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There will be no Plastics Factory in Skibbereen!

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· October 17, 2019

As the SOS campaign slogan said “There will be no Plastics Factory in Skibbereen”. That turns out not just to be an aspirational goal, but literally true. The brilliant news after a High Court review is that the application by RTP to build the factory has been quashed. With expenses awarded to the campaigners, and many legal arguments still to make, the application by RTP has stalled. The campaign has succeeded. So congratulations to the SOS team for their tireless campaiging, lobbying, researching and fundraising which have brought it to this point.

Even better, the case is now closed for the forseeable future because RTP have subsequently decided not to pursue an application to build a plastic factory in Skibbereen.

The only loose end is what to do with the Poundlick site, and what will happen to its industiral designation. So share the good news, but keep in touch with SOS for further news on that front.

The original judement as reported by SOS read

“In the High Court on 30^th July 2019, An Bord Pleanala consented to the Court granting an Order of Certiorari quashing the decision of the Bord dated 29^th November 2018 which had permitted the construction of a thermoplastic compounds production facility at Poundlick, Baltimore Road, Skibbereen, Co. Cork.

And it is ordered that the subject matter of the said decision be remitted to An Bord Pleanala to be decided in accordance with law.

As is normal in cases of this kind, the subject matter of the decision will be remitted by the High Court to the Bord for further consideration which may result in a request to Daly Products Limited for a Natura Impact Statement. We will be a copy party to communications between the Bord and Daly Products Limited and to any NIS and will have opportunity to challenge or object.

We are advised that it will take a year to 18 months for procedures between the Bord and Daly Products Limited to play out and that no development can be commenced in that period.

Unusually, Daly Products Limited has not engaged in any way in the current process.

An Bord Pleanala has agreed to pay our legal costs.”

RTP withdraws

Now the latest announcement is that RTP Company have withdrawn their planning application.

As reported by SOS “An Bord Pleanála sent notification on September 16th 2019 to our Chairperson Brendan McCarthy that RTP Company T/A Daly Products Ltd. have withdrawn their application for the plastic factory and that there is no ‘live’ planning application now. This case is now closed. The SOS campaign has been successful in ways they could never have imagined. This has been a brilliant example of ‘People Power’.

Go raibh míle maith agaibh!!!

Thank you everyone for your support!!!”

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Alicia O’Sullivan talks about climate action

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· October 17, 2019

Bev and Rob from Sustainable Skibbereen interview climate activist, campaigner and Skibbereen resident Alicia O’Sullivan. The interview explores Alicia’s many roles as Ambassador, climate change activist and rights campaigner. Praised by Senator John Kerry as a teenage activist alongside Greta Thunburg, Alicia talks about local and global issues, and the future.

From Our Ocean Wealth: “At an early age Alicia began volunteering and campaigning for change on many different issues. She joined Cork County Comhairle Na nÓg (i.e. youth council) in 2016 and has been part of a group successful in working on the reform of sexual education in Ireland.

In 2017 she began working with YMCA Ireland and with this organisation she began developing her digital media skills for advocacy and creativity.

In 2018 she won a mentorship with the ESB as ‘TechSpacer of the Year’ for her outstanding participation in digital creativity projects by using digital tools to achieve social change.

In 2019 she was titled Lions Club Youth Ambassador for Ireland and began developing ‘GenerationZ’ which is a project aimed at helping parents understand their children and to succour communication on a variety of issues like mental health and LGBT+ matters.

Alicia is one of millions of Climate Strikers around the world and is passionate about youth voice and engagement. She hopes to pursue law and politics after school”.

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Climate Change for Ireland?

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· November 21, 2018

Minister for Climate Action Richard Bruton tweeted on Nov 20th that

Today I secured government approval to draw up an all of government plan to make Ireland a leader in responding to climate change. The Plan will set out the actions to be taken by every government department and body to meet our climate commitment

and he intends to ” make Ireland a leader in responding to climate change”.

The Plan will set out the actions to be taken by every government department and body to meet our national, EU and international climate commitments.

However, as Gosego Moletsane writes in Green News .ie

“Ireland is well off track to meet both its 2020 or 2030 climate targets or to decarbonise the economy as planned by 2050, according to the State’s own expert climate advisory body. The latest projections from Ireland’s EPA is that on current trends, Ireland’s emissions will still be 13 per cent above 1990 levels in 2030.

The 2018 Climate Change Performance Index puts Ireland in 49th place out of a total of 56 countries identified in the study. Together, the 56 nations account for over 90 per cent of global greenhouse gas emissions.

Reported in joural.ie the minister conceded that the country is “far off course” and “way off target”. The climate action minister said a “huge step up” from government is required if Ireland is to play its part in cutting emissions.“Let’s be honest. This can’t be solved by government alone. A lot of it will be behavioural change. Buying into different lifestyles. A much deeper change.”

Full report at the link here.

and here

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The proposed plastics factory is just light manufacturing?

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· November 21, 2018

It’s not just light manufacturing. Inspite of the original zoning of the Poundlick site in this rural area of natural beauty, the site was re-zoned (with no proper notification) to accommodate the new plastics factory planning application. An FAQ from SOS Skibbereen explores the impact of the proposed factory on the environment.

“A Light Industrial building means an industrial building in which the processes carried on or the machinery installed are such as could be carried on or installed in any residential area without detriment to the amenity of that area by reason of noise, vibration, smell, fumes, smoke, soot, ash, dust or grit.

· Plastics manufacturing is a major part of the chemical industry, and some of the world’s largest chemical companies have been involved since the earliest days, such as the industry leaders BASF and Dow Chemical

· This facility will have 4 X17 metre chimneys to disperse the emissions of fumes, dust and particulate.

· It will have machinery running 24 hours a day

· Toxic chemicals need permanent refrigeration

· There will be 4X16 metre silos being filled and emptied of plastic pellets regularly

· The processing of toxic chemicals in such a sensitive area cannot legitimately be described as light industrial activity.”

Full info and other FAQ’s at SOS Skibbereen here

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Water Pollution from the Plastics Factory?

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· November 21, 2018

SOS Skibbereen have researched the parent companies record on water quality at their Winona factory and asses the likely impact on the Ilen and Roaringwater Bay. The following is from SOS – full article link below.

“Impaired” Waters with Toxic Discharges or the Cleanest Waters Ireland?

Winona includes a large area of Impaired Waters, which means the regulations and controls are not stringent enough to meet the water quality standards set by states for the quality of surface and ground waters. The RTP Company factory is close to the banks of the Mississippi. Pollutants found in the river include Mercury and Polychlorinated Biphenyls (PCBS) which are neurotoxicants with intergenerational health consequences from maternal body burden and exposure during pregnancy[iv].

Along its course in Minnesota, 703,019 pounds of toxic chemicals were dumped by industrial facilities into the Mississippi River in 2010.[v] Indeed the Mississippi River ranks 2nd in the USA for total toxic discharges.

By Comparison greater than 90% of the Ilen River is classified as Class A, meaning it is among the cleanest waters in Ireland.

The planners assessment for the factory proposed for Skibbereen states that the “Main impact (will be) on local flora fauna populations located downstream in the SAC from contaminated surface water on site”

Indeed they later state that all surface and process water will be discharged through Skibbereen Waste Water Treatment Plant, which discharges into the Ilen just upstream from the Skibbereen Rowing Club.

Why No Traffic Assessment for the Plastics Factory?

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· November 21, 2018

The proposed RTP/Daly Products Plastic Nurdle Processing Factory at Poundlick, Baltimore Road, Skibbereen, Co. Cork will bring heavy lorries to a rural area on roads that were not built with such traffic in mind. The normal planning process would include a Traffic Impact Assessment to assess and prepare for this. So far this has not happended.

So why was there no Traffic Impact Assessment (T.I.A.) carried out or called for?

If the site goes above 5,000 square metres it is required.
This factory plan is for 4,800 so it is under the threshold, but Dept. of Transport guidelines state:

“it is necessary to decide which developments should be subject to T.I.A.. One of the simplest ways to do this is to set thresholds above which a T.I.A. is automatically required. This does not mean that the occasional sensitive site that does not meet these thresholds should not be subject to T.I.A. if considered appropriate”.

This site is only marginally short of the threshold and definitely should have had the Traffic Impact Assessment imposed on it. That should have been a minimum requirement from Cork County Council.

The daily traffic movements at the factory are stated as:
1. 80 Car movements
2. 12 HGV (6 X 2) movements
3. 92 Vehicle movements daily (just under the 100 maximum T.I.A. threshold).

Safety Hazards on the Baltimore Road:

County council require 65 metres sight lines at factory entrances in both directions.
This can’t be achieved in western direction as sight line crosses over front of gardens of adjoining properties. The major concern here is that traffic coming from Baltimore direction will not have sufficient stopping distance (as required by DMURS, which are the national standards) to react to vehicles exiting from the proposed development.

All factory traffic will have to pass through Skibbereen (up to 6 X 20 – 40 tonne trucks daily once factory is operational) carrying raw materials.

Whales and Plastic

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· September 3, 2018

Whale Watch West Cork skipper Rory Jackson gave a talk at the Family Fun Day at Inish Beg on the dangers of allowing our plastic rubbish to be washed out to sea. He showed a large collection of plastic including boxes, bottles and balloons collected while out on a recent whale watching trip on the Liscannor Star. He and lead Skipper on the Voyager Nick Slocum are sadly collecting rubbish from the sea on a daily basis while whale watching. More info on the trips at whalewatchwestcork.com The image above shows the shocking results on sea mammals who may swallow these plastics.

Quoted in the Irish Times

Some 80 pieces of plastic rubbish weighing 8kgs were found in the stomach of a whale that died after a five-day effort to save it. The pilot whale spat out five plastic bags on Friday and later died. An autopsy found another 80 bags and other plastic items weighing 8kgs in the whale’s stomach.

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