this plan, We would also like to see a regional EPA Office within this region, and or various ambient air monitoring stations, plus stack monitoring systems in place within a rigorous and stringent environmental policing regime, to help bring some confidence and protection to people living within north east region, that is now fast becoming the dumping capital of Ireland.
Our groups would strongly encourage all members of the public regardless of political affiliation, to get in touch with their local and national political representative soon as possible, and to push them hard to make sure they put in a objection, submission, on this plan, as a matter of urgency, and to follow that up by appearing at a oral hearing, if granted, that is the very least they can do for their constituents.
Just for clarity this is not about shutting anybody down, but it is about having better monitoring, better environment policing, Regulation, Enforcement, better decision making, and better environmental protection for all families living in this north east region.
When company application becomes live, we will publish registration No and Address for sending in objections, observations, submissions etc, in all media outlets including regular updates on Duleek Environmental Facebook Page.