Newsletter Q4 2010
Welcome to our compendium of the environmental industrial compliance news items that appeared on our website www.environet.ie over the past quarter. This is a free service, issued every quarter. If you wish to unsubscribe please click the link at the end of this mail.
Gerard Kelly
CONTENTS
BAT – A short history in Ireland (4/8/2010)
EPA Issues Licence to Ringsend Wastewater Treatment Plant (4/8/2010)
Consultation on Draft Waste Policy Closing Soon (20/9/2010)
EPA Launches New Environmental Indicators Website (24/9/2010)
EEA Launches NEC Directive Status Report 2009 – NOx a major issue for Ireland (28/9/2010)
Environmental Liability Directive – How should industry prepare? (15/10/2010)
Council approves Industrial Emissions Directive (14/11/10)
Ireland fails to comply with IPPC Directive (3/12/10)
BAT – A short history in Ireland (4/8/2010)
The BAT concept and its application are crucial to the IPPC licensing process in Ireland. The following summaries the journey to date;
The IPPC Directive 96/61/EC (in draft format when the EPA Act 1992 was being finalised) lays down a framework requiring Member States to issue operating permits for certain installations carrying on industrial activities described in Annex 1. The Directive applied to new or substantially changed installations with effect from October 1999 and no later than October 2007 for existing installations.
In Ireland BAT (Best Available Technique) began life in the mid 90’s as BATNEEC (Best Available Technology Not Entailing Excessive Cost), as specified in the EPA Act 1992.
The EPA developed BATNEEC guidance notes for most industrial sectors even though many of these remained in draft format http://www.epa.ie/downloads/advice/bat/.
Meanwhile the EU was getting its act together by producing BREF (Bat REFerence) documents, organized through the IPPC Bureau in Seville. These BREF documents (current versions available here http://eippcb.jrc.es/reference/) are the product of a series of meetings between industry and regulatory representative chaired by the bureau. Many of the originally produced BREF documents are currently being revised as part of a rolling programme of updates.
The Protection of the Environment Act 2003 brought Irish legislation into line with the IPPC Directive by moving from BATNEEC to BAT (this has no practical implications as ‘available’ includes a cost element). The EPA decided to develop Ireland specific versions of these BREF documents as BAT Guidance Notes and these are available here http://www.epa.ie/downloads/advice/bat/.
EPA Issues Licence to Ringsend Wastewater Treatment Plant (4/8/2010)
The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has issued a waste water discharge licence for the Ringsend Wastewater Treatment Plant (WWTP). The licence has been issued to Dublin City Council (lead authority) and the joint applicants Fingal County Council, South Dublin County Council, Dun Laoghaire Rathdown County Council and Meath County Council.
Its interesting to note that the EPA is essentially requiring the immediate upgrading of the plant to be completed by 2015. This and the requirement to discontinue discharges at Doldrum Bay and the Nose of Howth might make for an argument not to licence the facility until the issues around the plant are resolved. The EPA is required not to licence a facility where significant environmental impact is occurring.
For residents of the area the single most significant issue is odour and the EPA is excluded from dealing with this issue under the legislation. It appears that the integrated approach to licensing industry will not apply to licensing local authority waste water treatment plants which is a nice out for all concerned!
The primary discharge from Ringsend WWTP is to the Liffey Estuary. In 2001 the Liffey Estuary was designated as a sensitive area. This legislation requires that discharges of waste water have Total N concentrations < 10 mg/l from May 2008. The agreement between DCC and the operator of the plant requires the ammonia limit (a portion of Total N) to be < 18.75 mg/l. The plant commenced operations in 2003. This is obviously a problem.
During April/May 2008 the average loading to the plant was 192% of its design capacity. The plant obviously needs upgrading or an alteration (most probably extension) of the primary discharge point.
Consultation on Draft Waste Policy Closing Soon (20/9/2010)
Politics and waste management have never been closer than they are these days. The Department of the Environment, Heritage and Local Government (DOEHLG) has issued 3 consultation documents in the recent past. These documents will have an impact on every sector but the implications for the waste industry will be immense. The documents are;
- Draft Statement of Waste Policy
- International Review of Waste Management Policy
- Draft Waste Management (Household Food Waste Collection) Regulations
The closing date for submissions to the DOEHLG is 1 October 2010.
EPA Launches New Environmental Indicators Website (24/9/2010)
The EPA produces the ‘State of the Environment’ report every 4 years. One of the recurring issues for the report is what indicators should be used for the assessment. The EPA has launched a new section to its website http://www.epa.ie/environmentinfocus/where these indicators are highlighted. Its useful in that it gathers in one location a diverse array of publications on environmental policy and impact.
EEA Launches NEC Directive Status Report 2009 – NOx a major issue for Ireland (28/9/2010)
In 2010, around half of the European Union's Member States expect to surpass one or more of the legal limits set by the National Emission Ceilings Directive (NEC Directive). The annual status report recently released by the European Environment Agency (EEA) confirms that 11 countries anticipate an exceedance of their ceilings for NOx.
4 substances are covered by the Directive NOx, NH3, SOx and NMVOCs. Ireland is complying with its limits for NH3, SOx and NMVOCs but is spectacularly exceeding its limit for NOx by 47%, the worst performance in the EU. It would appear that the ceiling being applied to Ireland was probably underestimated to begin with but this does leave the Government in a difficult position with the EU. It will almost certainly mean that ‘measures’ will need to be taken beyond simply providing support for renewable energy.
Get the report at http://www.eea.europa.eu/publications/nec-directive-status-report-2009
Environmental Liability Directive – How should industry prepare? (15/10/2010)
The Environmental Liability Directive was brought into force in Ireland through SI 547 of 2008. An Environmental Liabilities Bill has also been drafted. The following points need to be made;
- Existing legislation remains in place (IPPC and Waste licensing for instance)
- EPA is the Competent Authority (http://www.epa.ie/whatwedo/enforce/liab/)
- Directive defines ‘Environmental Damage’ and the types of remediation required.
- Requires that any damage is remediated.
There are 3 main types of ‘Environmental Damage’ under the legislation. These are quite specific and are not all encompassing by any means;
- Natural Habitats – Significant deterioration of species or habitat
- Waters – a change in status under the Water Framework Directive
- Land – contamination with a potential adverse impact on human health
For licensed activities (eg IPPC and Waste) there is strict liability, in other words fault or intent is not required.
The greatest potential liability for licensed activities would be where contamination impacts on a NHA, SPA or SAC or indeed candidate versions of these. Ireland has not been very good at mapping or baselining areas of ecological interest. In the event that one of these is impacted and requires remediation, how will it be decided what the remediation targets should be? Its quite possible that remediation targets could be set that go far beyond what would be required to return the area to pre-incident status.
In summary where a facility is situated in, or close to, a conservation area its vitally important that the area is adequately baselined, especially where there is any possibility that a facility might adversely impact such an area through an environmental incident in the future.
In summary a facility will need to ensure that an adequate baseline is undertaken to protect themselves.
Council approves Industrial Emissions Directive (14/11/10)
The EU Council approved the new Industrial Emissions Directive on 8th November 2010. The Directive consolidates seven existing Directives related to industrial emissions into a single legislative instrument. Existing legislation impacted includes the IPPC Directive, the Large Combustion Plants Directive, the Waste Incineration Directive and the Solvents Directive.
It includes minimum provisions covering the inspection of industrial installations, the review of permits, reporting on compliance and the protection of soil.
It is further intended that the streamlining of permitting, reporting and monitoring requirements will simplify implementation, leading to a reduction in the administrative burden on both industry and regulators.
Emission limits for nitrogen oxides, sulphur dioxide and dust from power plants and large combustion installations are reduced. New plants must apply the cleanest available technology from 2012, four years earlier than initially proposed. Existing plants have to comply with this standard from 2016, though a transition period is foreseen. Member states may define transitional plans until June 2020 with declining annual caps for NOx, SO2 or dust emissions.
The Directive is expected to be published in the Official Journal before the end of 2010. Environet will provide comprehensive guides to the new Directive in our future news items.
Ireland fails to comply with IPPC Directive (3/12/10)
Ireland has been accused by the Commission of failing to meet the requirements of the IPPC Directive in relation to pig and poultry installations.
The EU Environment Commissioner, Janez Potocnik, recommended to the Commission that Ireland be issued with a ‘reasoned opinion' notice concerning the ongoing infringement.
It is alleged that Ireland has at least 26 pig and poultry rearing installations that do not have appropriate IPPC licenses for their operation.
Ireland has been given two months to comply with the legislation to the satisfaction of the Commission. If the Commission is not satisfied with the response they can refer the case back to the European Court of Justice and request financial penalties.
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