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Grainstore fire looms over Harbour

January 10, 2021 by CHASE

For the last 20 years CHASE has shown that the Ringaskiddy site is not a suitable location for a 240,000 tonne commercial waste incinerator.  This has been backed up by the 3 Inspectors who presided over the 2003, 2009 and 2016 Bord Pleanala Oral Hearings, all of whom recommended refusing permission for the application.

One of the fundamental problems with the site is the topography of the surrounding area and the resulting thermal inversions that occur in the Cork Harbour basin which trap emissions or a plume under an inversion layer and prevent its upward dispersal.

The 9 January 2021 fire at R&H Hall grainstore in Port of Cork, just down the road from the proposed incinerator site, provided real life modelling of dispersal patterns in low winds with thermal inversion in the enclosed harbour basin. This saw the plume drift around and sit in inlets and on homes and it continues to do so a day later.  In similar conditions this would be the dispersal pattern for highly toxic emissions from a fire or explosion at the incinerator plant, as well as for everyday emissions on an ongoing basis.

The location of the Indaver site at the end of a cul-de-sac means the only escape route for the Maritime College, NMCI, the Naval Base and the soon to open public park occupants would be in the direction of a fire, were an explosion to occur.  To stay put would leave these populations exposed to the ongoing plume in conditions similar to those seen regularly in Cork Harbour and as experienced this weekend.

Of further concern is the fact, highlighted at the 2016 Oral Hearing, that the Indaver plant is equipped only with enough water for for 2 hours firefighting, with a plan to let any fire burn out after that, which makes ongoing toxic emissions a real potential threat.(1)

Yesterdays fire at R&H Hall is under control due to the intervention of Carrigaline, Cobh, Crosshaven and Midleton fire services. It was made clear at the 2009 Oral Hearing that there is no guarantee that emergency services would enter an incident at the Indaver site.

Former Chief of Emergency Management for the HSE (Health Services Executive) South, Mr Peter Daly, presenting the possibility at the 2009 Oral Hearing of response agencies not entering an accident area, outlined how response agencies, should an incident occur, would define a “warm zone where airborne concentrations above which the general population could experience irreversible or other serious effects occur” and would consider the risk of “allowing even their own staff into that warm zone” (2)

“The R&H Hall fire made very real the possibility that should an accident occur at the proposed Indaver plant, we could be looking at a fire with a highly toxic load being left to burn out over a number of days, putting Maritime college students and staff and Naval personnel in immediate danger and enveloping the wider harbour communities in highly toxic fumes for it’s duration.

It is precisely because of it’s topography, weather patterns, proximity to communities and location in a cul-de-sac that this site is so fundamentally unsuitable for locating a commercial incinerator” said CHASE Chairperson Mary O’Leary.

  • We wish to reiterate the call made by Ringaskiddy and District Residents Association for improved communications and the publication of a Harbour wide emergency plan for the area
  • We will be making our increased concerns known to our public representatives on behalf of all who have objected to the Indaver proposal throughout the 20 years.
  • We will also be asking the EPA to reject the emissions licence for which an application has been submitted but is not yet under active consideration.

The outcome of our High Court Appeal against the 2018 grant of permission is pending.

(Above Photos, l-r Unknown; Stephanie Forde, Rodney Daunt, George Fitzgerald)

See more photos on our facebook page.

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Filed Under: Air Quality, News, Press Releases

Oral Hearing 2016 headlines

  • Serious dioxin figure irregularities exposed as Hearing comes to close
  • No measuring of nanoparticles – not practical, Indaver tell hearing
  • Indaver facility will carry strategic implications for the State – Indaver offer to shut down for Department when needed
  • Indaver to abandon fire fighting after just 2 hours
  • Final Submissions today, questions next week
  • Indaver selective quotation omits that incinerators likely to cause premature deaths
  • 13 year old Cobh student calls for baseline health study for Harbour
  • “There is no risk assessment” – says top Epidemiologist Anthony Staines
  • No safe level of exposure to tiny particulates, says toxico pathologist
  • Royal flush as all TD’s unite to protect the new era for Cork Harbour
  • Ringaskiddy incinerator live plume plot launched
  • Statement from Department of Defence
  • Human Health needs the same standard as protected species: CHASE Opening Statement
  • Indaver experts confirm: High Tide is now inside the site boundary. No separate Health Impact Assessment
  • Packed hearing opens at Carrigaline Court Hotel
  • Full CHASE Submission to An Bord Pleanala

TIMELINE Donate - GO FUND ME


Live animation of today's plume. (With thanks to Plume Plotter)

TIMELINE

20 years of key dates from when the first planning application was lodged with Cork County Council in November 2001.  VIEW TIMELINE.

ABOUT CHASE

CHASE is an alliance of groups campaigning since 2001 to stop the construction of a large 240,000 tonne commercial incinerator in Cork Harbour. The third application from Indaver Ireland was lodged … Read More...

Video Gallery

Softday – As I Roved Out One Morning from Sirius Arts Centre on Vimeo.

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    Burning our waste is a bad deal for communities and the environment everywhere.

    (Thanks to Steve Slade and Byron West from SkyTec Ireland for filming and to Zoe Fitzpatrick for filming and editing this video)
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ORAL HEARING 2016 NEWS

  • Serious dioxin figure irregularities exposed as Hearing comes to close
  • No measuring of nanoparticles – not practical, Indaver tell hearing
  • Indaver facility will carry strategic implications for the State – Indaver offer to shut down for Department when needed
  • Indaver to abandon fire fighting after just 2 hours
  • Final Submissions today, questions next week
  • Indaver selective quotation omits that incinerators likely to cause premature deaths
  • 13 year old Cobh student calls for baseline health study for Harbour
  • “There is no risk assessment” – says top Epidemiologist Anthony Staines
  • No safe level of exposure to tiny particulates, says toxico pathologist
  • Royal flush as all TD’s unite to protect the new era for Cork Harbour
  • Ringaskiddy incinerator live plume plot launched
  • Statement from Department of Defence
  • Human Health needs the same standard as protected species: CHASE Opening Statement
  • Indaver experts confirm: High Tide is now inside the site boundary. No separate Health Impact Assessment
  • Packed hearing opens at Carrigaline Court Hotel
  • Full CHASE Submission to An Bord Pleanala

ORAL HEARING DIARY, from Catriona Reid

A day by day account of the oral hearing experience from Catriona Reid, who was 16 years old at the time and has since published an account in book form. READ DIARY

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