Councillor Kieran Binchy – Question to City Manager City Council Meeting 14/01/2013
Q98. COUNCILLOR KIERAN BINCHY
To ask the Manager for a full report on the proposal to dump the rock from the waste water treatment plant tunnel extension in Dublin Bay, and to clarify what consultation with Councillors and the public, if any, took place concerning such a proposal.
CITY MANAGER’S REPLY
Dublin City Council has made an application to the Environment Protection Agency (EPA) for a Dumping at Sea Permit, in accordance with Section 5 of the Dumping at Sea Acts 1996 to 2010, for the disposal of the Long Sea Outfall Tunnel spoil that will arise as part of the Ringsend Wastewater Treatment Works Extension Project. The bulk of this material will be the excavated material from inside the proposed Long Sea Outfall Tunnel. This application was lodged with the EPA on the 6th December 2012. A period of public consultation commenced on the 20th December 2012 and runs until the 31st January 2013. During this time members of the public and other interested parties may make submissions to the EPA on this application. The documents are available to inspect at the Planning Counter here in Civic Offices and the following link will take you to the location on the Dublin City Council website where all documents in relation to the application may be downloaded.
The information is also available on the EPA’s website and can be accessed using the following link:
http://www.epa.ie/terminalfour/DaS/DaS-view.jsp?regno=S0018-01
The proposed Long Sea Outfall Tunnel (LSOT) shaft will be constructed as a bored tunnel through virgin bedrock underlying Dublin Bay. The spoil from the tunnel shaft will consist of inert materials, mostly crushed rock of varying sizes, and it is expected that more than 70% of the material generated will be greater than 2mm in diameter.
In the planning of the Ringsend Wastewater Treatment Works Extension Project, the disposal of this material was fully addressed in accordance with the EU Waste Hierarchy. Specifically, considerable effort was expended in attempting to identify a beneficial reuse for the material. No realistic such option could be identified, as outlined in the application to the EPA. Consequently and in accordance with EU/National waste policy approval to the disposed of the material to licensed landfill facilities in the Greater Dublin/Leinster Area was sought. Approval for this option has been received from An Bórd Pleanála.
The disposal to landfill option would involve the transfer of this material by HGV and over the course of the project it is estimated that the number of truck movements involved would amount to approximately 100,000. In an effort to mitigate this, the Council is considering the disposal of the material at sea to
• avoid the impact of the HGV movements on the local and wider community;
• realise potential cost savings to the taxpayer on the project’s cost.
The application to the EPA proposes that all material excavated from the tunnel be deposited in the existing spoil ground East of Burford Bank. The existing spoil area was indentified following significant detailed studies and Dublin Port has been disposing of maintenance dredged material at this location under permit for many years which consists mainly of fine sands and silts. The proposal by Dublin City Council to dispose of material at this location is on the basis of the studies and practical experience of the use of this site over this period. Furthermore a Screening for Appropriate Assessment was undertaken as part of this application. It considered impacts on flora and fauna and concluded that there would be no impacts on marine life.
Dublin City Council considers the disposal at sea option to be of lower environmental impact than the currently approved approach of disposal to landfill. However, the competent authority to make that assessment, and to determine the application, is the EPA. This determination will be made following closure of the statutory period of public consultation.
Dublin City Council has attempted to fully address all of the environmental issues associated with the disposal at sea option. However, this application and its accompanying consultation process affords the public and other parties the opportunity to identify issues of concern and is the mechanism of ensuring the proposal is fully and properly examined and a robust and thorough assessment undertaken. Should it be determined by the EPA that this option should not be permitted, Dublin City Council will fully comply with any such determination. In that context Dublin City Council would be satisfied that it had fully exhausted all available options of both minimising the impact of this critically important project on the local community, and of minimising the costs to the taxpayer associated with the project.