A DUMP near Naas, Co Kildare, which was closed down on foot of a High Court order last May, represents a major environmental hazard because of the toxic substances and explosive gases still freely escaping from it, according to an unpublished report.
Gardaí are investigating the cause of a major fire which broke out at the site on Wednesday evening last.
A spokesman for the Naas fire brigade said “tonnes and tonnes”of waste had caught fire and that a cloud of thick black smoke could be seen for miles around.
The report, commissioned by the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and seen by The Irish Times, found levels of ammonia leaching into groundwater up to five times the maximum permitted by EU directives. This put the nearby Morrel River “at future risk of contamination”.
“There is also a possibility that leachate could break out when wastes become fully saturated along the steep infill embankment forming the eastern boundary of the site and flow over land directly into the river,” the report (dated July 26th, 2010) said.
Ammoniacal nitrogen levels were put at 19.9mg per litre, whereas the Irish and EU drinking water legislation specify a maximum level of 4mg per litre. A toxic pollutant often found in landfill leachate ammonia can harm humans, animals and water systems.
Given that the Morrel is a fast-flowing tributary of the River Liffey, Clean Air Naas – a local environmental lobby group – warned that pollution from the Kerdiffstown dump represented a risk to the prime source of drinking water for Dublin and Kildare.
“We estimate 50 million litres of toxic leachate is freely flowing into the ground each year. This is equivalent to the amount of raw sewage produced by 100,000 humans being dumped into the ground and will ultimately get into our drinking water,” it said.
Leachate from the dump was also found to contain levels of chemical oxygen demand four times higher than the maximum EU limit as well as concentrations of toxic and explosive landfill gases – mainly methane – that exceed levels permitted by the EPA.
“The risks to people within buildings from landfill gas is associated with flammability and potential explosion risk of methane, and asphyxiation arising from accumulation of carbon dioxide and/or reductions in oxygen,” the report said.
Compiled for the EPA by English environmental consultants SKM Enviros, based in Shrewsbury, Shropshire, the report also noted odours from the dump could “make houses uninhabitable before gas concentrations reach dangerous levels”.
It confirmed that there are no records of what was deposited in the Kerdiffstown dump by its owners, Neiphin Trading/A1 Waste. The dump, in a former sand and gravel quarry, has only a limited lining to contain it. It has no gas or leachate extraction systems and no security.
The report, which was prepared for the guidance of potential bidders for the Kerdiffstown “facility”, estimated the cost of remediating it at €30 million or more. This would involve the removal of some 1.7 million cubic metres of waste over several years.
The existence of the report was disclosed last Wednesday at a public meeting in Naas attended by 200 people. It had been passed on to a member of the Clean Air group by one of the waste contractors who had considered bidding for the 50-acre site.Claiming that the report had been “suppressed”, the group said it had repeatedly sought full information about Kerdiffstown from the EPA.
“We have concluded the EPA wish to cover up the true facts about the dump and are not acting in the best public interest.”
Spokesman Joe Friel said: “It is almost six months since the dump was closed by High Court order and the EPA have still not declared any intention to clean up the dump. The liquidator [of Neiphin Trading] has been unsuccessfully trying to get another waste operator to take over the dump.”
He also expressed surprise that Kildare County Council had not been advised by the EPA of the expert report.
“They received a full copy from us last Thursday and . . . have requested an urgent meeting with the EPA to discuss the serious issues within the report,” he added.
Referring to the EPA’s claim that the SKM Enviros report had been kept confidential because of pending legal proceedings against Neiphin Trading’s directors, Mr Friel said Clean Air Naas believed there was “very little chance” of securing a judgment against the directors personally.
While it respected the agency’s desire to pursue the former operators of the dump as individuals, he said: “The EPA’s core reason for existing is to protect our environment. Clean Air Naas firmly believe they are failing to remember this core objective.”
EPA STATEMENT 'FALLBACK ORDERS'
THE ENVIRONMENTAL Protection Agency (EPA) said it had taken "robust enforcement proceedings" against the companies involved in the operation of the Kerdiffstown dump,
These included three successful High Court actions, it said.
The agency was now seeking "fallback orders" against the directors personally, it said.
It said the SKM Enviros report would be used in its upcoming case against Anthony Dean, Keith Cairns, Thady Nealon and Samuel Stears, directors of operators Neiphin Trading Ltd (in liquidation), Dean Waste Company Ltd (in receivership) and Jenzsoph Ltd (not actively trading).
For this reason, the report had "not been made available to the public".
It was, however, made available to the liquidator of Neiphin Trading, "to assist in his discussions with third parties who had expressed a commercial interest in acquiring the Kerdiffstown site".
A statement from the EPA said the information contained in the SKM Enviros and other reports "forms part of the EPA's High Court cases to date and will also be used in its upcoming case.
"For this reason, these reports have not been made available to the public".
While not responding to a charge that it had "suppressed" the report, the EPA said it had taken enforcement action "because of concerns at the serious risk of environmental pollution and associated nuisance to the local community from waste stored at the site".
The agency added: "A High Court order is now in place against the company preventing any further waste being brought onto the Kerdiffstown site.
"In accordance with the 'polluter-pays' principle, and to get the site remediated, the EPA is pursuing the companies and named directors."
Clean-up orders were made against the relevant companies in the High Court on October 5th last.
It said a programme of detailed measures was prepared for the court's final orders delivered on October 19th.
The case against the directors remains before the court.
"The focus for the EPA is to bring those responsible for abandoning this site to justice and that the 'polluter-pays' principle is implemented," the agency said.
It added that it had submitted a file on the case to the Director of Public Prosecutions in November 2009.
"The EPA has held a number of meetings with representatives of Clean Air Naas and others to keep them informed," it said.
The results of landfill gas and groundwater monitoring at Kerdiffstown, undertaken by the EPA since May 2010, were also available to the public, the agency added.