This article is from page 16 of the 2005-10-11 edition of The Clare People. OCR mistakes are to be expected so download the original SWF or the rendered page 16 JPG
THE Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has put in place addi- tional safeguards in a bid to prevent a re-occurrence of pharmaceutical plant Schwarz Pharma polluting the Shannon area.
This follows the EPA issuing a draft license to the German-owned com- pany, imposing increased controls on the company to ensure that it does not breach its Integrated Pollution Control (IPC) licence.
The company was one of the first fa- cilities in Ireland to secure an IPC li- cense in 1996 and a significant breach of the licence caused a dank odour to spread across Shannon for a number
of months in 2002 and 2003, prompt- ing the EPA to demand a review of its IPC licence.
The company pleaded guilty to various breaches of its [PC license in the distrist court in 2003 and the li- cence review has now culminated in the Agency giving the green-light for a new license for the company, which has spent in excess of €6 million this year on increased environmental safe- guards at the plant, where bulk active pharmaceutical ingredients are pro- duced.
The EPA has ruled that the new li- cense shall have effect for four years, having regard to the nature of the works and arrangements necessary in connection with the installation
and upgrading of plant environmental abatement and protection infrastruc- ture and plant environmental proce- elt Kee
As part of the new license, the EPA has instructed Schwarz Pharma to employ an experienced installation manager who shall be responsible for the management of the wastewa- ter treatment plant and air emission abatement equipment. The EPA has also instructed the company to estab- lish and maintain a Public Awareness and Communications Programme to ensure that members of the public are informed about the environmental performance of the installation.
In its decision, the EPA refused none of the proposed activities sought by
Schwarz Pharma — which employs 176 people — in its application.
The interim Managing Director of Schwarz Pharma, Peter Brunk, this week said that the company was still studying the licence and would prefer to comment when that process was complete.
Shannon Town Mayor, Cllr Tony Mulcahy this week welcomed the tighter controls contained in the new 36-page licence. Cllr Mulcahy told