28 May 2010
“Flagrant lack of assessment of commercial wells and underplaying the risk to a huge, regionally important, aquifer in the dump decision by the EPA puts them on a collision course with the European Commission” according to Trevor Sargent TD.
Local TD and former Minister for Food and Horticulture, Trevor Sargent expressed disbelief and disappointment at the Environmental Protection Agency’s decision to issue a licence for a major landfill in the Tooman/Nevitt area of Ireland’s horticultural heartland in north County Dublin.
In spite of Deputy Sargent’s highlighting the need for all commercial wells to be assessed fully in the Environmental Impact Statement, this was not done. “Even the EPA licence plays down the groundwater issue by requiring only ‘monitoring’”, he said.
Meanwhile, the European Commission is not convinced that the impact on groundwater quality will be ‘insignificant’. In a letter to the EPA in March 2008, the Commission says “there are, however, no concrete data (in particular in the EIS of April 2006 and June 2007) firmly demonstrating this”.
In stressing the need to move on from “outdated, out-of-sight, out-of-mind policies in dealing with waste”, Deputy Sargent cited the city of Guelph in Canada where he saw first-hand how a Zero‑Waste policy works, and consequently tabled over 200 amendments to the 1996 Waste Management Bill at the time.
“I hope the European Commission will succeed in requiring proper procedures to protect the groundwater and the livelihoods which depend on this clean groundwater.” concluded the Green TD.
