Minister for the Environment, Heritage and Local Government, John Gormley yesterday announced that the Government is to establish a new working group to develop detailed proposals on the future of the former Irish Steel/Ispat site at Haulbowline in Cork harbour.
Mr Gormley said that the group, which is to be chaired by the Office of Public Works, will involve a range of Government department and State agencies and will be asked to determine the optimum use for the site.
The group would also look at legacy issues relating to pollution at the site and proper public consultation with the local community would be a priority for the group, he said.
Irish Times
www.buckplanning.ie
Showing posts with label Haulbowline Island.. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Haulbowline Island.. Show all posts
Thursday, 9 July 2009
Saturday, 5 July 2008
Action on harbour waste demanded
FRIENDS OF the Irish Environment (FIE) have filed a "request for action" with the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) over the discovery of potentially cancer-causing waste at Haulbowline Island, Cork.
They made the request under the European Environmental Liability Directive which gives NGOs the right to formally seek action where there is damage or a threat of environmental damage.
In its application, FIE cites the interim report on "quantifying surface waste" at the former steel plant on Haulbowline Island dated May 8th, 2008.
This report says that after the fifth day of work at the site environmental consultants NRGE Ltd said they felt obliged to make an interim report.
"It is of considerable concern to us that there is significant levels of hydrocarbon contaminated mud under the constant influence of tidal movements and percolating rain water which we deem necessitating emergency treatment immediately," the report stated.
A spokesman for FIE said a series of e-mails showed that both the EPA and Cork County Council had been forwarded copies of the report the following day.
He said Cork County Council claimed "cabinet confidentiality" for not releasing relevant records to FIE, but the report was included in documentation released by the EPA and published on the Friends website.
"We have to ask if the Minister for the Environment was informed of this report, given his continuing insistence that there is ‘no evidence of any immediate threat to human health or the environment'," the FIE spokesman said.
Meanwhile, solicitor Gerard Kean, who met some 30 workers in Cork who had been involved in the clean-up work on the site before it was stopped, said he would listen and then advise them.
MICHELLE McDONAGH
The Irish Times
www.buckplanning.ie
They made the request under the European Environmental Liability Directive which gives NGOs the right to formally seek action where there is damage or a threat of environmental damage.
In its application, FIE cites the interim report on "quantifying surface waste" at the former steel plant on Haulbowline Island dated May 8th, 2008.
This report says that after the fifth day of work at the site environmental consultants NRGE Ltd said they felt obliged to make an interim report.
"It is of considerable concern to us that there is significant levels of hydrocarbon contaminated mud under the constant influence of tidal movements and percolating rain water which we deem necessitating emergency treatment immediately," the report stated.
A spokesman for FIE said a series of e-mails showed that both the EPA and Cork County Council had been forwarded copies of the report the following day.
He said Cork County Council claimed "cabinet confidentiality" for not releasing relevant records to FIE, but the report was included in documentation released by the EPA and published on the Friends website.
"We have to ask if the Minister for the Environment was informed of this report, given his continuing insistence that there is ‘no evidence of any immediate threat to human health or the environment'," the FIE spokesman said.
Meanwhile, solicitor Gerard Kean, who met some 30 workers in Cork who had been involved in the clean-up work on the site before it was stopped, said he would listen and then advise them.
MICHELLE McDONAGH
The Irish Times
www.buckplanning.ie
Concern over focus of investigation into Haulbowline site
A SOLICITOR acting for residents of the Cork Harbour area has expressed concern about the focus of a report commissioned by the Department of the Environment into the remediation of the former Irish Steel plant at Haulbowline Island.
Joe Noonan, who advised Cork Harbour Alliance for a Safe Environment, said the 2005 report by consultants White Young Green for the department seemed very focused on possible uses for the site rather than the immediate risk it poses to health.
“The report seems to have a very limited purpose. Rather than providing a comprehensive assessment of its current impact on health and the environment across the site, it seems very focused on assessing its impact on future developments,” he said.
White Young Green divided the 20-hectare site into two parts for examination – the main steel plant adjacent to the naval base and the East Tip, which had been built up over decades by dumping slag from the plant on the foreshore.
However, the examination was confined to areas outside the steelworks buildings, resulting in some 50 per cent of the main steelworks site being excluded from the investigation, which involved sampling of soil, groundwater and marine sediment.
The consultants assessed each part of the site for elements like arsenic, cadmium, lead, nickel and dioxins and for possible future use including residential, public open space and commercial/industrial.
They concluded that there was a moderate risk to human health and environmental receptors in the event of a residential or open public space use, while they assessed the risk as low to moderate if the site was remediated for commercial/industrial use.
“It is considered that the most feasible development solution from an economic and technical view would be a commercial/industrial use for the main site and a public open space use for the East Tip,” it states.
The authors recommend capping the East Tip area using standard earth layer and high-density polythene. They estimate the cost of the capping work at €7.52 million.
They also recommend further investigation in areas not investigated such as under building slabs, more testing for dioxins in the East Tip area and asbestos in the built-up area of the main site as well as further tests for landfill gases such as methane. However, Mr Noonan said the fact that 50 per cent of the site was not investigated was a cause for concern, while he also questioned what the department had done to implement the recommendations.
“The consultants acknowledge the limitations of their initial investigation and recommended further site investigation,” he said. “This report was completed in 2005 and yet none of these recommendations have been acted upon.” Fine Gael spokesman on health Dr James Reilly warned that the Government would expose the State to litigation if it failed to order an immediate independent health impact assessment of the site.
Meanwhile, Cork Labour TD Ciarán Lynch has written to Minister for the Environment John Gormley seeking clarification on suggestions that tens of thousands of tonnes of potentially toxic material may have been removed from Haulbowline to be used in the construction of roads.
The Irish Times
www.buckplanning.ie
Joe Noonan, who advised Cork Harbour Alliance for a Safe Environment, said the 2005 report by consultants White Young Green for the department seemed very focused on possible uses for the site rather than the immediate risk it poses to health.
“The report seems to have a very limited purpose. Rather than providing a comprehensive assessment of its current impact on health and the environment across the site, it seems very focused on assessing its impact on future developments,” he said.
White Young Green divided the 20-hectare site into two parts for examination – the main steel plant adjacent to the naval base and the East Tip, which had been built up over decades by dumping slag from the plant on the foreshore.
However, the examination was confined to areas outside the steelworks buildings, resulting in some 50 per cent of the main steelworks site being excluded from the investigation, which involved sampling of soil, groundwater and marine sediment.
The consultants assessed each part of the site for elements like arsenic, cadmium, lead, nickel and dioxins and for possible future use including residential, public open space and commercial/industrial.
They concluded that there was a moderate risk to human health and environmental receptors in the event of a residential or open public space use, while they assessed the risk as low to moderate if the site was remediated for commercial/industrial use.
“It is considered that the most feasible development solution from an economic and technical view would be a commercial/industrial use for the main site and a public open space use for the East Tip,” it states.
The authors recommend capping the East Tip area using standard earth layer and high-density polythene. They estimate the cost of the capping work at €7.52 million.
They also recommend further investigation in areas not investigated such as under building slabs, more testing for dioxins in the East Tip area and asbestos in the built-up area of the main site as well as further tests for landfill gases such as methane. However, Mr Noonan said the fact that 50 per cent of the site was not investigated was a cause for concern, while he also questioned what the department had done to implement the recommendations.
“The consultants acknowledge the limitations of their initial investigation and recommended further site investigation,” he said. “This report was completed in 2005 and yet none of these recommendations have been acted upon.” Fine Gael spokesman on health Dr James Reilly warned that the Government would expose the State to litigation if it failed to order an immediate independent health impact assessment of the site.
Meanwhile, Cork Labour TD Ciarán Lynch has written to Minister for the Environment John Gormley seeking clarification on suggestions that tens of thousands of tonnes of potentially toxic material may have been removed from Haulbowline to be used in the construction of roads.
The Irish Times
www.buckplanning.ie
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)