Covanta Buying Incinerator Politicians in Maryland

Buying Influence in Maryland.
Covanta and buddy-company Energy Answers International are legally giving money to Maryland Governor O'Malley in return for permitting a new incinerator.  Just $46,000 is cheap for a $300 million project and they don't even need to pay-to-play the US Ambassador.  For more read The Washington Examiner.


Buying Influence in Ireland.
One of Fine Gael's Galway Tents is pitched at the K Club where its reported FG legally obtained cash from Covanta prior to the 2011 general election.  Don't ask local TDs where the cash comes from for holidays in San Francisco billed as Silicon Valley learning expeditions for the good of The Irish People.  


In 2012 it's expected FG's Hogan will re-write Irish laws to create "certainty" for Covanta's bankers to finance about €300 million for the proposed Poolbeg Incinerator.  In the meantime Covanta is increasing the cash it's returning to Covanta shareholders ($300 million).  Anglo Irish Bank is an example of the certainty created by Ireland's inbred crony cartel.  


Incineration Promoters Use EPA, Bord Pleanala & Engineers Ireland Brand.
Similar to the fired Financial Regulator the directors in these organisations seem to treat their professional employees or members as compliant jackasses.


Labelled as 'consulting', Energy Answers International has paid the former director of EPA-Ireland to spin for it in Ireland.  One trick is to covertly hijack  the Engineers Ireland brand in a report designed by a PR company to create cover for dodgy politicians.  Unsurprisingly  "ex" incinerator industry employees have been stuffed onto the decision making boards of both EPA-Ireland and An Bord Pleanála where professionally qualified inspectors get over-ruled.  


Without any repercussions at least one DCC technocrat has told lies to mislead the public on the Poolbeg Incinerator - google McKechnie's judgement concerning "massaged" reports from DCC/RPS.  The President of Engineers Ireland is from RPS and promotes incineration for DCC.  The prior President of Engineers Ireland claimed not to see an ethics conflict in the covert exploitation by the incineration industry of Engineers Ireland.  The esteemed EI President now plans a media campaign to build the Engineers Ireland brand.  The official marcom project brief will exclude any massaged thoughts about indirectly benefiting the covert promotion of incineration or RPS or DCC.

__________________

Extract from Washington Examiner

Another major contributor to Maryland officials has been Energy Answers International, a New York company that is planning to build a controversial [incinerator] waste-burning power plant in Baltimore.

In June 2009, the company applied for a license to build the plant. Over the next two years, Energy Answers, Chief Executive Officer Patrick Mahoney and owner Covanta Energy gave roughly $30,000to the [state Governor] O'Malley administration and Baltimore Mayor Stephanie Rawlings-Blake.

O'Malley in October 2010 praised the planned plant as a national model for green energy. Ten days later, the companies heaped $16,000 on him and Lt. Gov. Anthony Brown through campaign donations.

-By: Hayley Peterson | 09/29/2011 
Examiner Staff Writer

Read more at the Washington Examiner: http://washingtonexaminer.com/local/2011/09/energy-companies-contribute-thousands-maryland-democrats?page=0%2C0%2C0%2C1#ixzz1ZjS7qT9O

Read more at the Washington Examiner: http://washingtonexaminer.com/local/2011/09/energy-companies-contribute-thousands-maryland-democrats?page=0%2C0%2C0%2C1#ixzz1ZjCtiY2G


________
Watch The Wire to get "a taste" for the integrity of Maryland and Baltimore politicians and The Sopranos for a look at New Jersey waste-industry entrepreneurs.

Mary Kelly: Bord Pleanala Appointed Irelands Finest

Ireland's financial regulator shows the damage done to Ireland by the inbred crony cartel.  Has England's RPS covertly hijacked Engineers Ireland reputation to publish one-sided bias on incineration?  Has DCC paid ESRI to spin one-sided bias on incineration?  Are Bórd Pleanála and EPA in the same camp?  

 EPA & Bord Pleanala's "Utterly Compromised" Kelly?

In June 2011, Mary Kelly was appointed as chairman of An Bord Pleanála.   She comes from the apparently highly dysfunctional EPA which approved the proposed Poolbeg Incinerator in 2007 just a few days after Bord Pleanala, by black magic, and before the EPA Hearings in 2008!  As there is no question of brown envelopes why was this done?


Kelly was appointed under the watch of Fianna Gael's TD Hogan.  Hogan's FG is reported to have received cash from the New Jersey lawbreaker contracted by Dublin City Council for the proposed Poolbeg Incinerator.  This cash greatly helped FG to win control of Dáil Éireann.


Bord Pleanala (BP) already has an "ex" employee from the English consulting outfit RPS on its Board.  In 2007 the board over-ruled the BP inspector.  




___________

Village Magazine (January 2011)

The Green Party spent its years in opposition hammering the Agency, its activities, its Directors, and its Director-General, Mary Kelly.

Mary Kelly is a former Assistant Director, with responsibility for environmental policy, of the employers’ group, IBEC.  She was reappointed Director-General this year in spite of the Green Party’s opposition to the initial appointment which was said to have come following an interview process which attracted an unusually low average calibre of applicant. At the time, Trevor Sargent publicly suggested that the appointment “utterly compromised” the EPA as she was “too close to businesses”. In a telling insight into the power of the Greens in Government, it’s said that the Greens approved the reappointment because they were afraid that someone worse would otherwise be selected.

IRELAND: Unacceptable Influence in Poolbeg Incinerator Process

An Bord Pleanála Directorate?

EPA Directorate?

ESRI Directorate?

__________________________

Who appointed directorate level employees to An Bord Pleanála, EPA, ESRI, RTE and others between 1995 and 2010? 

Board of Bord Pleanála

RPS represents Dublin City Council's incinerator team and has a "former" RPS employee on the Board of Bord Pleanála.  Apparently RPS received the majority of €25 Million in 'consultancy fees' from Dublin City Council, with DCC apparently controlled by The Galway Tent.

EPA Ireland

EPA's "independent" Board contains a former industry employee (Burke of Indaver), a situation condemned by The Green Party in 2005.  An ex-EPA Director has worked to promote the Poolbeg Incinerator and the failed West Dublin Incinerator.

 

ESRI

DUBLIN CITY Council paid almost €125,000 for a February 2010 Economic and Social Research Institute report.  This report was published in Dublin on the day of a Covanta media event in Dublin - purely a coincidence says the ESRI's report writer.

CBRE

In April 2007, CBRE's Director of Research made a curious presentation to the Poolbeg Incinerator Oral Hearing, under the influence of DCC.   Was the Bord Pleanála Inspector fully informed?   Was this an early indicator for Judge McKechnie's unapproved judgement?

RTE

"Artistic images" of the incinerator are widely used by RTE.  Do these images truly and fully honestly inform?  Do they come directly from the incinerator promoters?  Has RTE fully informed the public?

Irish Times

Does the Irish Times provide robust critical insight to the talking points it receives from Dublin City Council?   Has The Irish Times declared the sums in advertising revenue which it has received from RPS and Dublin Council over the past ten years?  Has The Irish Times investigated and reported the history of Covanta's contracts and Covanta's history of fines for the management of its modern incinerators?  Has The Irish Times investigated the Poolbeg Incinerator process, a process supposedly carried out in the public interest? 

Unacceptable Influence

"Massaging of reports by Matt Twomey, which were later, in their edited versions, released publicly, is a strong indicator to me of unacceptable influence in a process supposedly carried out in the public interest."  Judge McKechnie said in his unapproved judgment.  [Sunday Business Post]

DDDA Directors, Fools or Crooks? There isn’t anything in between.

‘You have to make a choice. Did you not know what was going on? If you didn’t, you must ask yourself, are you a competent director? And if you did know, you were complicit in recklessness and fraud. So which is it? Because there isn’t anything in between’.

- Comment on Ireland's cronies by Niall Fitzgerald, a former chief executive of Unilever and a 1990s non-executive director of Bank of Ireland.

 

This question applies to all people involved at DDDA and to their masters at Anglo-Irish Bank.  It also applies to The Hierarchy at Dublin City Council's Incinerator Op., EPA, Bord Pleanala and so on.

 

POSTCARD FROM BANAMA REPUBLIC OF POOLBEG

_________________________________

FINTAN O'TOOLE's article is here.

_________________________________

DDDA Social Investment Disaster

Call for Dublin Docklands board to state Ringsend losses

http://www.irishtimes.com/newspaper/ireland/2009/0810/1224252313813_pf.html

STEPHEN COLLINS

Mon, Aug 10, 2009

THE DUBLIN Docklands Development Authority (DDDA) should disclose just how much it has lost on its property investment at Ringsend in Dublin, according to Fine Gael spokesman on the Environment, Phil Hogan TD.

He said documents received by Fine Gael showed the DDDA pumped more money into the former Irish Glass Bottle site, located in Minister for the Environment John Gormley’s constituency, as it needed serious and large-scale clean-up work to render it safe and environmentally clean.

“The much-needed social redevelopment of the docklands area is now in danger of falling by the wayside, following a series of ill-judged property investment decisions by the DDDA,” said Mr Hogan.

He added that the documents he had obtained through the Freedom of Information Act showed the authority and its partners had grossly underestimated the scale of remediation work needed at the Ringsend site. As a result, he said, the board of the Dublin Docklands Development authority had to sanction funds to plough into the site that could have been used for much-needed urban regeneration.

“The latest move by the authority’s holding company, Becbay, to apply to the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), to remove its Integrated Pollution Prevention Control licence (IPPC), also raises the question as to whether or not the necessary remediation work has been completed to a safe standard.

“I recently wrote to the authority’s new chairperson, Prof Niamh Brennan, seeking a response on these issues, including the exact cost to date of the clean-up operation at Ringsend.

“I am also seeking to find out exactly what financial restructuring has taken place within the DDDA to ensure the questionable decisions that have been made are explained and that serious financial mistakes are not repeated,” said Mr Hogan.

© 2009 The Irish Times

EU Wonders Were Poolbeg Incinerator Hearings a Sham?

The Green-FF government does not care the Poolbeg Incinerator hearings were a political sham - they themselves and their €200,000 pensions come first. To divert the public during the elections perhaps it'd be a great idea to issue a report on 60 years of child abuse wherein the judiciary allegedly frustrated police investigations and the Pope threatened President Bertie (Parish of Boston-not-Berlin, says hello).

Guess why Ireland is ranked worse than China and Ghana for legal corruption by the World Bank. Is Poolbeg a good location to research legal corruption?

The Poolbeg Incinerator Hearings at Board Pleanala and at EPA-Ireland were apparently decided by unseen politicians above the heads of the professionals in those organisations. The boards appear to be loaded with either incinerator-industry-insiders or political-crony appointees. A fewyears ago John Gormley condemned EPA's director but now he's in charge he has done nothing about her.

Good science and the public good appear to have been ignored by the bosses of the regulators. Political cronyism at the banks, the alleged financial regulators and the building-industry have near-bankrupted the economy. Political cronyism operating on or in the other alleged regulators, EPA and Bord Pleanala, combined with an offshore-based waste-to-toxins incineration industry may shorten lives by up to two years across Dublin.

In the following diplomatic language the EU Commission seems to say the Poolbeg Incinerator Hearings were a sham:

‘Because of weaknesses in Irish legislation
splitting decision-making between planning authorities
and the
Environmental Protection Agency,
there are risks that outcomes required by the
EU directive will not always be achieved.’

With elections coming up Green-FF is spinning that the offshore operators have no money. Covanta-Poolbeg is based in Luxembourg. There are lots of offshored-banks in Luxembourg, almost nothing else. And Covanta has lots of money.

______________

EU takes legal action over planned Poolbeg incinerator (19/3/09)

http://eurolinknews.com/2009/03/19/eu-takes-legal-action-over-planned-poolbeg-incinerator-19309/.

March 19, 2009 eurolinknews.com

The proposed waste incinerator at Poolbeg is the subject of fresh controversy this week after it emerged that the EU has lodged legal proceedings against the Irish government over its handling of incinerator projects. EU Environment Commissioner Stavros Dimas has confirmed that Ireland was referred to the European Court of Justice in the last few weeks after it failed to respond to a final warning over alleged breaches of EU law. A statement issued by the Commission highlights concerns that all the environmental implications of the Poolbeg plant may not have been considered before it was approved in 2007. It reads, ‘Because of weaknesses in Irish legislation splitting decision-making between planning authorities and the Environmental Protection Agency, there are risks that outcomes required by the EU directive will not always be achieved.’

It’s the latest in a saga of legal controversy dogging the planned €266 thermal treatment facility, which has nonetheless managed to secure a licence to burn 600,000 tonnes of household waste a year. But this international case could be particularly embarrassing for Environment Minister John Gormley, who has previously been vocal in his opposition to Poolbeg. The Minister has come under fire from Dublin MEP Proinsias De Rossa for failing to respond to the EU’s written warning earlier. ‘This is yet another unnecessary, costly legal battle; it’s a sad state of affairs that Europe should have to take legal action against a Green Party Minister to ensure that all the implications of incineration are considered,’ he said.

http://eurolinknews.com/2009/03/19/eu-takes-legal-action-over-planned-poolbeg-incinerator-19309/

DDDA Governance - Another Fine Mess?

Governance is a job for the Polizei, not for insiders.

As the son of a bricklayer Michael Schumacher may be a candidate for DDDA Chairmanship. Michael is an expert on the governance of German Autobahns but this does not necessarily stop him exceeding the few existing speed limits around Nürnberg. And a po-faced resignation from Formula One has not prevented further speeding.


RTE, the government broadcaster reported that Mr John Gormley appointed a new chairman for the DDDA, for the second time this month (March 2009). RTE headlined the newest chairman as a "Governance expert". RTE headlined the prior newest chairman as a "Green Entrepreneur" during a TV slot on the very night of his closed-door appointment.

RTE did not provide any background detail on the governance expert - RTE had just been censured by the Taoiseach (technically by his PR man; his wife - technically - censured The Tribune) following a police raid on a radio station to search a satirist's private email.


"Aithníonn ciaróg ciaróg eile"
All members of the galway tent blog believe the latest DDDA chairman has a very fine reputation, so it is very surprising to see the professor directly involving herself inside an organisation with a very curious association with Anglo-Irish Bank - especially one she commented on in a promisingly worded article. A more appropriate role would be for the Professor to act as the critically needed corporate governance enforcer for the FF-Green Party and to Mr John Gormley whilst maintaining a firewall between herself and governance-disgraced banks, and their curious relationships to the Developer's Autocracy (DDDA).

Is it not better for the police and the poachers to live in different villages?

Resigning from a directorship does not remove the business and personal relationships built up over time. A five year 'cooling-off period' is more credible and more in line with appropriate corporate governance principles. Professors of management know the classic example here is Dick Cheney - Dick resigned from Halliburton on being appointed to the governmental bureau of Exxon - The White House. John Gormley's party condemned an EPA-Ireland appointee for similar reasons - incinerator industry insiders appointed to EPA - but has done nothing about the conflict. It is not known if John Gormley has acquired another house well away from Ringsend and the Gormley Incinerator.

Professional professors of true corporate governance robustly ensure there are no grounds whatsoever for issues or concerns about conflicts of interest - business, finance, political, personal, environmental, planning - however innocent. Academic Professors of true corporate governance know this too. Especially in view of the Anglo Irish Bank debacle it is even more important that no perception of conflicts of interest can exist, otherwise The Reputation of Ireland Inc comes again under the spotlight.

In a notable contrast to international best governance practice John Gormley did not conduct an open competition for the DDDA chairman's job, so presumably he at least did minimum due diligence. John Gormley has not revealed the following, but is has been reported by The Sunday Tribune and The Irish Independent:

Allegedly the DDDA's new chairman:

• Is a director of the Ulster Bank which finances private risk-taking property developers within DDDA's autocratic-planning-permission territory. Ulster Bank's parent just declared the largest loss in British history, in excess of £20 Billion. Ulster Bank has provided funding for Fabrizia Developments -- the company behind the Gasworks apartments in Ringsend and a site near the foreshore of Sandymount Strand at Poolbeg under control of the DDDA. A potential resignation does not remove the conflicts of interest.
  
• Owns a holding company which in turn owns a share in a risk-taking property company hoping to profit from the U2 tower inside the DDDA no-appeal planning territory in Ringsend. Anglo Irish Bank is one of the bankers for the property company (according to Anglo's credible stock market disclosures?). The Professor did not return calls to the newspaper.
  
• Is the wife of the former leader of the PD party, promotors of Poolbeg property development. The PD party strongly supports the PD's steamy dream of a Manhattan in Poolbeg - within DDDA's autocratic planning empire. This leader failed to gain enough votes in Ringsend-Irishtown-Sandymount and lost his Dail seat. The latest fired/resigned former DDDA chairman was apparently also a failed PD politician. The boyo before that had a day job at Anglo and a night job at DDDA, and vice versa for his buddy.
  

Last month, a Dail committee raised concerns about potential conflicts of interest in the DDDA. In Dáil Éireann on Friday (March 27) the FF-Green government stated words to the effect that the DDDA governs itself and is doing a mighty fine job. Another Fine Mess?


___________
Please email any corrections or concerns to galwaytent@gmail.com using an anonymiser.

Poolbeg Incinerator - What are Covanta, DCC, Dong, RPS, EPA and Others Hiding?

One Page Summary of Pollution is Withheld
The operators of the proposed waste-to-toxins factory in Dublin Bay do not publish a clear single A4 page summary of the pollution from their incinerator.


Pattern of Not Honestly Answering Questions
Each person you query cynically refers you to another entity in their firewalled organisation and to thousands of pages of a politically compiled "EIS", a perhaps deliberately obfuscated set of documentation. There appears to be a consistent pattern here across people and across entities of deferring the question to others who are never available. This repeated pattern by different people in different organisations is very curious.


Why Is There No Summary?
A clear single page summary could reassure the public and definitively answer concerns on dioxins, CO2, NOx, metallic microparticles, nanoparticles, secondary particulates and the vast range of other currently known pollutants. So why is a clear summary not widely circulated? Does the Tobacco Industry provide any clues?

The lack of a clear summary is a significant and very possibly a deliberate omission or withholding of pertinent and material information. It seems something significant is being hidden. As the promotors have spent at least €20,000,000 of your money on experts and PR there is no credible reason for this cynical decision.


Deliberate Confusion Tactics?
Proposing that Joe-Six-Pack takes hours to search through thousands of pages to find one line item on dioxins amongst highly atomic data and then calculates using nanograms per second to find the annual level of dioxins is less than honest. Such an organisational approach to public concerns is very consistent with the Big Lie methodology.


Does Ireland's Political EPA Protect The Public?
It's also unknown if the supplied numbers posing as "data" have been peer reviewed. Is the EIS "data" as inaccurate as the numbers supplied at the Bord Pleanala hearing? The spin is that the EPA or the glorious HSE will protect the public.

Ireland's EPA is politically compromised and can not be relied on to protect the public. Chromium-6 pollution in Cork harbour is a fine example where the EPA appear to have done nothing beyond issuing a piece of paper. One of the EPA's director's from that time is now employed by the waste-to-toxins industry to promote incineration in Ireland. The EPA and the industry claim there is no conflict of interest here - but perhaps they should read the confidential reports on Anglo-Irish Bank and the Dublin Developer's Autocracy (DDDA)


Gombeen Man Governance Damages Ireland
Anglo-Irish Bank has destroyed Ireland's global reputation for corporate governance by apparently & deliberately withholding pertinent and material information from investors. Recent Irish economic disasters have been caused by Ireland's culture of politically driven organisations run under the control of a small cohort of cross-contaminated, intelligent, managerally-inbred, selve-serving people who seem to specialise in compromised business ethics. They do nothing illegal of course and have developed their art far beyond brown envelopes.


Two Questions
The lack of an A4 summary of public information from a sophisticated organisation raises at least two questions. What are Covanta, Dong, RPS, the developer lead DCC, the politically directed EPA and the rest of the team trying to hide from the public? And why are they apparently following Tobacco Industry Best Practice?

Our Honest Experts Recommend Incinerators.

wastetoenergy, Waste-To-Toxins, The Big Lie, EPA, Covanta Violations Lawsuits Fines Threats, Anglo Irish Bank, Dublin Bay Incinerator, Poolbeg Incinerator, Deadly Particles (PM2.5),

Chart & Cancer Image Submitted to EPA-Ireland Oral Hearing, April 2008.

Chart Submitted to EPA-Ireland Oral Hearing, April 2008.
Air Pollution Particles Inside Cancer Cells in Human Liver.

Chart Submitted to EPA-Ireland Oral Hearing, April 2008.
EU Standards are Compromised.
EU Allows 25μg per cubic metre.
WHO Urges 10μg per cubic metre.

• A reduction in the yearly average PM2.5 particulates to 15μg per cubic metre would result in life expectancy gains, at age 30, of between 1 month and 2 years.
  

The US National Ambient Air Quality Standard for PM 2.5 particulates was introduced into the USA in 1997 with a mean annual limit of 15μg per cubic metre. This had measurable health benefits.

California has a stricter limit of either 10μg or 12μg per cubic metre.

The latest EU standard for PM 2.5 particulates is 25μg per cubic metre.

An annual mean limit for PM 2.5 particulates is to be introduced into Scotland in 2010 and this will be 12μg per cubic metre. An annual mean target for PM 2.5 particulates is to be introduced into the UK in 2020 and this will be 25μg per cubic metre. Many will wonder why the difference is so vast when the science is the same.


Deaths, EPA, PM2.5, Deadly Particles (PM2.5), Waste-To-Toxins, wastetoenergy, Health,

European Respiratory Society: European Union policy could cost you 2 years of life.

European Union policy could cost you 2 years of life.

The European Respiratory Society has published its concern about the mismatch between European Union policy and the best scientific evidence.

They state that a reduction in the yearly average PM2.5 particulates to 15μg per cubic metre(c) would result in life expectancy gains, at age 30, of between 1 month and 2 years.

They point out that the benefits of implementing stringent air pollution legislation would outweigh the costs. These recommendations are sensible and based on sound science.

A programme of building incinerators would unfortunately achieve the opposite: they would increase particulate pollution, reduce life expectancy and would be at odds with the best science.

Statements by leading researchers include the following:
“the magnitude of the association between fine particles and mortality suggests that controlling fine particles would result in saving thousands of early deaths each year” (Schwartz)

and

“there is consistent evidence that fine particulates are associated with increased all cause, cardiac and respiratory mortality. These findings strengthen the case for controlling the levels of respiratory particulates in outdoor air”

__________

c) The US National Ambient Air Quality Standard for PM 2.5 particulates was introduced into the USA in 1997 with a mean annual limit of 15μg per cubic metre. This had measurable health benefits.

An annual mean limit for PM 2.5 particulates is to be introduced into Scotland in 2010 and this will be 12μg per cubic metre. An annual mean target for PM 2.5 particulates is to be introduced into the UK in 2020 and this will be 25μg per cubic metre. Many will wonder why the difference is so vast when the science is the same.

Deaths, EPA, PM2.5, Deadly Particles (PM2.5), Waste-To-Toxins, wastetoenergy, Health,

Poolbeg Incinerator Could Cost 100,000 man-years of life it its first 15 years

An Incinerator at Poolbeg could
reduce life expectancy by 100,000 man-years.
That's in its first 15 years (a).

An incinerator can be modeled as a deadly particles generator. A 70 page report from a credible medical society on the reduced life expectancy caused by incineration and deadly particles(b) is here so you make your own judgments.

Pollution in east Dublin already exceeds the compromised EU standards and is significantly above the more protective US air quality standards. The Bord Pleanala Inspector's report noted the compromised level of air pollution in Poolbeg is already at or above the EU norms but his actions will have been dictated by the politically appointed directors at Bord Pleanala.

The submission to the EPA Oral Hearing by a member of the St Patrick's rowing club in Ringsend illustrates concerns on cancer, ill health and premature deaths in a polluted environment. DCC refuses to run a Baseline Health Study for the area and cynically washes its hands by referring all such requests to the less than inspiring Health Service Executive (where nobody washes hands). The EPA Oral Hearing apparently accepted this Big Lie manouver.

The EPA's directors are political appointees of Fianna Fail - at the EPA it would appear the gamekeepers have turned into poachers, and vice versa. Is the politically dominated EPA any more credible than the Developer's Anglo-Irish Bank, the Dublin Developer's Autocracy (DDDA) or the Developer's Irish Financial Regulator?

In addition to invisible microscopic particles an incinerator in Dublin Bay would pump hundreds of thousands of tonnes of pollution into the air over Dublin each year. The total volume of waste is actually increased by waste-to-toxins incineration and is not reduced as claimed by industry Big Lies. For example, in addition to toxic ash and hundreds of other compounds, each tonne of waste generates an additional tonne of CO2. This CO2 is pumped up the chimney where it circles the world.

Big Lie Caution: Dublin City Council has spent €19,000,000 to promote its cynical one-sided case for an Incinerator at Poolbeg. DCC has used multiple Big Lies, including the Big Lie of selective witholding of data, it seems. For instance, DCC has apparently not publicly costed nor quantified the serious health impacts in terms of compromised health and premature deaths - apart from spin such as 'you can not prove that'. This is the Tobacco Industry Big Lie in practice.

The Cork Harbour Alliance for a Safe Environment (CHASE) has other useful information. The Green-Fianna-Fail government has penalised Corks' citizens by presenting CHASE with a legal bill of €50,000. Contrast this to the €19,000,000 of your money given to the public service patriots in developer-lead Dublin City Council. George Bush would say the DCC fokes are Fair & Balanced.

__________________________________________

a)Basis: June 2008 Estimates by British Society for Ecological Medicine using World Health Organisation Air Quality Guidelines.
Based on a very conservative estimate of the level of increase that would be expected around large incinerators in a population of 250,000.

There is a reduction of life expectancy of 1.1 years for each 10μg per cubic metre increase in PM2.5 particulates

The US National Ambient Air Quality Standard for PM 2.5 particulates was introduced into the USA in 1997 with a mean annual limit of 15μg per cubic metre. This had measurable health benefits.

b) Deadly particles - see pages 15-16.

_____________________

Waste-To-Toxins, wastetoenergy, Deadly Particles (PM2.5), Poolbeg Incinerator, Dublin Bay Incinerator, Dublin City Council, EPA, Bord Pleanala, Health, Deaths, The Big Lie, 

First posted: January 15, 2009.

EPA

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

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

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.