This article is from page 8 of the 2008-03-11 edition of The Clare People. OCR mistakes are to be expected so download the original SWF or the rendered page 8 JPG
NEXT month Clare County Coun- cil faces its first ever prosecution by the Environment Protection Agency (EPA) for alleged non-compliance with the terms of its waste licence at the Central Waste Management Fa- cility in Ballyduff Beg in Inagh.
While the April 2 court appearance represents the first ever attempted prosecution of Clare County Council concerning the facility, the issue of Ballyduff Beg has proved one of the most controversial in Clare over the last decade.
The facility was first mooted in February of 1998 when three po- tential sites were identified by Clare County Council for the possible con- struction of a Central Waste Manage- ment Facility. The locations identified were Kilmaley, which was ruled out because of archaeological reasons, Lissycasey and Inagh.
During the summer of 1999, tests were carried out on both sites to judge their environmental and eng!- neering suitability to host the facility, with Ballyduff Beg being determined as most suitable.
In January of 1999, Clare County Council began to compile an Envi- ronmental Impact Statement at the Inagh site and in August of the same year applied to the EPA for a waste
management licence.
Locals were given until October of 2000 to lodge submissions with the EPA concerning the waste manage- ment licence. By the closing date for submissions, a total of 247 separate objections had been received by the Environmental Protection Agency.
Despite the local opposition, the EPA issued a formal proposal to grant the licence in December of
2000. This gave objectors 28 days to lodge any further submissions or the licence would be granted.
One single submission was lodged with the EPA on behalf of all objec- tors. As part of this final submission, an appeal was also made for the EPA to host an oral hearing where the objectors could voice their concerns Clee sh ys
Both the final submission and the
request for an oral hearing was re- jected and on June 13, 2001, the Environmental Protection Agency granted a licence to Clare County Council for the construction of the facility. Work began on the site on October 2001.
In April of 2002, the Community Liaison Committee was established as one of the conditions of the EPA licence. Locals and members of the committee meet each month to dis- cuss issues arising from the operation of the facility.
The Central Waste Management facility officially opened for business in September of 2002. There was no official ribbon cutting ceremony.
A number of non-compliance or- ders have been issued to Clare County Council by the EPA on the operation of the facility. The first was issued during the construction process in re- lation to contaminated run off water while the majority of the subsequent orders have concerned complaints of odour. The last non-compliance order was issued in October of 2007.
The EPA is the only body with the power to instigate high court pro- ceedings to close the waste manage- ment facility.