Shut Cross-Contaminated Developer's Autocracy (DDDA)

KEEP OUT!
DEVELOPERS AUTOCRACY!

_____________________

Bradshaw Fits Patrick Fits Bradshaw.

• During the watch of the honourable Bradshaw and the honourable FitzPatrick the Dirty Dublin Developers Autocracy (DDDA) defined historic sections of Sandymount Strand and Ireland's national heritage as part of their docklands empire, signed off by Dick Roach, thus destroying James Joyce's elated moment on Sandymount Strand with his hand in his own pocket.
  

• The pair were also co-investors in a number of projects, including Fresh Mortgages, the Irish sub-prime lender that suspended its new loans in November. Most of their investments have not been publicised.

Their dual memberships of the Anglo and DDDA boards drew criticism from various quarters, given the bank’s involvement in funding projects in the area. In particular, the DDDA was a large investor along with Bernard McNamara and others in a vehicle called Becbay that paid €412 million to buy the former Irish Glass site in Ringsend. That transaction was funded by Anglo. Check it yourself

_____________________

Niamh Brennan Opinion: "Aithníonn ciaróg ciaróg eile"
Extracts

• Seán FitzPatrick and Lar Bradshaw were what is called, interlocking directors - Seán FitzPatrick served on the board of the Dublin Docklands Development Authority where Lar Bradshaw was chairman and vice versa.
  

However, the board expressed its "complete satisfaction" that the independence of the directors was not compromised, notwithstanding these three breaches of best practice standards.
...

In the final analysis, no laws, no rules, no regulations can prevent greedy, self-serving behaviour by company directors. All they can do is make such behaviour harder to engage in. Add to this, that greedy, self-serving people seek each other out. The old Irish phrase "Aithníonn ciaróg ciaróg eile" (one "beetle" recognises another) captures this aspect of corporate life beautifully. More at Irish Times.

Niamh Brennan is Michael MacCormac professor of management at University College Dublin, and is academic director of the Centre for Corporate Governance at UCD

http://www.irishtimes.com/newspaper/finance/2008/1220/1229725700373.html

____________

http://www.irishtimes.com/newspaper/finance/2008/1220/1229725700366_pf.html

Bradshaw quits as joint loan with FitzPatrick revealed

CIARÁN HANCOCK, Business Affairs Correspondent

Sat, Dec 20, 2008

SEÁN FITZPATRICK’S resignation from Anglo Irish Bank on Thursday grabbed all the headlines, but he wasn’t the only director to fall on his sword.

Former McKinsey Ireland chief Lar Bradshaw also took his leave after it emerged that he had taken out a joint loan with Mr FitzPatrick, which was temporarily transferred to Irish Nationwide Building Society before its September 30th year-end.

This had the effect of hiding the loan from shareholders in the bank’s annual report.

The size of this joint loan was not revealed and Mr FitzPatrick said Mr Bradshaw had “no knowledge” of the temporary transfer of the funds.

Born in Dublin in 1960, Bradshaw spent 20 years with the blue chip management consulting firm McKinsey, working overseas and latterly as managing director of its Irish operation, which he founded.

He holds a Master’s in Business Administration degree from IMD in Switzerland.

Records at the Companies Registration Office show that he holds 12 directorships here, although that included Anglo.

He is listed as executive chairman of Cove Capital.

Bradshaw and FitzPatrick not only served together on the board of Anglo, which Bradshaw joined in 2004 – they were also both board members of the Dublin Docklands Development Authority, which had a multi-billion budget to redevelop 1,300 acres in the faded docks area.

The pair were also co-investors in a number of projects, including Fresh Mortgages, the Irish sub-prime lender that suspended its new loans in November. Most of their investments have not been publicised.

It did emerge, however, that Bradshaw invested in the Derek Quinlan-led group that backed the Four Seasons Hotel in Dublin.

On May 3rd, 1997, Bradshaw was appointed as chairman of the fledgling DDDA by John Bruton’s coalition government, a position he held for 10 years. He was said at the time to have no political affiliations.

At the time of his appointment, The Irish Times quoted a source as saying that Bradshaw was chosen to head the DDDA because of his “relative youth, expertise and incredible vision”.

Their dual memberships of the Anglo and DDDA boards drew criticism from various quarters, given the bank’s involvement in funding projects in the area.

In particular, the DDDA was a large investor along with Bernard McNamara and others in a vehicle called Becbay that paid €412 million to buy the former Irish Glass site in Ringsend.

That transaction was funded by Anglo.

Small in stature, Bradshaw was described by one senior financier as a “good man for building relationships and making introductions, but not one for detailed negotiations”.

One source said he successfully built relationships with the existing local communities in the Docklands, who found their daily lives disrupted enormously by the major construction work that has taken place over the past decade.

“He was able to play the role of the ‘real Dub’ even though he was groomed by McKinsey,” said one source. “It was a neat trick.”

Following his resignation from Anglo, and the questions that remain about the circumstances of his joint loan, Bradshaw will need all of his skills of persuasion if he is to rebuild his reputation.

© 2008 The Irish Times

=====================

Saturday, December 20, 2008

Reputation of Ireland Inc is under spotlight after resignations

More in Irish Times »

• Regulator stumbled on loans during inspection of rival bank's books
• 'Board has accepted resignation with regret'
• Drumm follows chairman in leaving Anglo
• Irish Nationwide denies impropriety in repeated loans to FitzPatrick
• Resignations will not interrupt recapitalisation
• Shock in financial circles at how FitzPatrick could have hidden loans for eight years

OPINION: There are questions about the behaviour of Anglo's board and management, the auditors and the regulators, writes Niamh Brennan

THE REPUTATION of Ireland Inc is again under the spotlight with the resignation of Anglo Irish Bank's chairman Seán FitzPatrick, chief executive David Drumm and non-executive director Lar Bradshaw for their roles in hiding loans to Seán Fitzpatrick from shareholders.

Seán FitzPatrick's loan raises many questions. Will the borrowings be repaid? Were the borrowings used for legitimate purposes? Were the borrowings used to prop up Anglo's share price?

There are also questions about the behaviour of the board, the management of the bank, the auditors and the regulators.

The Stock Exchange's Combined Code on Corporate Governance is not mandatory. Non-compliance is permitted, provided it is explained. The Anglo Irish board availed of this comply-or-explain derogation in a number of ways.

For example, the board deviated from the combined code requirement that a former chief executive should not become chairman of the company. The combined code objective is that no one person in a company should dominate. This requirement is fundamental, and very few companies ignore it. By retaining his power in the company Mr FitzPatrick reduced the risk of his loans being disclosed.

Mr FitzPatrick served on the board since 1985, while another so-called independent director was appointed in 1988. Under the combined code nine years is the maximum period of service permitted for a non-executive director to be described as independent.

Seán FitzPatrick and Lar Bradshaw were what is called, interlocking directors - Seán FitzPatrick served on the board of the Dublin Docklands Development Authority where Lar Bradshaw was chairman and vice versa.

However, the board expressed its "complete satisfaction" that the independence of the directors was not compromised, notwithstanding these three breaches of best practice standards.

Management in the bank must have (or should have) known that the loans were to Mr FitzPatrick. Know-your-customer is a key requirement of money laundering regulations - that is why bank customers have to produce passports and utility bills when opening new bank accounts. Mr FitzPatrick must have had the assistance of one or more executives to move his borrowings to Irish Nationwide and back to Anglo Irish Bank each accounting year-end over an eight-year period.

This is bad for Ireland Inc. Everyone charged with the governance of public and public-interest companies has a duty to protect Ireland's reputation in world markets and confidence in its financial institutions for the good of all its citizens - none more than the financial regulator. It is, therefore, puzzling to learn that "warehousing" of Seán FitzPatricks borrowings in Irish Nationwide was discovered by financial regulator staff in January 2008, yet there was a delay of 11 months before a team of inspectors was sent to Anglo Irish Bank in early December 2008. Is this appropriately responsive to protect Ireland's reputation as a good place to do business?

Given that the office of the financial regulator knew about this transaction as far back as January 2008, why was it not raised during the all-night discussions in the Department of Finance in September prior to the introduction of the State guarantee scheme?

Another aspect I don't understand is why the financial regulator is reported as stating that it does not appear that anything illegal took place. Surely, at the very least, there is evidence of breach of the common law fiduciary duty for directors - that they do not put there own personal interests ahead of the company? Also, is not telling the truth in the financial statements an offence?

Seán Fitzpatrick has referred to Ireland's regulatory regime as "corporate McCarthyism". The New York Times dubbed Ireland "the wild west of European finance". Two very contrasting views!

In the golden days of the Celtic Tiger it was "light-touch regulation" all the way. But, are the risks associated with light-touch regulation justifiable? Does light-touch regulation safeguard the billions of funds invested in Ireland or will these funds be withdrawn to more reputable jurisdictions? Are the thousands of jobs in the financial services sector more secure by virtue of light-touch regulation? Are wealthy investors attracted to countries with a robust regulatory regime or with a light-touch regime?

In the final analysis, no laws, no rules, no regulations can prevent greedy, self-serving behaviour by company directors. All they can do is make such behaviour harder to engage in. Add to this, that greedy, self-serving people seek each other out. The old Irish phrase "Aithníonn ciaróg ciaróg eile" (one "beetle" recognises another) captures this aspect of corporate life beautifully.

Niamh Brennan is Michael MacCormac professor of management at University College Dublin, and is academic director of the Centre for Corporate Governance at UCD

This article appears in the print edition of the Irish Times

Bradshaw and FitzPatrick not only served together on the board of Anglo, which Bradshaw joined in 2004 – they were also both board members of the Dublin Docklands Developers Authority, which had a multi-billion budget to redevelop 1,300 acres in the faded docks area.

Anglo Irish Bank, Dublin Docklands Authority, Revolving Doors, DDDA

Part Two: DDDA, Anglo Irish Bank & Revolving Doors

Recommended by Professor Garelli: An awesome piece of perception management for international investors. It solves the corporate governance issue for Anglo Irish Bank and the DDDA. Why have two interlocked heads as chairmen of Anglo and of DDDA when you can economise with just one! Garelli's next World Competitiveness Survey will perhaps quantitise the damage done to Ireland Inc by one of his former MBA students, with patriotic parallels to George Bush MBA.

• Anglo Irish Bank has appointed director Donal O'Connor as the new chairman of the bank.
• Donal O'Connor is also chairman of the Dublin Docklands Development Authority.

No doubt this fixes the potential conflicts of interest and the revolving doors between the Dublin Developers Digout Autocracy and Anglo Irish. Perception is reality.

These potential conflicts will of course have nothing to do with honourable gentlemen recently resigning from both Anglo Irish Bank and also resigning from the obviously above-board DDDA. And the fact that Anglo's logo includes a pyramid has nothing whatsoever to do with Mr Ponzi and his schemes. And nothing to do with the Galway Tent's Great Celtic Tiger Pyramid Scheme of 2000 to 2008.

And nothing whatsoever to do with the huge hole DDDA-Becbay-Anglo is literally digging at the former IGB site in Ringsend where the added-value is now a negative €200 million to €300 million.

A year ago before the resignations, Senator Shane Ross reported:

April 29 2007

* Anglo Irish Bank chairman Sean FitzPatrick is on the board of the DDDA.
* DDDA chairman Lar Bradshaw is a board member of Anglo Irish Bank.
* DDDA owns 26 per cent of a company called Becbay.
* DDDA director Niamh O'Sullivan's day job is as a director of Arup Consulting.
* Mary Finan ... Bank of Ireland ... member of the DDDA council ... consultant to the DDDA

More: Part 1, ddda-anglo-irish-banks-revolving-doors.html

Pyramid Logo

_____________
ref:
A) http://www.independent.ie/business/irish/anglo-chief-quits-after-hiding-euro87m--bank-loans-1580513.html
B) Shane Ross: Sunday Independent, Wheels Within Wheels article.

Dublin Docklands Authority, Anglo Irish Bank, Revolving Doors,

EPA

EPA, Zell, Covanta Violations Lawsuits Fines Threats, Deadly Particles (PM2.5)

Stop Waste Incineration Petition to European Parliament

Read The Stop Waste Incineration Petition to European Parliament http://www.petitiononline.com/noburn08/
___________________________________________

Stop waste incineration

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View Current Signatures - Sign the Petition

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To: European Parliament

The European Parliament will vote on the proposal to reclassify incineration as waste recovery.
This will put burning of waste on the same level as recycling.

With this petition we invite You to read, and consider the following issues:


• In terms of pollution, even applying the better available technologies, waste incineration leave in the atmosphere a big deal of seriously health demaging substances like dioxins and microscopic (nano-) particles. Many of this polluters have certain carcinogenic and even genotoxic effects on populations. Other ones have been recognized recently and are still matter of studies in terms of health conditioning. It is not legal to fill European Countries and Citizens with elements we don't know the effect.

• Lots of scientists, doctors, associations and European Citizens have pronounced against the incineration and have asked the introduction of a moratorium in the building of new plants.

• “Waste-to-electricity” incinerators, on the other hand, produce more climate-damaging greenhouse gases than a traditional power station.

• In economical terms, the amount of energy needed to produce new materials is much higher than the one we obtain incinerating the garbage. Re-using them is most convenient in terms of energy saving.

• The material resources of the land are ending and, unfortunately, we are implied with their exhaustion. After incineration and landfilling we can not make remunerative use of them any more.

• Redefining incineration as recovery will encourage exports of hundreds of thousands of tons of waste from EU-15 to be burnt in incinerators in central and eastern European states. Some governments are for this very reason vocally opposing the Commission’s proposal.

• The recycling of one ton of municipal waste saves on average 0.8 tons of CO2-equivalent of greenhouse gases.

• Recycling creates many more jobs. Ironically, the Commission’s proposals argue that “recycling needs 10,000 tonnes of waste needs up to 250 jobs, compared with 20 to 40 jobs needed if the waste is incinerated and about 10 for landfill”.

• If incineration is classified as recovery, then there will be much less of an incentive for industry to innovate towards products that avoid waste or are recyclable.

• This will definitely not be in line with the Commission’s publicized will to promote Europe’s competitiveness and create new jobs.

• Investments in expensive and large-scale incinerators oblige towns and regions to provide huge amounts of waste for many years, so that the investment pays off. This blocks efforts to reduce or recycle waste.

Conclusion. The Commission’s proposals, as they stand, would perpetuate the unsustainable and inefficient approach to Europe’s waste problem for many years to come.
We do not need such an EU waste policy. We need an EU waste prevention and recycling policy that will maximize our resource efficiency and minimize our impacts on the climate.
We need a policy that would also protect our environment and leave more resources available for the rest of the world and the future generations.



For all those reasons (and many others), we ask that:


• Incineration must not be reclassified as recovery.

• Incineration and landfilling of all waste that can be reused, recycled or composted must be phased out.

• Effective measures for increased prevention and recycling of waste must be introduced.

• The EU must push manufacturers to make products more durable, more reusable and more recyclable.

• EU member states must maintain the prerogative to reject imports of waste for landfilling and incineration.

• EU structural and cohesion funds must be systematically focused on waste prevention, sorting and recycling.

Sincerely,

The Undersigned

View Current Signatures

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The Stop waste incineration Petition to European Parliament was created by Comitato per Taranto and written by Luigi Oliva (publuigi@gmail.com). This petition is hosted here at www.PetitionOnline.com as a public service. There is no endorsement of this petition, express or implied, by Artifice, Inc. or our sponsors. For technical support please use our simple Petition Help form.
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Deadly Particles (PM2.5), European Parliament, Lisbon Treaty, Poolbeg Incinerator, Dublin Bay Incinerator

Flying Pig At Poolbeg Incinerator.

BIFFO: Big Incinerator Fellow Feels Offal.

Link to Original Irish Times Cartoon

The flying pig says a “no effect level” has yet to be established for dioxins.

______________

There Is No Safe Level for Dioxins (US EPA, 2004).

In its 2004 revision about dioxins the United States Environmental Protection Agency states:

"For certain effects,
including subtle behavioral impacts,
a “no effect level” has yet to be established."

In plain English this conclusion by the United States Environmental Protection Agency translates into:

• There Is No Safe Level for Dioxins (US EPA, 2004).

________________

http://galwaytent.blogspot.com/2008/12/there-is-no-safe-level-for-dioxins-us.html

Fabrizia Owner Argues For Illegal Development?

Michael Collins, lawyer for NQI:

"It could not have been the legislature's intent that buildings half or fully built should be put at naught. If that was the case, no developer would "turn a sod" on the docklands."

Does this mean the Fabrizia owner has no problem with illegal development? Can legally built architectural masterpieces be removed on a whim? Can illegally built architectural masterpieces be removed on a whim? Can public land be illegally fenced off? Can public land bw legally fenced off? Can cement companies legally build outlaw causeways across beaches? Can public officials provision banks with private sports fields and transmagicaly sell the strand to Italian girl's names? All for less than you'd pay for a years chips at Borzas. Yes We Can! Yes We Can!

Why has Dublin Docklands Developers Authority (DDDA) not been shut down yet?

North Quay Investments Ltd (NQI) is apparently controlled by a builder named Liam Carroll who also appears to control a site on Sandymount Strand beside the foreshore referred to as 'Fabrizia'. Following recent court judgements NQI appears to have built an outlaw building on the north bank of the Liffey.

__________
The proposed chief tenant at the NQI site is bankruptcy-challenged Anglo-Irish Bank which favours removing financially effective preventative medical care from pensioners while from the other side of its synapse it begs for literally billions of cash support from taxpayers national pension funds, apparently.

The Fabrizia site is beside the IGB site in which DDDA is both speculator and planning authority, a site which is now stress-testing Anglo-Irish Bank to the tune of say €288 million in vaporised market value, not to mention shady dealings, in the Google Sketchup sense of course.

Galway Tent Blog - Visitor Map

December 12, 2008

Covanta Fined Again Over Dioxins! (2008)

Covanta of New Jersey, contracted by Dublin City Council for the proposed Waste-To-Toxins incinerator at Poolbeg, has exceeded allowable emission rate for dioxins and furans at it's incinerator in Pittsfield by nearly 350%.

- Massachusetts Department of Environmental Protection.


September 2008

Head back to your rashers if you trust BIFFO and Ireland's utterly compromised EPA to protect you from Dioxins. By the way, it's Ireland's Environment Minister's Green Party who said EPA-Ireland is utterly compromised.

The dedicated and honest taxpayer-funded employees at Dublin City Council have a secret contract with Covanta for the proposed Waste-To-Toxins incinerator at Poolbeg. Covanta also apparently seeks to prevent its workers from educating the public about its waste-to-toxins incinerators. DCC's democratically-challenged apparatchiks are more flexible than communist American workers. Why? Revolving doors? Citizenship?

_________

In September 2008, the Massachusetts Department of Environmental Protection cited Covanta Energy for illegal emissions of toxic air pollutants at two different waste incinerators the company operates in the state.

Dioxin

On September 26, 2008, the DEP issued an administrative consent order finding

• Covanta had exceeded the allowable emission rate for dioxins and furans at its incinerator in Pittsfield by nearly 350%,

according to stack tests conducted at the facility in November and December 2007.

The order also cited the Pittsfield facility for failing to report to the DEP other violations of its air quality permit occurring in January, February, and March 2008.

The DEP order fined Covanta $7,653.

• On the same day, the DEP issued a notice of noncompliance for toxic air emissions at Covanta’s Springfield facility in Agawam. (Where was Homer?).
  

The state cited two instances of excessive emissions of sulfur dioxide and one instance of excessive nitrogen oxides, all occurring during July 2008.

• The DEP also found that Covanta had illegally failed to report these excess emissions to the state.
  

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency classifies dioxins and furans as probable human carcinogens. Long-term exposure has been linked to impairment of the immune system, the
developing nervous system, the endocrine system, and reproductive functions. Chronic exposure to sulfur dioxide or nitrogen oxides can cause respiratory disease and premature death, and can aggravate existing heart disease.

For more information concerning these events, please consider using Skype to contact Covanta at
+1-973/882-7277 (phone) or
+1-973/882-7276 (fax).

Poolbeg incinerator, covanta, dioxin

Does Covanta Have Something To Hide?

http://www.cjcw.org/notice/Covanta_Ireland_open_letter_10-08.pdf

Extracts from Open Letter to Members of Irish Trade Unions, Community Activists, and Public Officials Concerning Covanta Energy

In May 2008, employees at Covanta’s incinerator in Rochester, Massachusetts voted in a government supervised election for representation by our union. Since that election, management has frustrated meaningful bargaining by proposing numerous intolerable contract demands, including:

• A rule broadly forbidding employees from providing “information” about the Company to “media representatives, governmental officials or other person,” including any “external attorney” or “investigator,” without management’s prior approval.

• We believe these policies improperly coerce workers from speaking out against any concerns they may have about ... the company’s operations.

___________
Thank you for your support, and please contact us for more information about Covanta Energy.

Campaign for Justice for Covanta Workers × 120 Bay State Drive × Braintree, Mass., USA 02184 www.cjcw.org × info@cjcw.org × 781.848.3740 (ph) × 781.848.4108 (fx) × October 2008

________________________

Connolly Letter to Tony Orlando

Tony Orlando is not to be confused in any way with Tony Soprano, another New Jersey waste business operator.

poolbeg incinerator, waste-to-toxins, energy answers, covanta, big lie.

Covanta Fined for Toxic Nickel Emissions

This is Tony The Nano Rat.
Tony's Cancer Took Just Six Months to Develop.

________________

Image: A Public Service
· Campaign for Justice for Covanta Workers
· www.cjcw.org

October 20, 2008
Pennsylvania Fines Covanta $45,600 for Toxic Nickel Emissions.

In a “Consent Assessment of Civil Penalty” issued by the Department on October 20, 2008, Covanta admitted that its conduct violated the state Air Pollution Control Act and agreed to pay the fine.

Nickel compounds are known human carcinogens, according to the International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC). Noncancer effects of nickel compounds can include chronic bronchitis and reduced lung function in persons who have breathed high levels.


For more information concerning these events, please consider contacting Covanta at +1-973/882-7277 (ph.) or +1-973/882-7276 (fax).

Poolbeg incinerator, covanta, dioxin

Waste-To-Toxins Employee Of The Month

Employee Of The Month

Employee of the Month Tony Orlando, with Sam Zell.

The fines of a few thousand dollars paid by Covanta for Dioxin pollution are so derisory they don't even qualify as a normal business risk.

Sam Zell owns about $666 million in Covanta stock. Billionaire mogul Zell sold his massive residential and commercial real estate empire in 2007 for $39 billion, or $39,000,000,000. Zell's worker, CEO Tony Orlando, was paid just under three million dollars in the year after all Covanta incinerators in New Jersey were fined for dioxin pollution. Covanta has a secret contract to run the Poolbeg Waste-To-Toxins incinerator.

Honest 19th Century Solutions

There Is No Safe Level for Dioxins

There Is No Safe Level for Dioxins.

• For certain effects, including subtle behavioral impacts, a “no effect level” has yet to be established. In plain English this epa-speak translates into: There Is No Safe Level for Dioxins.

• Levels where effects are detectable in humans is considerably smaller than previously estimated before 2004. In plain English this epa-speak translates into: The EPA is saying that current legal standards for 'safe dioxins' are a farce, and the measurements are far too expensive so they are not done except for political spin.

• Several factors suggest a need to further evaluate the impact of these chemicals on humans at or near current background levels. In plain English this epa-speak translates into: George Bush's EPA Directors have told the EPA Scientists to shut up or be fired.

Dioxin Effects in Human Populations

Any increase in dioxins will make people sick.

EPA estimates that the amount of dioxin found in the tissues of the general human population closely approaches the levels at which adverse effects might be expected to occur.

The Cancer Risk Is Now Ten Times Higher!

• This range for cancer risk indicates an about 10-fold higher chance than estimated in EPA’s earlier (1994) draft of this reassessment.

Children and Other Groups of Concern

Fetuses, infants, and children may be more sensitive to dioxin exposure because of their rapid growth and development. It is not known if the children in the general population are experiencing adverse effects from dioxin.

____________

United States Environmental Protection Agency Information Sheet 2: Dioxin Reassessment, Scientific Highlights (2004):

Information Sheet 2: Dioxin Reassessment, Scientific Highlights, Page 4.

_________

United States Environmental Protection Agency Information Sheet 1: Summary of the Dioxin Reassessment, (2004):

EPA CONTACT:

Linda C. Tuxen, NCEA, ORD (8601D), Washington, DC 20460

E-Mail:tuxen.linda@epa.gov Tel: 202-564-3332; FAX: 202-565-0090

_______________
Be aware that the Bush Administration has fired EPA personnel for being honest - so expect obfuscation in EPA reports. The incineration industry in the USA and in Ireland, including Covanta (USA, Poolbeg & Rathcoole), has hired senior US and Irish EPA employees, so it’s quite possible both the US EPA and the Irish EPA are compromised.

There is a possibility that EPA-Ireland is totally honest and is not utterly compromised as stated by the Green Party of Ireland's Environment Minister. It is also possible the revolving doors at director level between EPA-Ireland, Indaver, Covanta/Energy Answers and “Independent Consultants” have no effect whatsoever. However for the flying pigs transporting dioxins a “no effect level” has yet to be established.

__________

CAUTION: The text is edited for clarity. Interpretations are in blue text. Edited EPA text is in black. See this URL for the original EPA reports. http://oaspub.epa.gov/eims/eimscomm.getfile?p_download_id=435880

Poolbeg incinerator, covanta, dioxin

Switch Your Bins To Panda

• Dun Laoghaire-Rathdown County Council deployed 20 staff from its household waste collection unit last week in a bid to address a €10 million hole in the authority’s finances after the desertion of more than half (32,000) of its customer base in the 20 months up to October.
• Industry sources believe a recent High Court action taken by the waste companies Greenstar and Panda raises questions about the incinerator’s viability.
• Don't feed the worms at Dublin City Council.
  

__________________________________


Waste shortfall puts pressure on Poolbeg plan

07 December 2008

http://www.thepost.ie/post/text/story.asp?document_id=38107&category_name=&version=print

Penalties apply if Dun LaoghaireRathdown does not supply enough waste for the incinerator, write Niamh Connolly and John Burke.

One of the four councils expected to supply waste to the planned Poolbeg incinerator may fail to meet its commitment, raising questions over the viability of the waste-to-energy project.

Dun Laoghaire-Rathdown County Council (DLRCC) mayor, Cllr Tom Joyce, told The Sunday Business Post that the local authority might incur penalties for failing to supply enough waste to the incinerator, which was last week granted a licence by the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA).

Dublin City Council signed a contract in September 2007 with the joint US/Danish consortium - Dublin Waste to Energy Ltd - to design, build, finance and operate the Poolbeg plant. Dublin City Council coordinates the Dublin waste strategy on behalf of the capital’s four local authorities.

The four councils have under taken to supply over 300,000 tonnes of waste to the incinerator annually, as part of the deal, which is a key element of the Dublin waste management strategy. But the amount of waste being collected by DLRCC has fallen dramatically since the agreement was signed.

The authority deployed 20 staff from its household waste collection unit last week in a bid to address a €10 million hole in the authority’s finances after the desertion of more than half (32,000) of its customer base in the 20 months up to October. DLRCC’s tonnage of ‘black bin’ waste fell from 65,000 to 18,000 in the period.

In a briefing to councillors in October, Dun Laoghaire council manager Owen Keegan said the authority was likely to review its continued participation in the capital’s waste plan, due to financial concerns. A spokesman for the council said last week that no such review was under way.

‘‘The amount of waste being collected by us is considerably less now that the amount we were originally supposed to contribute, and it’s lessening by the day,” Joyce said. ‘‘We will have to take a look at whether it is in our interest to remain in the Dublin waste plan,” the Fine Gael councillor said.

A key ‘put or pay’ clause in the September 2007 deal requires the councils to guarantee the waste annually, or make loss-of-profit payments to the consortium behind the Poolbeg incinerator.

Meanwhile, British-based waste incineration company Covanta said it was prepared to start construction on the €250 million Poolbeg plant early in the new year. [galwaytent edit: Covanta is not British based. Covanta is based in New Jersey; its Irish operations at Poolbeg and at Rathcoole are firewalled in the Virgin Islands and in Luxembourg]

The company said conditions attached to the licence issued by the EPA had not yet been calculated, but ‘‘will not make the plant financially unviable’’.

Covanta is now reading through the 200 conditions to work out the implications; a spokesman said work was due to start on the plant ‘‘during the first quarter of 2009’’.

‘‘On first read, Covanta is confident it can meet all these conditions. Like the EPA, it too wants to ensure the plant operates safely and legally. We also welcome the condition to liaise extensively with the local community,” the company said.

Asked about industry speculation that the plant could be unviable due to changing economic conditions and waste management practices, he said: ‘‘There is no question of scaling down, withdrawing or slowing down - there is no hesitation with the incinerator for Poolbeg.”

Nonetheless, industry sources believe a recent High Court action taken by the waste companies Greenstar and Panda raises questions about the incinerator’s viability.

Thetwo companies are challenging Dublin City Council’s attempts to ensure that collection is carried out by the council or a collector under the council’s control.

Dublin City Council said last week that it did not anticipate work on the incinerator would start until the second half of next year.

Fianna Fail backs the incinerator, but Green Party deputy Ciaran Cuffe criticised the move by council officials to sign the contract. He accused them of pre-empting a decision on the Poolbeg incinerator by making financial commitments before approval for the plant had been granted.

The 600,000-tonne incinerator needs waste from the four regional authorities, Dublin City Council, South Dublin Council, Dun Laoghaire Rathdown and Fingal, to ensure cost efficiency. Panda, which operates in the east from Dundalk to Dun Laoghaire, has just signed a contract to build the largest recycling facility in Ireland, in a move that raises further questions about the capacity of the incinerator.

The €3.25 million warehouse at Beauparc, Co Meath, would increase Panda’s ability to achieve up to 90 per cent recycling of all the waste it handles, according to the company’s general manager, Brian McCabe.

Minister for the Environment John Gormley came under fire last week over his failure to take action to prevent the incinerator in his own Dublin South East constituency.

The controversy could damage Gormley’s electoral prospects next time around, on the basis that he has opposed the project for the past ten years, but stands accused of being ‘‘ineffectual’’ in government.

Gormley was one of more than 2,000 individuals and environmental groups that lodged objections to the incinerator with An Bord Pleanala in October.

While Gormley insists that his ministerial powers do not allow him to interfere with the process, the Labour Party’s Ruairi Quinn said the minister had been told last summer that it was legally possible to seek a review by Dublin City Council of its waste management plan.

The Labour Party wants to pursue a judicial review of the plan.

Quinn said Labour’s legal counsel, Finbarr O’Malley, had advised that the Waste Management Act, 1996, section 24c, allowed the minister to intervene using this mechanism.

Such a review would reveal that the capacity of the incinerator ‘‘was excessive, because the evidence pointed in the direction that there would be less to incinerate than the amount and the scale of the plant in Ringsend [would allow],” said Quinn.

Gormley last week warned Dublin City Council that it would be ‘‘unwise’’ to proceed with the project, and he is taking policy steps to ensure that the incinerator is not economically viable by promoting mechanical and biological waste treatment and imposing levies on landfill and incineration.

Despite the speculation, a statement from DLRCC said: ‘‘Given the fact that Dun LaoghaireRathdown is part of the regional waste management strategy, the direct answer is that we will cooperate with our partners in Dublin City, South Dublin and Fingal County Council, as agreed, on all matters related to waste management.”

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© Thomas Crosbie Media, 2008

Covanta Violations Lawsuits Fines Threats, Dublin Bay Incinerator, Poolbeg Incinerator, Money, Panda,

Bankruptcy At Incinerator Related Company?

Samuel Zell is the billionaire 'boss-man' at Covanta, the honest outfit from New Jersey trying to build waste-to-toxins incinerators at Poolbeg and at Rathcoole. Using high levels of debt Mr Zell bought influential US newspapers such as The LA Times and The Chicago Tribune. The newsrooms are being decimated as journalists are fired.
On 29-Feb-08, Zell's Shareholding in Covanta was worth $666 million.

Dublin City Council has a secret contract with Covanta which will apparently supply guaranteed cash-flow to Covanta for 25 years. Covanta has a record of breaking US laws relating to dioxins, and six thousand other violations, allegedly. In addition to the unknown liability from the secret contract, taxpayers can expect to pay an additional €25 million to €75 million in CO2 penalties, each year.

The additional financial liability for Tobacco and Asbestos style lawsuits caused by deadly particle pollution is also unknown. Estimates by British Society for Ecological Medicine using World Health Organisation Air Quality Guidelines indicate the Dublin Bay Incinerator at Poolbeg would cost at least 100,000 man-years of life over 15 years. Each life is valued at about $8 million by the US government's EPA, so this liability from particle pollution could exceed $683 million each year.

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Chicago Tribune Hires Advisers to Help Stave Off Bankruptcy

Tribune has hired bankruptcy advisers as the ailing newspaper company faces a potential bankruptcy filing, people briefed on the matter said.

The newspaper, which was taken private last year by billionaire investor Samuel Zell, has hired advisers including Lazard and Sidley Austin, one of its longtime law firms, these people said. Tribune has been hobbled by debt related to that sale last year, which has been compounded by the growing drought of advertising for newspapers.

It is only the latest — and biggest — sign of duress for the newspaper industry yet. Several newspaper companies have struggled to cope with declining revenues and mounting debt woes. Tribune has pared back the newsrooms of many of its papers, including The Chicago Tribune, The Los Angeles Times and The Baltimore Sun, and it sold off Newsday to Cablevision’s Dolan family earlier this year.

While Tribune must contend with hefty interest payments over the next year, its most pressing problem is a maintenance covenant on some of its debt that limits the company’s borrowings to no more than nine times earnings before interest, depreciation and amortization.

Even if the company continues to make interest payments, failure to maintain that level of debt means technical default — which does not always lead to a bankruptcy filing. Other newspaper publishers have halted making interest payments on their debt, but have yet to file.

Tribune has sought to ameliorate its woes by selling off assets like the Chicago Cubs, the company still faces a looming debt crunch. Tribune hired Lazard several weeks ago to assess its options, these people said. Sidley Austin is a longtime outside adviser to Tribune, and it has a well-respected bankruptcy practice as well.

–Michael J. de la Merced, Richard Pérez-Peña and Andrew Ross Sorkin

Zell, Covanta Violations Lawsuits Fines Threats, Poolbeg Incinerator, Dublin Bay Incinerator, Dioxins

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Covanta is run by Tony Orlando under direction of Property Billionaire Sam Zell and has it's HQ in NJ, The Garbage State famous for it's cement and waste earners. In 2006 Covanta was reportedly fined for violations at ALL three of its waste-to-toxics plants in the state. Some time before that the Ogden organisation which morfed into Covanta was fined for six thousand violations within a two year period. In 2007, immediatey following the fines for threatening peoples' health with dioxins, Tony was awarded at least $2,872,175 in official compensation.

When they pump out dioxins over their own heads in New Jersey why would they not do the same overseas in Dublin?

EPA: Mary Kelly - Head of EPA should resign.

"Dr. Kelly’s remarks are grossly partial toward the incineration industry and appear to be more helpful toward meeting their commercial needs rather than upholding proper environmental standard." Green Party (2003).

• Dr Mary Kelly's first day in 1995 at industry lobby group IBEC started with a breakfast meeting in the Environment Minister’s office.
• Her appointment by the Environment Minister to the EPA job in May 2002 led to criticism from environmental campaigners who described her as a poacher turned gamekeeper.
• 2003: Asked to resign because of grossly partial pro-incineration stance.
  

The incineration industry in the USA and in Ireland, including Covanta (USA, Poolbeg-Luxembourg & Rathcoole-Virgin-Islands), has hired former senior US and Irish EPA employees, so it’s quite possible both the US EPA and the Irish EPA are compromised.

There is a possibility that EPA-Ireland is totally honest and is not utterly compromised as stated by the Green Party of Ireland's Environment Minister. It is also possible the revolving doors at director level between EPA-Ireland, the IBEC Lobby, Indaver, Covanta-Poolbeg, Covanta/Energy Answers and “Independent Consultants” have no effect whatsoever.

The Green Party has called for her resignation over remarks about the development of incineration in Ireland (26^th August 2003):

Head of EPA should resign Following remarks that incinerators will be built throughout Ireland

The Green Party has called on Dr. Mary Kelly, Director General of the Environmental Protection Agency, to consider her resignation following remarks made by her in a newspaper article that domestic incinerators would be built throughout Ireland.

Green Party Cork South Central TD, Mr. Dan Boyle, in whose constituency it is proposed to locate a national toxic waste incinerator at Ringaskiddy, called for Dr. Kelly’s resignation today in the light of her comments that Ireland would get incinerators.

'Dr. Kelly’s comments are a resigning matter because they call into question the supposed impartial role of the EPA in assessing whether such incinerators should be allowed. Dr. Kelly’s remarks are grossly partial toward the incineration industry and appear to be more helpful toward meeting their commercial needs rather than upholding proper environmental standard,'.

Mr. Boyle said that the role of the EPA should be to make environmental needs paramount. “In her comments as Director General, Dr. Kelly has compromised that role and has undermined public confidence in the processes the EPA is involved in.'

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Footnote - The EPA In Practice:
The Environmental Protection Agency is guilty of gross negligence in the exercise of its duty of care to our Community. The EPA appear unwilling or unable to enforce the conditions of this licence. The EPA has on file at least 1,300 complaints.

Green Party: We also demand that the EPA do their job and Mary Kelly finally meets us face to face to account for her total failure to enforce the Waste Licence.