An Taisce yesterday appealed to An Bord Pleanála against the decision to grant planning permission for the ESB's proposed €200 million environmental clean-up of its Moneypoint coal-burning station. Gordon Deegan reports.
Last month, Clare County Council gave the ESB the go-ahead to commence works at the station in west Clare with a view to reducing emissions by 80 per cent by 2008.
The works are necessary to allow the station operate post 2008 by complying with a licence granted by the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) requiring pollution levels be drastically cut at the station, which supplies up to a quarter of the State's electricity.
Currently, 40,000 tonnes of sulphur dioxide (SO2) and 22,000 tonnes of nitrogen oxide are emitted through the two 715-high chimneys at Moneypoint into the atmosphere each year.
However, the process to reduce the SO2 and nitrogen oxide emissions by an overall 80 per cent is to result in an annual increase of 126,000 tonnes of greenhouses gas emissions at Moneypoint.
Already the 920MW station is Ireland's single largest contributor to greenhouse gas emissions with five million tonnes of CO2 released per annum.
In its appeal, An Taisce said that, in deciding to grant planning permission, the council failed to have regard to the provision of the strategy for fuel by switching the station to gas and to the quantification of the cost of emissions trading which would be required through continued and increased level of CO2 emissions from Moneypoint.
An Taisce's chairman, Mr Michael Smith, has described the council's decision as "driving a coach and horses through the specific commitments in the Government's climate change strategy".
In its appeal, An Taisce states that even after the reductions in emissions are made through the clean-up, nitrogen oxide and SO2 emission levels at Moneypoint would continue to represent a significant percentage of the national quota.
An Taisce says that a full environmental and economic analysis should be provided to determine the justification of this proposal.
However, An Taisce, lodging the appeal yesterday, provoked an angry local reaction - currently, half of the 376 people employed directly or indirectly at Moneypoint are from the Kilrush area, while Moneypoint is also the largest contributor to the county council's rates base, paying a total of €9.5 million last year.
A decision is due on the appeal early next year.