28/05/2010

Controversial Dublin Dump Gets Licence

The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has granted Finglas council a licence to build a controversial dump near Lusk in north County Dublin.

The dump has a 500,000-tonne maximum annual intake for non-hazardous residual waste and an associated public recycling facility.

The licence contains more than 250 individual conditions and sub-conditions relating to the environmental management, operation, control and monitoring of the facility.

Fingal County Council's facility already secured planning permission from An Bord Pleanála last October.

The landfill in Finglas has been a controversial development, with multiple hearings being required by both the Bord and the EPA.

The Council wanted a 500,000-tonne dump until the Poolbeg incinerator was constructed, but An Bord Pleanála limited the intake of the facility to 300,000 tonnes.

Among the conditions is a requirement that all waste be pre-treated and additional odour controls included.

Opponents have warned that a large groundwater source exists and a leak from the dump could endanger the local horticultural industry, which supplies over half the country's vegetables.

A spokesman for the EPA said this morning that enforcement officers would monitor and enforce the conditions of the licence through environmental audits, unannounced site visits and systematic checks on emissions. "The EPA will carry out its own independent inspection and monitoring of emissions from the facility", he added.

(DW/BMcC)

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