Air Corps requires plume risk guarantee from proposed Cork incinerator

Irish Air Corps concerns about the impact on helicopter safety of a proposed incinerator in Co Cork can be ameliorated if the company behind the application can guarantee it will contain any risk from the plume to within 150m of the stack.

Air Corps requires plume risk guarantee from proposed Cork incinerator

In a letter to An Bord Pleanála, where the application is currently under consideration, the Department of Defence said that “the Air Corps requests that Indaver [the applicant] explicitly state the distance beyond which a helicopter, in all conditions, may fly without risk from the plume”.

“Should Indaver confirm that this risk will be contained within 150m of the stack, then it will not impact on Air Corps operations,” the letter says.

Whether or not this latest contribution from the department creates more or less difficulties for Indaver is not clear. During an oral hearing in 2016, the department said proximity of the incinerator stack to the flight approach paths of Haulbowline naval base and Spike Island was “a matter of concern”. This was seen as bolstering the case against granting planning permission.

The planning authority subsequently sought more information in relation to helicopter navigation safety, leading to the department spelling out what is required to eliminate risk.

A decision on whether to grant permission for the 240,000 tonnes-per-annum waste-to-energy facility has already been deferred six times as the board requests further clarifications. The planning authority was originally due to have made a decision by July 2016, but Indaver has now been given until October 3 to respond to a number of submissions received by the board.

Cork Harbour Alliance for a Safe Environment (Chase), the environmental lobby group opposed to the €160m project, has questioned this approach.

Spokeswoman Linda Fitzpatrick said: “We don’t know how normal it is for the applicant to give a response to responses to its own submissions.

“They are relying on the people proposing the facility to supply the information and the public to analyse it.”

Independent county councillor Marcia D’Alton, who is also opposed to the project, said she was stunned there had been no consultation with the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) in relation to the proposed incinerator.

Ms D’Alton submitted an FoI request asking that the board identify the external expertise it engaged in its assessment of the Indaver application and for details of consultations with the EPA and HSE. However the response shows the EPA did not partake in consultations or make a submission despite being invited by the board to comment.

Ms D’Alton said a Memorandum of Understanding was drawn up between the board and the EPA in September 2014 that allowed both bodies to liaise “but despite the huge range of environmental issues... the answer from the board was that there had been no consultation”.

A spokesperson for the board said the EPA would be involved in the licensing process if the project get permission. In terms of expertise, she said the board had its own “professional planning inspector” and in this case, they did not deem external expertise necessary.

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