MINISTER FOR the Environment Éamon Ó Cuív is to provide funding to deal with the underground fire raging at an abandoned dump at Kerdiffstown, near Naas, Co Kildare.
The money is to be released “immediately” to put out the fire and provide security at the site. A local emergency co-ordination committee is to meet today and will then brief the Minister on a daily basis.
The fire, which started more than a week ago, has been described as an “environmental emergency” by Charlie Talbot, secretary of Kildare County Council, with the fire services unable to bring it under control.
Palls of smoke containing elevated levels of sulphur dioxide have prompted some local residents to leave their homes, and the council is considering whether a wider evacuation may be required.
“The fire has got worse overnight and there is no immediate solution to the problem,” said Joe Friel of Clean Air Naas. “Its deep-seated nature means that normal fire extinguishing methods will not work.”
The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has called on SKM Enviros, British consultants with expertise in landfill fires, for advice and they have recommended using liquid nitrogen.
“They expect that the resolution will involve massive earthworks to get to the seat of the fire which we understand is about 90ft [27m] beneath the surface,” Mr Friel quoted the agency as saying.
He said EPA monitoring of air quality showed levels of sulphur dioxide of 0.2 parts per million (ppm) last Saturday, when the fire was less severe. The level set for intervention is 0.3 ppm.
The Minister held meetings yesterday with council and EPA officials and local TDs, including Labour’s Emmet Stagg, who demanded the immediate release of aid from the environment fund.
“The reserve balance in the environment fund at the beginning of 2011 stood at €36.6 million. Income during 2011 is expected to be in the region of €66 million. So the funds are in place,” he said.
He called on Mr Ó Cuív to provide sufficient money from the fund, which is raised from landfill and plastic bag levies, to deal with landfill gas, water pollution and site security as well as the fire.
Commenting last night after meeting the Minister, Mr Stagg said he had “done more in a day than his predecessor did in two years” to deal with risks from the Kerdiffstown “facility”. The dump, which was operated by Neiphin Trading/A1 Waste, was closed down last year on foot of a High Court order sought by the EPA. The agency is seeking clean-up orders against the directors.