Seven Irish plants among 'most damaging' in Europe, says agency

THE ESB’s coal-fired power station at Moneypoint, Co Clare, is one of the 662 “most damaging industrial plants across Europe”, according to a new report by the European Environment Agency.

In terms of harm to health and the environment, it estimates that air pollution from the 10,000 largest energy and industrial installations in Europe cost citizens between €102 billion and €169 billion in 2009.

Half of the total damage – costing between €51 billion and €85 billion – was caused by just 191 facilities, mainly in Germany, Poland, the Netherlands, Romania, Bulgaria and northeast England.

The agency’s report, Revealing the costs of air pollution from industrial facilities in Europe, provides for the first time a list of the power stations and large industrial installations that do most harm.

Among the 662 most damaging plants are seven in Ireland, including Moneypoint, which is 109th on the list. The others are the Aughinish Alumina plant near Foynes, Co Limerick (423), and five power stations: ESB Poolbeg, Ringsend, Dublin 4 (472); Edenderry Power, Co Offaly (558); ESB West Offaly Power, Co Offaly (576); Synergen Power, Ringsend, Dublin 4 (596); and Viridian Power, Huntstown, Co Dublin (605).

The report estimates that these seven installations caused between €176 million and €478 million in damage from emissions of ammonia, nitrous oxides, particulate matter or volatile organic compounds.

However, when emissions of carbon dioxide (CO2) are taken into account, the figures for damage in 2009 alone rose to between €718 million and €1.02 billion, according to the agency’s calculations.

The agency’s executive director, Prof Jacqueline McGlade, said the figures were based on “the emissions reported by the facilities themselves” and extrapolated to estimate the damage they caused.

This was done by using “existing tools employed by policy-makers to estimate harm to health and the environment” to reveal “some of the hidden costs of pollution [which] we cannot afford to ignore”.

The industrial facilities covered by the analysis include large power plants, refineries, manufacturing, combustion and industrial processes, waste and certain agricultural activities.

Emissions from power plants contributed the largest share of the damage costs (estimated at €66 billion to €112 billion). Other significant contributors were production processes, at €23 billion to €28 billion.

Sectors excluded from the analysis include transport, households and most agricultural activities.

Air pollution caused by the facilities covered in the agency’s analysis cost every European citizen approximately €200 to €330, on average, in terms of its contribution to respiratory problems or acid rain.

CO2 emissions contributed the most to the overall damage costs, amounting to some €63 billion in 2009.

Three-quarters of the total costs were caused by emissions from the 662 facilities. Although they account for only 6 per cent of the total 10,000, they “are in most cases some of the largest facilities in Europe which release the greatest amount of pollutants”.

The report suggests that its scope should be extended to include “aspects such as a valuation of ecological impacts and acid damage to culturally significant buildings and monuments”.