Poolbeg Incinerator Could Cost 100,000 man-years of life it its first 15 years

An Incinerator at Poolbeg could
cost 100,000 man-years of life
it its first 15 years (a).

An incinerator can be modelled as a deadly particles generator.

A 70 page PDF report from a credible medical society on the reduced life expectancy caused by incineration and deadly particles(b) is here so you make your own judgments.

Pollution in east Dublin already exceeds the compromised EU standards and is significantly above the more protective US air quality standards. The Bord Pleanala Inspector's report noted the compromised level of air pollution in Poolbeg is already at or above the EU norms but his actions will have been dictated by the politically appointed directors at Bord Pleanala.

The submission to the EPA Oral Hearing by a member of the St Patrick's rowing club in Ringsend illustrates concerns on cancer, ill health and premature deaths in a polluted environment. DCC refuses to run a Baseline Health Study for the area and cynically washes its hands by referring all such requests to the less than inspiring Health Service Executive (where nobody washes hands). The EPA Oral Hearing apparently accepted this Big Lie manouver.

The EPA's directors are political appointees of Fianna Fail - at the EPA it would appear the gamekeepers have turned into poachers, and vice versa. Is the politically dominated EPA any more credible than the Developer's Anglo-Irish Bank, the Dublin Developer's Autocracy (DDDA) or the Developer's Irish Financial Regulator?

In addition to invisible microscopic particles an incinerator in Dublin Bay would pump hundreds of thousands of tonnes of pollution into the air over Dublin each year. The total volume of waste is actually increased by waste-to-toxins incineration and is not reduced as claimed by industry Big Lies. For example, each tonne of waste generates an additional tonne of CO2. This CO2 is pumped up the chimney where it circles the world.

Big Lie Caution: Dublin City Council has spent €19,000,000 to promote its cynical one-sided case for an Incinerator at Poolbeg. DCC has used multiple Big Lies, including the Big Lie of selective witholding of data, it seems. For instance, DCC has apparently not publicly costed nor quantified the serious health impacts in terms of compromised health and premature deaths - apart from spin such as 'you can not prove that'. This is the Tobacco Industry Big Lie in practice.

The Cork Harbour Alliance for a Safe Environment (CHASE) has other useful information. The Green-Fianna-Fail government has penalised Corks' citizens by presenting CHASE with a legal bill of €50,000. Contrast this to the €19,000,000 of your money given to the public service patriots in developer-lead Dublin City Council. George Bush would say the DCC fokes are Fair & Balanced.

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June 2008 Estimates by British Society for Ecological Medicine using World Health Organisation Air Quality Guidelines
a) Based on a very conservative estimate of the level of increase that would be expected around large incinerators in a population of 250,000.

There is a reduction of life expectancy of 1.1 years for each 10μg per cubic metre increase in PM2.5 particulates

The US National Ambient Air Quality Standard for PM 2.5 particulates was introduced into the USA in 1997 with a mean annual limit of 15μg per cubic metre. This had measurable health benefits.

b) Deadly particles - see pages 15-16.

Incinerator and IGB Spin by Paid-For Consultant

What will N.Brennan do about Arup's cross-directorship with the Developers Autocracy?

A cosmetic resignation from DDDA or Ulster Bank does not suffice to disable the perception of an old-boy network nor the damage to international perceptions.

• N. O’Sullivan is a director of Arup.
• N. O’Sullivan is a director of the DDDA.
• Arup claims DDDA's glass bottle site is fit for humans.

How will N.Brennan educate the taxpayers about perceptions of DDDA credibiity or of Arup's "independence" now Arup is paid to pronounce on pollution at speculators' sites in Poolbeg?


Paid-for Arup Spin on €450 Million Ringsend Glass Bottle Site
Outstanding spin from Arup seems to claim the Ringsend Glass Bottle site lands are in “a satisfactory state” and that space created under(!) car-parking spaces and other services would “create a wide and ventilated physical barrier between polluted lands and the future habitable spaces of the new development“.

Unpaid Expert Opinion
Former EPA expert Malcolm Doak warned that 30 per cent methane gas levels exist on the lands and that “a significant gas risk still remains on-site”.

Paid-for Arup Spin on €350 Million Poolbeg Incinerator
Arup said the environmental impact statement found the Poolbeg waste-to-toxins incinerator would not significantly impact the environment and "no residual negative impacts are anticipated" from the construction or operation of the plant.

Unpaid Expert Opinion
Prof Staines, a medical doctor and academic, said it was "at best careless, and more realistically reckless, to proceed with a major development without considering methods of minimising harm and maximising benefits to the local community" and said the execution of a Health Impact Statement on such projects was common practice internationally.

In relation to the environmental impact statement, undertaken by Arup Consulting Engineers on behalf of the council, Prof Staines claimed that "in no case is there any serious consideration of the actual impacts of the estimated emissions on people in the local community or on human health".

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DDDDA has been a poster boy for rampant multi-dimensional conflicts-of-interest. Ex: Seanie and Lar at the Glass Bottle site.

DDDA's newest chairman, N.Brennan, is spun as a governance expert by advertising dependent newspapers. N.Brennan was appointed by Mr J Gormley in a closed-door recruitment process. N.Brennan was a director for Ulster bank when it financed Zoe Developments large Fabrizia site on Sandymount Strand (Zoe now has a negative net value of -€900,000,000, plus or minus an acre of occupied public footpath).

How can Arup not anticipate any negative impacts given operator Covanta's curious record?

The Seanie & Lar culture at DDDA-Anglo was the catalyst for the €490,000,000,000 banker bailout and the proving ground for NAMA's €90,000,000,000 developer bailout. Is there any pattern which shows the rampant multi-dimensional conflicts of interest at the €450,000,000 Glass Bottle site will not be repeated at NAMA?

• Both NAMA and DDDA combine closed-door autocratic control over planning permits.
• Both NAMA and DDDA have the same executive sponsors - the Galway Tent cartel.
• NAMA adds closed-door political distortion of property markets for the next 30 years (in violation of core EU Competition Principles).

See also: http://www.irishtimes.com/newspaper/ireland/2009/0801/1224251858397.html

Poolbeg Incinerator Run by New Jersey's Culture?

Is Covanta influenced by New Jersey's Culture? Will the proposed Poolbeg Incinerator be run using New Jersey's best?

The arrests come in a state that is no stranger to political corruption. The former mayors of Newark, Paterson and Camden, to name but a few, have or are serving time in prison. Wayne Bryant, a former state senator, is due to be sentenced for fraud and bribery on Friday. Until recently, “double-dipping”, holding two elected positions, was the norm.

• Handing out public-sector contracts to political donors, “pay to play”, is common practice.
• Cronyism is practically accepted.
• Mob ties are not unusual [blog-edit: especially in waste management and construction].

- The Economist, Jul 24th 2009, NEWARK, NEW JERSEY

New Jersey is not Sweden. Covanta is HQ'ed in New Jersey. Which quite possibly has no influence whatsoever on the corporate culture, apart from sharp suits and haircuts. Covanta is not a gonzo outfit. As far as is known Covanta is a mighty fine corporate citizen. Except perhaps for Dioxins violations reported for all of its New Jersey waste incinerators and about 6,000 violations at Ogden and conflicts with employees and other legal concerns in Florida and a recent 'bankruptcy' issue and the odd explosion forcing people to run indoors.

Like Wall Street bankers also based in New Jersey, Covanta's CEO Tony Orlando is heavily bonus driven with recent official compensation of about $3 million.

US websites list the legal political donations made by Covanta staff to local politicians. In 2008 the Irish lawyer for the Poobeg Incinerator Promoters, 'Willem Schipkijk', had a legal fundraiser in his Dalkey house for at least one American Presidential candidate (Obama) in Dublin. Curious?

DCC's choice of operator for the proposed Poolbeg Incinerator is a Covanta entity legalised in the secret banking haven of Luxembourg. Curious?

In Ireland of course the secret contract DCC made with Covanta was not influenced by any form of "pay to play" nor cronyism nor the total dismissal of scientific facts and the public's interest in favour of secret political diktats. The secret contract may involve a "put or pay" contract which will burden the bankrupted taxpayers who are not killed prematurely by incinerator nanoparticles (PM0.1).

Bertie 'Won It On De Horses' Ahern can confirm this, even if it's actually true. So will the public servants now retiring on the world's highest pensions. These are honest men.

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http://www.economist.com/world/unitedstates/displaystory.cfm?story_id=14112480

Poolbeg Borrowings & Green Party "Untruths"

• Covanta seems to confirm the Green Party was telling totally innocent untruths before the June elections about funding for the waste-to-toxins incinerator.

The Green Untruth of may 2009 was immediately corrected by the Wall Street Journal.

Now in July 2009:

• Covanta confirms it has borrowed a sum of money - the $389 million is equal to the estimated amount needed for the Poolbeg waste-to-toxins factory. A secret contract with the sharp business men at DCC no doubt makes it easy to borrow money in a depression- by transferring the big risks to Irish taxpayers.
  
• Covanta's net debt is said to be $1.7 billion.
• Liabilities for premature deaths are not mentioned.

Carefully worded Covanta press release clipping [22.07.2009]:

Our balance sheet was significantly strengthened by the $460 million convertible note financing completed during the quarter.

We added approximately $389 million to our unrestricted cash, after giving effect to underwriting discounts, offering expenses, proceeds from the issuance of warrants and the purchase of the convertible note hedge. The entire $300 million of our revolving credit facility continues to be available.

In the quarter, we paid down $72 million of debt, bringing our net debt to $1.7 billion (total debt less cash and restricted funds set aside explicitly for project debt principal repayment).

http://www.only2press.com/archives/10869

Poolbeg Incinerator "Rogue Employer"

The USA's National Labor Relations Board this week issued a comprehensive complaint charging Covanta Energy Corp. and all of its U.S. subsidiaries with violating federal labor law.

http://blog.aflcio.org/2009/07/01/covanta-complaint-shows-need-for-employee-free-choice-act/


AFL-CIO Local 369 President Gary Sullivan:

The board’s action confirms our first-hand experience that Covanta is a rogue employer with no respect for the rights of its employees.

Dublin City Council has a secret deal with Covanta to run the proposed Poolbeg Waste-to-Toxins incinerator. Possibly to dodge US courts the deal is with an offshore Covanta outfit - a special purpose entity firewalled in secretive Luxembourg (guess why).


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The USA's National Labor Relations Board is an independent federal agency created by Congress in 1935 to administer the National Labor Relations Act, the primary law governing relations between unions and employers in the private sector.

The Purple & The Pinstripe.

The Purple & The Pinstripe.

BANANA REPUBLIC
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aF_HSCmnFTA

The purple and the pinstripe
Mutely shake their heads

A silence shrieking volumes
A violence worse than they condemn

Stab you in the back yeah
Laughing in your face

Glad to see the place again
It's a pity nothing's changed
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Incinerators Nanoparticles are safe. Trust Us.

Tiny particles from incinerators will reduce your life by up to two years.

Nobody understands the science. That's why we have Fianna Fail.

You can trust your clever politicians to protect you by directing their political appointees, dressed up as scientists, at EPA, Bord Pleanala, and elsewhere.
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http://www.irishtimes.com/newspaper/ireland/2009/0610/1224248531633.html

Expert challenges risk study for incinerator

LOUISE ROSEINGRAVE

Wed, Jun 10, 2009

TOXICOLOGICAL EFFECTS of nano-particles such as those produced from an incinerator stack can be responsible for exacerbating human health problems including asthma, bronchitis and heart disease, according to a scientific expert who gave evidence on behalf of objectors at a public hearing yesterday.

Prof C Vyvyan Howard described Indaver Ireland’s risk assessment of possible health problems associated with a proposed toxic waste incinerator at Ringaskiddy in Cork as “simplistic” and “fundamentally flawed”.

His claims were disputed by Indaver Ireland. Prof Howard, who is in charge of of bioimaging at the University of Ulster, has written and spoken in a variety of forums to draw attention to the threat posed by pollutants to developing foetuses and infants.

Speaking on behalf of anti-incinerator campaign group Cork Harbour Alliance for a Safe Environment at a hearing on the proposed incinerator yesterday, Prof Howard, described as a medically qualified toxico-pathologist, claimed there were airborne particles for which there was no known safe level, and that Indaver Ireland’s risk assessment did not cover the emittance of such particles. “The risk assessment in relation to particles that has been undertaken by Indaver is rather simplistic and appears to ignore the very significant contribution made to particulate burdens made by sulphur dioxide and especially nitrous oxide emissions.”

Prof Howard said while effects of individual toxins were known, the effects of multiple toxins in the air was unknown, and research into such effects was difficult.

Indaver Ireland’s risk assessment is based on the effects of individual toxins as per Environmental Protection Agency air quality standards.

“This approach is fundamentally flawed for those emissions like particles, for which no safe level can be demonstrated,” Prof Howard said.

Air pollution levels well within legal limits were killing people, he claimed, “especially older people and those with chronic heart and lung ailments”. Children and foetuses were particularly at risk from airborne pollutant particles, as their immune system and lungs were not fully developed, he said.

“There can be no doubt that children and even the foetus are particularly vulnerable to particle air pollutants, while this has been largely overlooked in setting current standards and controls,” he said.

He cited a review by scientists Joachim Heinrich and Remy Slama showing fine particle pollutants had been associated with infant mortality, impaired lung function and, less consistently, with sudden infant death syndrome.

In his report, Prof Howard claimed Indaver had “completely omitted any consideration of secondary particles and their impacts from their assessments”, which he said can account for a major fraction of the particles emitted by incinerators, despite filtration.

It was claimed that a high proportion of ultra-fine particles emitted through the incineration process evaded filtration systems.

“The subsequent direct uptake of these respirable particles and the ready transfer from the lungs into the bloodstream may be part of the reason that traditional toxicology is at a loss to explain the level of impacts for such apparently low exposures,” he said.

An Indaver Ireland spokesman said Prof Howard’s opinion was “at odds” with views of the World Health Organisation, EU and EPA. “Dioxins are all around us every day. Traffic, home heating and agriculture are among the main dioxin contributors. WHO and EU set safe level limits for dioxin emissions, and expert analysis has shown that the proposed development will have a minuscule effect,” the spokesman said.

The hearing is expected to continue until the end of next week.

© 2009 The Irish Times

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