18 February 1999 Edition
Premier Periclase - who polices the polluter?
Roisín de Rossa and James Quirke report on alarm about pollution from a factory in Drogheda
There is environmental crisis brewing in Drogheda which does not appear to have any quick solution. The crisis concerns Cement Roadstone's plant above Drogheda, Premier Periclase, which local people fear is seriously polluting the atmosphere and sea.
``Most mornings we wake up to a cloud of white dust that rolls over the fields and local housing, leaving a dry white dust covering everything,'' says Sheila Martin, Secretary of the
Drogheda Cleaner Air Group, an umbrella group of different organisations all concerned about the factory's emissions.
Premier Periclase use a sintermagnesia process. They take magnesium out of the sea water (from the Boyne alongside) and using lime which it quarries five miles away at Mullaghcrone, produces a fine white power, which is processed, with the addition of chromium oxide, at very high temperatures of 2,300 degrees C into briquettes for use in steel plants.
The plant, which has been operating since 1972, employs 160 people.
Sulphuric and nitrous oxides billow out of the smoke stacks, whilst an amazingly large effluent of 190,000 cubic metres per day, very highly alkaline (pH 11) is discharged into the sea, a mile out from shore. Local divers have said the mouth of the pipe is regularly clogged with dead sea life.
The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) considered Premier's application for a licence to continue, and subject to 13 conditions, granted it just before Christmas.
Many local residents, and groups, including the Drogheda Clean Air Group, objected to the licence at the start of January. The EPA conditions were not sufficient, they said.
However, subsequently the Company itself brazenly objected to the conditions imposed by the EPA, which they say will cost in the region of £5 to £6 million, which they cannot afford.
Cement Roadstone Holdings, which owns Premier Periclase, had a great year last year. They made pre-tax profits of £253m. CRH is of course a multimillion pound company, which has enjoyed 80% of the Irish cement market in these great times for building materials.
In fact it's not the first time Premier Periclase has voiced objections. Cionnaith O'Heiligh, who is one of the main voices in the Drogheda Clean Air Group, and a Sinn Fein candidate, explains how three years ago the company had objected to the siting of 121 new houses near their factory, on grounds of health risk. ``Yet now, with Our Ladies College with 900 students just down the road, and the Grammar School just across the river, Premier is refusing to comply with the minimal conditions the EPA has imposed. It's unbelievable. What are the costs to our children's good health?'' Cionnaith asks.
Maeve Healey, who is assistant chairperson of the group, and a long time campaigner, points out that Drogheda already has registered the highest death rate in the country from respiratory
illnesses. ``The company tell us that chromium oxide is used in very small amounts and fully bound into the final product. But the company uses 258 tonnes of Chromium 3 Hydroxide every year, which is a substantial amount. Chromium Oxide is carcinogenic and causes respiratory disease. How do we know that its use in the factory has not contributed to the high cancer rates in Drogheda?'' asks Maeve.
The trouble is they don't know, and its costs a great deal of money to find out. The Drogheda Clean Air Group have sought advice from a marine biologist and a chemist and other specialists, but as Sheila Martin points out, how can we evaluate their results.
There were many objections to giving Premier a licence. The EPA lists them: fallout is affecting woodland, everything is smothered in smoke containing grit and dust, paint on cars is damaged, obnoxious and choking smells, white dust settles everywhere , the squirrels and birds in Beaulieu Wood are gone, there are dead fish at the end of the effluent sea pipe, and the mussel stocks in the Boyne Estuary may be affected. The EPA noted them, but did not say what was to be done about them.
``The real problem,'' says Sheila Martin, ``is with the EPA.'' The EPA had to adjudicate on Premier's objections to complying with the conditions the EPA laid down.
The standard practice of a company unwilling to spend money to clean up their process is to appeal to what is known as BATNEEC (Best Available Technology Not Entailing Excessive Cost). In practice this means ``everybody else does it, so why shouldn't we?''
Drogheda's sintermagnesia process is only used elsewhere in India and Australia. The EPA report points out that these plants don't have any other abatement technology to remove the nitrous oxides, so they conclude that present pollution control methods are BATNEEC for Drogheda, and therefore acceptable. In the absence of controlling legislation what is good enough for them is good enough for us.
Ireland at the moment is being prosecuted by the European Commission over its failure to implement laws aimed at reducing air pollution. Following a complaint from
Earthwatch, the EU claims that Irish law does not comply with a 1966 directive on monitoring air quality and imposing proper standards. The Department of Environment replies that they ``are nearly finished drafting them''. Meanwhile there is no independent standard which the EPA must impose.
``But,'' says Sheila, ``the problem doesn't end there. What really worries us is who is going to police Premier implementing the conditions which the EPA does finally imposes?'' Part of the
EPA licence conditions are that Premier should monitor their emissions themselves, and pay for it. ``What good is that?'' asks Sheila. ``Why, it's like Jesse James policing the banks.''
And worse - there isn't even a law to guide Jesse James in his police work.
There is environmental crisis brewing in Drogheda which does not appear to have any quick solution. The crisis concerns Cement Roadstone's plant above Drogheda, Premier Periclase, which local people fear is seriously polluting the atmosphere and sea.
``Most mornings we wake up to a cloud of white dust that rolls over the fields and local housing, leaving a dry white dust covering everything,'' says Sheila Martin, Secretary of the
Drogheda Cleaner Air Group, an umbrella group of different organisations all concerned about the factory's emissions.
Premier Periclase use a sintermagnesia process. They take magnesium out of the sea water (from the Boyne alongside) and using lime which it quarries five miles away at Mullaghcrone, produces a fine white power, which is processed, with the addition of chromium oxide, at very high temperatures of 2,300 degrees C into briquettes for use in steel plants.
The plant, which has been operating since 1972, employs 160 people.
Sulphuric and nitrous oxides billow out of the smoke stacks, whilst an amazingly large effluent of 190,000 cubic metres per day, very highly alkaline (pH 11) is discharged into the sea, a mile out from shore. Local divers have said the mouth of the pipe is regularly clogged with dead sea life.
The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) considered Premier's application for a licence to continue, and subject to 13 conditions, granted it just before Christmas.
Many local residents, and groups, including the Drogheda Clean Air Group, objected to the licence at the start of January. The EPA conditions were not sufficient, they said.
However, subsequently the Company itself brazenly objected to the conditions imposed by the EPA, which they say will cost in the region of £5 to £6 million, which they cannot afford.
Cement Roadstone Holdings, which owns Premier Periclase, had a great year last year. They made pre-tax profits of £253m. CRH is of course a multimillion pound company, which has enjoyed 80% of the Irish cement market in these great times for building materials.
In fact it's not the first time Premier Periclase has voiced objections. Cionnaith O'Heiligh, who is one of the main voices in the Drogheda Clean Air Group, and a Sinn Fein candidate, explains how three years ago the company had objected to the siting of 121 new houses near their factory, on grounds of health risk. ``Yet now, with Our Ladies College with 900 students just down the road, and the Grammar School just across the river, Premier is refusing to comply with the minimal conditions the EPA has imposed. It's unbelievable. What are the costs to our children's good health?'' Cionnaith asks.
Maeve Healey, who is assistant chairperson of the group, and a long time campaigner, points out that Drogheda already has registered the highest death rate in the country from respiratory
illnesses. ``The company tell us that chromium oxide is used in very small amounts and fully bound into the final product. But the company uses 258 tonnes of Chromium 3 Hydroxide every year, which is a substantial amount. Chromium Oxide is carcinogenic and causes respiratory disease. How do we know that its use in the factory has not contributed to the high cancer rates in Drogheda?'' asks Maeve.
The trouble is they don't know, and its costs a great deal of money to find out. The Drogheda Clean Air Group have sought advice from a marine biologist and a chemist and other specialists, but as Sheila Martin points out, how can we evaluate their results.
There were many objections to giving Premier a licence. The EPA lists them: fallout is affecting woodland, everything is smothered in smoke containing grit and dust, paint on cars is damaged, obnoxious and choking smells, white dust settles everywhere , the squirrels and birds in Beaulieu Wood are gone, there are dead fish at the end of the effluent sea pipe, and the mussel stocks in the Boyne Estuary may be affected. The EPA noted them, but did not say what was to be done about them.
``The real problem,'' says Sheila Martin, ``is with the EPA.'' The EPA had to adjudicate on Premier's objections to complying with the conditions the EPA laid down.
The standard practice of a company unwilling to spend money to clean up their process is to appeal to what is known as BATNEEC (Best Available Technology Not Entailing Excessive Cost). In practice this means ``everybody else does it, so why shouldn't we?''
Drogheda's sintermagnesia process is only used elsewhere in India and Australia. The EPA report points out that these plants don't have any other abatement technology to remove the nitrous oxides, so they conclude that present pollution control methods are BATNEEC for Drogheda, and therefore acceptable. In the absence of controlling legislation what is good enough for them is good enough for us.
Ireland at the moment is being prosecuted by the European Commission over its failure to implement laws aimed at reducing air pollution. Following a complaint from
Earthwatch, the EU claims that Irish law does not comply with a 1966 directive on monitoring air quality and imposing proper standards. The Department of Environment replies that they ``are nearly finished drafting them''. Meanwhile there is no independent standard which the EPA must impose.
``But,'' says Sheila, ``the problem doesn't end there. What really worries us is who is going to police Premier implementing the conditions which the EPA does finally imposes?'' Part of the
EPA licence conditions are that Premier should monitor their emissions themselves, and pay for it. ``What good is that?'' asks Sheila. ``Why, it's like Jesse James policing the banks.''
And worse - there isn't even a law to guide Jesse James in his police work.