Residents' groups in Ringaskiddy, Co Cork, and Duleek, Co Meath, are to appeal against decisions by the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to grant draft licences for two major incinerators in their areas.
The EPA has decided to grant Indaver Ireland draft licences to develop a €93 million hazardous waste incinerator in Ringaskiddy, and an €85 million non-hazardous waste incinerator in Carranstown, Duleek.
The decisions are subject to a 28-day public consultation period during which the public and interested parties, including Indaver, can make submissions or request oral hearings by the EPA into the granting of the licences.
The decision on whether to grant an oral hearing rests with the EPA.
The Cork Harbour Alliance for a Safe Environment (CHASE) said in a statement last night it intended to seek an oral hearing and vowed to "exhaust every possible means of stopping this incinerator from being built".
The No Incineration Alliance in Co Meath also said it would fight the draft licence for Carranstown.
An EPA spokesperson said yesterday the agency had never failed to grant a full waste disposal licence for a project after granting a draft licence.
It has attached strict conditions to the draft waste licences. These cover the management, operation, control and monitoring of the proposed facilities.
The EPA said the conditions met or exceeded the highest standards set by the EU on waste incineration. It said it was satisfied that the operation of the facilities in accordance with these conditions would not endanger human health or harm the environment.
It said the Office of Environmental Enforcement would monitor and enforce the conditions through environmental audits, unannounced site visits and systematic checks on emissions.
"The EPA will also conduct dioxin surveys on an annual basis to monitor levels in the areas adjacent to the incinerators," the spokesperson said.
The Ringaskiddy plant will cater for a variety of non-hazardous and hazardous materials including meat and bone meal/specified risk material from the rendering of animals, which is deemed non-hazardous, as well as infectious healthcare waste and asbestos.
Indaver has obtained planning permission for the Ringaskiddy hazardous waste plant. While the EPA draft licence covers both hazardous and non-hazardous waste, Indaver must still apply for planning for the non-hazardous waste section of the plant, which will be built in the second phase of the scheme at a cost of a further €30 million.
The Ringaskiddy plant will cover around 12 hectares. It will include a community recycling park and two incinerators capable of dealing with 100,000 tonnes of waste each per year. It will also have a waste transfer station catering for a further 15,000 tonnes.
The Carranstown plant, which is licensed to deal only with non-hazardous waste, will also be able to handle animal waste products that are classified in its licence as "animal tissue waste".
The draft licence for Carranstown allows up to 170,000 tonnes of waste to be processed at the facility each year, with 20,000 tonnes going to a materials recycling facility on the 10-hectare site. The remaining 150,000 tonnes will go to the incineration plant. The plant will have two incineration lines with a capacity of 10 tonnes per hour, or 75,000 tonnes per annum at 7,500 hours of operation.
The draft licences specify that the stack at Ringaskiddy must be a minimum of 55 metres high while the Carranstown stack must be at least 65 metres. An added 10-metre height requirement is due to the proximity of a cement plant and a proposed power station in the immediate vicinity.
Incineration at both facilities must take place at a minimum of 850 degrees Celsius, except in the case of hazardous material at Ringaskiddy, where the minimum is 1,100 degrees. Indaver must also provide and maintain a scanner at the Ringaskiddy plant for the detection of radioactive material in waste entering the plant.
However, the licence for Carranstown includes no such requirement.
The EPA spokesperson said this was because the Ringaskiddy plant would be receiving hospital waste which may contain radioactive material, while the Carranstown plant was not licensed to accept such hazardous waste, so a radioactive scanner was not required.
Indaver Ireland's general manager, Mr John Ahern, yesterday welcomed the EPA decision to grant the draft licences.
He said the company was pleased that the EPA had satisfied itself that incineration facilities could be operated in Ireland under strict regulatory control.