Regulator rules out oral hearing into rock blasting plans at Limerick plant

THE environmental regulator has ruled out plans for an oral hearing into proposals which will lead to rock blasting at Aughinish.​

Rusal Alumina has secured planning permission from An Bord Pleanala to build a borrow pit in Aughinish island to extract rock for use in the plant’s operations. It comes due to the firm’s dwindling stockpile of rock.

It means that securing an operational licence from the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is effectively the final piece of the jigsaw.

The pit would measure 4.5 hectares wide, and eight metres deep.

But some locals fear that disturbance to the ground near the highly alkaline red mud ponds could increase the chances of a toxic spill.

They requested that the EPA hold a public oral hearing into the project.

But in a move described as the agency giving residents “the two fingers”, this request was turned down.

In a determination document, the agency stated no new issues had been presented which it felt merited an oral hearing, and also suggested Rusal’s operations are of “national or regional importance”.

Pat Geoghegan of the Cappagh Farmers Group said: “The EPA has taken away the rights of the local communities to have their say publicly against this burrow pit going ahead.”

He argued that if anything did go wrong in the rock blasting process, it could cause immense environmental damage, pointing to an incident at an alumina plant in Hungary back in 2010.

“We have pointed out that any blast at any time​ could cause one of the biggest environmental disasters, if sections of the embankments are disturbed or taken out from a blast. To take away an oral hearing from the people is giving them the two-fingers,” he added.

Instead, Mr Geoghegan argued that Rusal can continue to source its rock ground from the local quarry as it always has done.​

Rusal has not responded to a request for comment from the Limerick Leader.