Providing World Class environmental compliance consulting
that is both cost effective and focused on client needs

Newsletter Q3 2012

 

Welcome to our summary of industrial environmental compliance news items that appeared on our website www.environet.ie over the past quarter. We now have over 500 Irish environmental professionals subscribing to our service. This is a free service, issued every quarter. If you wish to unsubscribe please click the link at the end of this mail.

You can now follow us on Twitter at http://twitter.com/#!/EnvironetIre where our news items will also appear.

Best Regards

Gerard Kelly

 

CONTENTS

Rio+20 Summit  (3/9/2012)

New Waste Policy Launched (4/9/2012)

The Independent Closure Audit (7/9/2012)

POPs Plan Launched by EPA (27/9/2012)

Tougher EIA Requirements On The Way (2/10/2012)

 

Rio+20 Summit – Any Outcomes?  (3/9/2012)

Rio+20, also known as The United Nations Conference on Sustainable Development (UNCSD), Rio 2012 or Earth Summit 2012 was the third international conference on sustainable development. It was hosted in Rio de Janeiro from 13 to 22 June 2012. It took place twenty years after the 1992 summit held in the same city, and ten years after the 2002 World Summit on Sustainable Development (WSSD) in Johannesburg.

The conference had three main objectives:

  • Getting renewed political commitment for sustainable development
  • Assessing the progress and implementation gaps in meeting previous commitments.
  • Addressing new and emerging challenges.

The primary result of the conference was the document, ‘The Future We Want’. The heads of state of the 192 governments present renewed their commitment to sustainable development. The document appears to largely reconfirm previous action plans such as Agenda 21, with few new initiatives.

Some of the more interesting outcomes include:

  • Support for the development of Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), a set of measurable targets aimed at promoting sustainable development globally. It is expected that the SDGs will eventually blend with the current Millennium Development Goals. However it should be noted that the SDGs have yet to be agreed on and developed.
  • The UN Environment Programme (UNEP) will be the leading global environmental authority with increased financial resources coupled with the strengthening of its links with other UN bodies.
  • There was agreement to explore alternatives to GDP as a measure of wealth which would take environmental and social factors into account.
  • An urgent need to return ocean stocks to sustainable levels by implementing science based management plans.
  • A recognition that people are at the centre of sustainable development.
  • A statement of deep concern that one in five people on the planet still live in extreme poverty and that one in seven is undernourished.
  • Inclusion of a clear reference to the importance of food security and nutrition.
  • A reiteration of the Polluter Pays Principle. In other words richer countries that caused most of the environmental damage should pay most of the remediation costs.

One of the major flaws of the summit was a general lack of recognition that current standards of consumption are unsustainable.

When richer countries talk about sustainable development, they focus mainly on environmental protection, pushing for specific targets for air, water, resource use, energy etc. Poorer countries rightly want to focus on poverty reduction, keeping people at the centre of their vision for sustainability.

So in summary the outcomes from Rio+20 have focused on recognising issues to be addressed, but global agreement on targets, or even on what sustainability really means, appears to be some way off. So for the foreseeable future it looks like the sustainability agenda in Ireland will be driven at EU level, with of course polite references to what happened in Rio this year.

To review the sustainability of your organization contact Gerard Kelly on 058-51155.

 

New Waste Policy Launched  (4/9/2012)

In March 2012 Environet reported on the proposed draft waste management policy from the Department of the Environment. It included plans to change how household waste is regulated.

One of the most controversial proposals in the draft was to initiate a process whereby household waste collection services for Local Authority areas would be put out to tender. This was to end the current system which allows competition between waste collection providers. It would also have allowed Local Authorities to have much more control over waste and where it was ultimately treated. This proposed tendering process was part of the Programme for Government.

In July 2012 the Government launched its finalised policy document ‘A Resource Opportunity’. The Government has decided to continue with the current system of allowing all waste contractors to compete for business in an open market.

Overall this Government U-turn is to be welcomed as competition in the market has driven down prices, encouraged innovation and created jobs. It has also resulted in all but a few Local Authorities exiting the household waste collection market.

But it may signal the death knell for the Poolbeg incinerator project, as Dublin City Council will now have much less control over the ultimate destination of household waste. The Council had told the Government that the project would not be viable unless it had control of household waste.

Other aspects of note in the new waste policy are;

  • Brown bin rollout
  • Reduction in the number of Waste Planning Regions from 10 to 3
  • Placement of more responsibility on householders
  • Establishment of a Waste Enforcement Team

To download new policy click here http://www.environ.ie/en/Publications/Environment/Waste/WasteManagement/FileDownLoad,30729,en.pdf

 

The Independent Closure Audit  (7/9/2012)

In the current economic climate facility closures are unfortunately a fact of life. For IPPC and Waste licensed sites the EPA has further developed its policy regarding the process of surrendering licenses.

A key requirement of the surrender/closure process is for the Licensee to arrange for a Closure Audit to be undertaken by an independent expert. The scope of the Independent Closure Audit (ICA) must have the prior written approval of the Agency before being conducted. The ICA report is expected to address the following;

  • Identify and document the decommissioning, rendering safe or removal for disposal/recovery, of any soil, sub-soils, buildings, plant, equipment, or waste materials or substances or any other matter that may result in environmental pollution.
  • Include a Waste Inventory/Register listing all wastes arising onsite. This should include a description, EWC Code, tonnages, permit details of hauliers, permit/licence details of final destinations and all relevant documents (WTFs, TFSs etc).
  • Where there is potential for asbestos to be present, require full identification, management and safe removal, if required, by an appropriately certified contractor.
  • Identify all underground structures including tanks, pipelines and sumps (containing or previously containing fuel, chemicals, slurry, etc.), and their integrity testing history. Where information is not available, integrity testing may be required during the ICA process.
  • Provide verification that all plant, equipment, tanks, bunds, sumps will be fully emptied, cleaned and verified as such, and that contents will be removed appropriately.
  • Include an assessment of the potential for soil/groundwater contamination: If a hydro-geological assessment has previously been conducted as part of the licence, or due to known contamination onsite, submit same.

An investigation may be required to be carried out by an appropriately qualified and experienced hydro-geologist to establish whether the soil/groundwater is contaminated. The assessment should include a Source/Pathway/Receptor assessment together with a Conceptual Site Model.

  • Identify how environmental liabilities will be dealt with post-closure, and whether any remediation measures are necessary. Detail financial provisions. Submit the Residuals Management Plan/Decommissioning Management Plan/Closure Restoration and Aftercare Management Plan.
  • Proposals for revised sampling, analysis and reporting arrangements on foot of the changes on site, for agreement with the Agency.
  • Consideration of health & safety issues during decommissioning and site security.

The timescale for completion and submission of the Independent Closure Audit Report should be agreed with the Agency. One of the most significant requirements is that the report should include a Declaration that the condition of the site is not causing, and is not likely to cause, significant environmental pollution and that all significant environmental liabilities have been addressed.

Environet has extensive experience in ICAs. If you have any questions in relation to the ICA process please contact Gerard Kelly on 058-51155.

 

POPs Plan Launched by EPA (27/9/2012)

Persistent Organic Pollutants (POPs) are a group of toxic chemicals that persist in the environment and can bioaccumulate in the food chain.  A global treaty was negotiated and the Stockholm Convention on POPs was adopted in 2001. This Convention includes several requirements to control POPs including banning or restricting the production, use, import and export of POPs and actions to reduce and/or eliminate their releases.

Requirements regarding wastes containing POPs are also defined including the duty to destroy or irreversibly transform the POP content of wastes. The POPs currently controlled under the Convention are listed below. These chemicals are found in historical pesticides, industrial oils and may be produced as unintended by-products.

  • Aldrin
  • Chlordane
  • Dieldrin
  • Endrin
  • Heptachlor
  • Mirex
  • Toxaphene
  • DDT
  • Lindane  (and Alpha and Beta hexachlorocyclohexane)
  • Chlordecone
  • Endosulfan Hexabromodiphenyl ether and heptabromodiphenyl ether
  • Tetrabromodiphenyl ether and pentabromodiphenyl ether
  • Hexabromobiphenyl
  • Perfluorooctane sulfonic acid, its salts and perfluorooctane sulfonyl fluoride
  • Pentachlorobenzene
  • Hexachlorobenzene
  • Polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs)
  • Polybrominated dibenzo-p-dioxins
  • Dibenzofurans

Since 2010 Ireland has been a party to the Stockholm Convention and is required to submit to the secretariat a National Implementation Plan in 2012.

In August 2012 the EPA issued a report titled ‘Draft National Implementation Plan for the Stockholm Convention on Persistent Organic Pollutants’.

The draft National Implementation Plan proposes a number of actions including;

  • Assessment of IPPC licences, waste licences, waste permits and activities, where appropriate, related to unintentional POP sources to facilitate the promotion of BAT.
  • Ongoing inspections and enforcement related activities concerning PCB holdings.
  • Assessment of environmental monitoring programmes to determine the need for further POPs monitoring (e.g. water and soils).
  • Raising public awareness under existing farm inspection programmes regarding POP pesticides.
  • A POPs working group to monitor and evaluate progress in implementing measures in the National Implementation Plan and Action Plan on unintentional POPs.
  • Improvement of inventories of unintentional emissions to air, land and water. 

As implementation of the Stockholm Convention is about to be ramped up in Ireland, now is a good time for industry to confirm that the above compounds are not used or produced at their facilities and not contained in waste produced by their processes.

Please call Gerard Kelly on 058-51155 if you wish to discuss POPs further.

 

Tougher EIA Requirements On The Way (2/10/2012)

As we reported in April 2012, Ireland has been under pressure for some years to fully implement the provisions of the EIA Directive.

A European Court of Justice Decision stated that the provisions of Irish planning legislation under the Planning and Development Act 2000 ‘are different from that, imposed by Article 3 of Directive 85/337 on the competent authority, of carrying out full environmental impact assessment’.

In July 2012 the Department of the Environment, Community and Local Government issued draft guidelines for planning authorities on the process of carrying out environmental impact assessment.

The guidelines set out a new assessment procedure in which the Environmental Impact Assessment must be carried out by the planning authority or An Bord Pleanála. The planning authority will now have to prepare an environmental impact assessment report. This report will be based on information provided by the proposer in the EIS, submissions from third parties, internal planning authority data and requests for further information. The report will also have to assess the accuracy of the information submitted and comment on the adequacy of the EIS.

EPA guidance documents regarding the information to be contained in an EIS are still valid.

To date the assessment criteria used to judge the adequacy of the EIA process, and the EIS itself, were not consistently applied across all planning authorities and the process was perceived as a tick box exercise. The draft guidance puts much more emphasis on planning authorities coming up with reasons why they believe that the EIA process has been in accordance with the Directive. This is likely to result in much more rigor being applied to the entire process.

http://www.environ.ie/en/Publications/DevelopmentandHousing/Planning/FileDownLoad,30821,en.pdf