THERE is a danger the Shannon Estuary could become a “cesspool for dirty industry”, campaigners have warned.
Speaking at the second day of a five-day hearing into Irish Cement’s
proposals for Mungret, Limerick Against Pollution’s Claire Keating
showed a diagram of the various industries planned or currently on the
banks of the Shannon and its entry into the Atlantic Ocean.
She highlighted the oil-fired generator located in Tarbert, the
coal-fired generator at Moneypoint, Rusal Alumina located At Aughinish
and the controversial Shannon LNG project proposed in Ballylongford.
(...)
Dr Angus Mitchell said: “Why should we consider there is an
environmental health risk when Irish Cement tells us there isn’t? The
answer is simple. Because the EPA tells us so.”
He pointed to a 2007 report which related to an assessment of a National Waste Management Plan.
“On page 72, the EPA says cement kilns can emit large volumes of
dust which in addition to being a respiratory hazard, can act as a
medium for the transport of other air pollutants,” Dr Mitchell told the
hearing.
“Despite the evidence, they [Irish Cement] keep telling us there are
no risks. There are risks Mr Gilmore. There are risks. You need to face
up to them. You cannot keep denying them. We feel very threatened by
this, and you don’t seem to understand that. this is on the record now
as to how threatened we feel," he added.
Dr Ioannis Zabetakis of the University of Limerick’s health research
institute feels Irish Cement has not properly evaluated the hazards and
calculated the risk.
He said: “These are questions not just to Irish Cement, but also the
EPA. How will you monitor these hazards in an independent way and
create data which speaks for itself. We don’t need to look at literature
to find out if incineration or co-incineration is safe or not. We need
to do a trial run in the kiln at Irish Cement itself. We need to put
proper monitors at the top of each chimney.”
Also speaking for Limerick Against Pollution, environmental health
expert Jack O’Sullivan said if the environmental regulator does not
refuse Irish Cement a licence to operate – the last hurdle the firm has
to clear – it should issue permission for just five years, and which
would not permit the use of any materials which could be recycled
instead.
Source: Limerick Leader
