Tag Archives: Halston

Gort brings the fight to the Biogas developers

So who are the developers ?

Sustainable Bio-energy Limited is the name of the developer for the Biogas Plant in Gort and they are based in Donegal. They are a subsidiary of Connective Energy Holdings Limited, who also own the Glenmore Generation plant in Ballybofey, Co.Donegal. We explored the backstory of the Glenmore facility in an earlier post (the Brimstone cowboys) and it makes for some concerning reading.

The Environmental (EIAR) reports on the Gort Biogas and Glenmore Generation plants are typically prepared by Halston, a project management company offering planning and environmental impact assessment services.

Throughout our six-year campaign, the Gort Biogas Concerns Group has reached out to the Sustainable Bio-energy to enter into dialog, but to no avail, they prefer to remain faceless and in the shadows.

Explosive Negligence

In October 2023, lightning struck a Biogas plant in Oxfordshire, UK, resulting in a huge explosion and resulting fire at the site.

Figure 1. Explosion of Biogas storage tanks due to a lightning strike at a Biogas plant in Oxfordshire, UK. October 2023.

The strike caused three of the four biogas storage tanks to explode. This required a massive response from the emergency services including, six fire engines, four ambulances and 40 firefighters to bring the blaze under control. Raw biogas, held in storage silos, wasn’t the only explosive material on site, as many Biogas plants also store processed Biogas (Biomethane) in compressed and highly explosive cylinders. Luckily no one was injured at this plant due to its remote location.

If this is the type of explosion that three tanks can produce, then what would be the potential for a plant with several times the volume? This is the size of the proposed Gort Biogas plant. With the closest home just 100m away, and the nearest housing estate just 200m away a blast at a plant of this magnitude would be catastrophic. How many fire engines and firefighters would be needed to bring something like this under control? Does Gort, or even County Galway or Clare have the emergency capacity for such a response?

Emergency plans for explosive sites are governed by Irish/European law under what is called COMAH (Control of Major Accident Hazards). Through the Environmental Impact Assessment Report (EIAR), such potential hazards are identified and addressed as a planning requirement. COMAH regulations require the company and consultants to undertake a full analysis to understand the health and safety concerns of the plant, adopt monitoring programs during operations and formulate emergency response plans including liaison with fire authorities and the Health and Safety Authority (HSA).

Biogas wasn’t considered explosive by planning consultant

As part of our analysis we looked into how Halston, the company who carried out the EIAR for the Gort plant, approached the COMAH regulation. The EIAR report concluded that they, in fact, did not consider the raw Biogas in the 12 tanks (digesters/storage) as an explosive substance and the proposed Biogas plant was therefore below the thresholds required under COMAH. Essentially, concluding that the facility was exempt from these regulations.

When you consider what happened in Oxfordshire , how could any diligent planning consultant conclude that Biogas is not a hazardous/ explosive substance and therefore to be exempt from a regulation designed specifically to mitigate against such incidents?

ABP excuses planning consultant

This was of course a huge concern for our community, and we brought this to the attention of An Bord Pleanála as part of our submission report.

The response from the ABP inspector was unbelievable. He excused the total omission of the Biogas as a hazardous substance by the developer. Then, correctly considering the Biogas as hazardous substance, the inspector did his own calculations and concluded, in agreement with the Halston EIAR report, that COMAH regulations didn’t apply to the Gort plant.

The Gort Biogas Concerns Group conducted its own analysis of and found that the ABP inspectors’ assumptions and calculations were not consistent with the regulations and that the Gort plant was well within the threshold. Not satisfied, we sought clarification from expert industry consultants in Ireland in preparation for our Judicial Review. Unfortunately, those with expertise in COMAH in Ireland were unwilling to engage with us, so we had to seek expertise in the UK. We engaged the services of experts who reviewed the plans and concluded that the site was indeed well within the COMAH threshold. In fact, due to its size, the development was almost twice the threshold where COMAH regulations are a legal requirement.

To fully inform our argument, we asked the consultant to review the APB inspector’s COMAH calculations. The consultant highlighted six serious errors made by the APB inspector. This became part of our legal case which APB had recently conceded.

Gort Bites Back

This incorrect COMAH assessment remains a key point in our campaign. The point that ABP conceded the case does not change the fact that without the proper assessment, this development would have proceeded unchecked. Placing a facility with potentially catastrophic potential in close proximity to residential areas, and with no incident response plan in place.

This warranted further action.

Planned developments in explosive breach

As planned Gort Biogas development by Sustainable Bio-energy Limited is in breach of the COMAH regulation in regards to the handling and storage of explosive gases, the Gort Biogas Concerns Group contacted the HSA in March with this information. This was an important step, as planning at the site remains active until ABP amends the order.

We contacted another group, faced with a similar plight as Gort, in Swinford, Co. Mayo, and let them know our findings. Through their own research, they too have demonstrated that their planning application is also in breach of the COMAH regulation. Another potential time bomb.

The fact that the Gort planning application passed through an environmental planning consultant and the ABP inspector, and both concluded, incorrectly, that the COMAH regulation did not apply, raises some serious questions about the overall planning process in regards to Anaerobic digestors – Ciaran O’ Donnell, Gort Biogas Concerns Group

Operational development in explosive breach

With two planned Biogas developments in breach of COMAH, and the potential for many more under the Governments Biomethane Strategy looming, we decided to look at an operational Biogas plant: Glenmore Generation Limited in Donegal, a subsidiary of Connective Energy Holdings Limited, and a sister company of Sustainable Bio-energy Limited, of the Gort Biogas development.

Here we conducted the same calculations of the COMAH requirements as we did in Gort but at the sister plant; Glenmore Generation Limited in Donegal, and found that they also appear to be in breach of these very same regulations.

Our research shows that Halston was again in charge of preparing the EIAR for Glenmore Generation Limited (Donegal), as it was for Sustainable Bio-energy Limited (Gort).

We therefore made contact with the HSA in March and reported the Glenmore Generation Limited Biogas plant as potentially being in breach of the COMAH regulations.

Operational development in planning breach

While researching the Glenmore Generation Limited Biogas plant, we reviewed the Donegal County Councils planning conditions for this facility. A key condition of planning permission was that no more than 20 tonnes of biogas (including biogas in the digesters and compressed biomethane) was to be stored onsite.

The developer indicated that they would comply as they only planned to store the compressed biomethane in 2 storage tank modules.

Last year, Glenmore Generation released a promotional Youtube video called ‘Behind the Scenes on our Biogas Operation’. From this clip, it is clearly evident that there are not two but six storage modules on site (Figure 2), enabling three times the capacity of their current planning restrictions.

Figure 2. Six compressed gas storage tanks at the Glenmore Generation limited. (Source: Youtube promotional video: ‘Behind the Scenes on our Biogas Operation’).

The Gort Biogas Concerns Group contacted Donegal County Council in March and submitted an enforcement complaint as this storage is contrary to planning applications at the Glenmore plant.

If people are to embrace this technology, then they need to trust the process. People need the reassurance that the decision making and planning process has been conducted thoroughly following environmental law and planning regulations – Ciaran O’ Donnell

Further investigations

From our investigation, we have identified serious issues within both planned and operational Biogas plants. This begs the question; how many of the current operational Biogas plants on the Island of Ireland are in breach of this and other regulations? With the Governments drive for a further 200 plants, what else will emerge?

This investigation highlights the cavalier culture of developers, consultants and operators to enable developments, come what may, in pursuit of profit. Glenmore Generation Biogas is not adhering to Irish and European COMAH regulations for health and safety, and is potentially storing three times more compressed gas than it was regulated to do so. This is not about planning though; this is about the health and safety of the people working on the site and the people in the surrounding community.

Donegal has already suffered a horrific gas explosion in Creeslough in October 2022, so Donegal County Council and the HSA will likely be hyper-vigilant to this blatant disregard of health and safety regulation.

It is clear that, for people to have confidence in this technology, then they need to trust it. For new planned Biogas plants, the emphasis is on An Bord Pleanála and local planning authorities and the HSA to ensure safety regulations are adhered to, and planning law followed.

Is it time for a full health and safety review of all current operational Biogas plants in Ireland ? Would it be prudent to establish government regulation and not guidelines for all new and existing anaerobic digestors as part of the Biomethane strategy ? We certainly think so.

We look forward to a timely response from Donegal County Council and the HSA in regards to our submissions.

The Gort Biogas Concerns Group has been consistent throughout; the use of anaerobic digestion can help to reduce our reliance on fossil gas, when sized and scaled appropriately to the needs of the local community. Putting the needs of communities ahead of industrialisation and profits, and ensuring the safety of people and the environment is paramount.

David Murray, Gort Biogas Concerns Group

A significant battle won, but the war continues

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A significant win

The people of south Galway remain jubilant after their recent victory against An Bord Pleanála (ABP) during a Judicial Review in the High Court. Gort Biogas Concern Group and the Burren lowlands jointly took this action against the flawed decision of ABP to grant permission for the developers to go ahead. The legal case was funded entirely by the community and local businesses. From receiving the news in 21^st Nov 2023, it took until late March 2024 for the case to be officially concluded, ending our successful Judicial Review against ABP. We will seek to have the recoverable portion of our legal costs returned to the campaign. This was a significant victory for the campaign against the national planning appeals board.

Another battle looms

The developer (not involved in the JR case but a notice party) has been granted remittal by the High Court. This means that they, the developer, does not need to restart the planning process. Instead, they can ask ABP to reconsider the same application again. One of the key points that ABP conceded on was the road realignment at the entrance of the site. Access to the site, as outlined in the application, was from the old Galway Road (R458), this road is a restricted regional road. Creating access for development of this nature onto a restricted regional road contravenes planning law. The developer is now back trying to argue the same application again with ABP, faults and all.

We are now waiting for ABP to contact Gort Biogas Concern Group, Burren Lowlands and all those who sent in observations. They must inform all parties that the application is again back on the desk of ABP. How long will this take? We don’t know. The wheels of planning law are slow, but our community is on its feet and ready for another battle.

Are we deterred? Not at all, we are in a significantly stronger position now than we were back in 2020 when the case first appeared before ABP. Are we frustrated? Yes, but we remain steadfast, with a clear mandate from the people of south Galway, underpinned by the full support of our elected representatives. We have a war chest raised by the community and this will be put to work to fight any battles that come our way. We will continue in our efforts to deter the developers from being able to create any kind of foothold in this area and we have a few things in progress and we hope to update you soon !

Thank you for your ongoing support,

Gort Biogas Concern Group

ABP concedes the Gort Biogas case – a win for Gort and South Galway

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A case brought to the High court by the Gort Biogas Concern Group CLG and the Burren Lowlands CLG against the decision of An Board Pleanála to grant permission to build an industrial scale Biogas Facility in the town of Gort has reached conclusion, with An Board Pleanála conceding.

The case is the culmination of five-year campaign fought by the people of South Galway against this development, and has been received with great joy by people from the town. Gort Biogas Concern Group member Ciaran O’Donnell said “this is a win for common sense, industrial developments of this scale belong in industrial settings. Galway County Council got it right, and refused planning, it took ABP a bit longer to reach the same thinking, and we had to fight it all the way”.

Gort Biogas Concern group, composed entirely of volunteer effort, raised the funds from donations from the community to mount the legal challenge. The group has been clear from the onset that there is a place for Anaerobic technology, if scaled to the local area and with local needs considered. Industrial developments of this scale would financially benefit a few individuals but impact everyone living in or visiting the town. The scale of the proposed plant matched the size of our neighboring town of Kinvara and would be located just 800m from Gort’s town square. The potential impact on the environment was too great given the importance of local area and karst landscape, feeding into the pristine Coole-Garryland SAC complex. The long term viability of the town was also at stake, being unable to realise the full potential of local heritage and to capitalise on its position in the Burren Lowlands. The people of Gort support a vision of long term stability and viability, driven by input and engagement.

O’Donnell continued “the unrelenting and endless support of the people of south Galway made this happen and we will remain vigilant for this and other such similar developments that threaten the local environment and the viability of the town to thrive and prosper into the future”.

Gort Biogas Resistance Flairs

Poetry Protest!

We have our own portest poem Gort Biogas Plant vs. W.B Yeats from Leo Smyth

Biogas Begone!

A song from local Legend Niall Finnegan! (Lyrics from Richard Joyce and Niall!)

“This just shows that the resolve of the people in South Galway holds true. Too much is at stake for the people of Gort and the fragile local environment to let this development go ahead. The impact and legacy of this development on the entire area weighted by the economic benefit to a few private developers is simply too much to ask the people to bear. One thing the global pandemic has taught us is to value our local surroundings. Local amenities such as the Gort River Walk have been a lifeline during these times.

The people of Gort fully support the decision of Galway County Council to refuse planning permission for this development and it is hoped that An Bord Pleanála uphold this ruling.

On behalf of the Gort Biogas Concerns Group, I would like to thank everybody for the support we are getting – from the artists to the sign-hangers, to the people and businesses who have supported us in our mission to stop this disastrous development
Ciaran O’ Donnell, Chair Gort Biogas Concerns Group

An Bord Pleanála’s decision is due on April 20.

Gort Biogas Developers turning a blind-eye to traffic concerns

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Galway County Council has refused planning permission to the Biogas developers citing many reasons, one of which relates to concerns over traffic. The Biogas developers have come back and appealed the decision.

We think they have a blind-spot when it comes to traffic analysis.

Information Requests and planning Decision:

Even at the pre-planning meeting between Developers and Galway County Council on 9th April, 2019, Galway County Council made 2 important points:

Any Proposals involving HGV Traffic through the town centre will be highly problematic.
All issues highlighted in the FI (Further information) Request Issued under 18/502 should be addressed in full

Basically on the first application there was a lot of information missing, so Galway County Council issued an RFI, that contained many requests including the following:

“The applicant is required to submit a revised EIAR to include an assessment and evaluation of the feedstock to serve the proposed development, which should include the type and locations of all the feedstock sources to supply the proposed biogas plant.”
“Please submit the locations of all feedstock sources to serve the proposed development and highlight the likely haul routes to be used to and from the development based on realistic travel times.”
“The likely haul routes should be broken down in the percentages, in order to obtain a clear understanding of the traffic implications of the proposed developments on Gort town.”

The applicant has covered Traffic Assessments in their EIAR but not completely.

Traffic Concerns

The proposed Biogas plant will require 250,000 Tonnes of material to be managed per year. 90,000 Tonnes of input (Feedstock) , 150,000 Tonnes of Digestate (fertiliser) and 5,000-10,000 tonnes of C02/Methane. This simple diagram shows the process.

All of this material will need to pass through Junction 16, (Glenbrack Roundabout) in Gort as it’s the only exit/entry point allowed. As this is also a motorway exit/entry point there are as many concerns about this, as there are about routing traffic through Gort.

Errors and Inconsistencies

When looking at traffic numbers there are 2 tables in the EIAR document that state different traffic rates – no idea which one they deem is correct so this doesn’t exactly fill us with confidence.

No Seasonal Variations

The traffic assessments give a daily average for the year e.g.

delivering feedstock (e.g. silage) 10 vehicles/day .. Peaking to 11!
Collecting digestate ( 11 vehicles/day)

But this doesn’t take into account the seasonal nature of the feedstock or digestate.

Feedstock Delivery

The EIAR emphatically states that “no feedstock deliveries will be made using tractor hauled slurry type tankers” – that however, only applies to slurry – not to silage, so we assume, like most Biogas plants, that it will be tractor and trailer for delivery of silage. We also assume that delivery will be somewhere between 12 and 20 tonnes so an average of 16 tonnes per load. For silage, 54,000 tonnes will have a specific peak wndow, usually May-Sept of around 4 months.

These kinds of tractor/silage trailers are common modes of silage feedstock transport

Note : The EIAR also doesn’t answer Galway County Council’s original request for more information on feedstock suppliers, routes.

Digestate Collection

150,000 tones of digestate are predicted to be collected from the Biogas plant. We are assuming that the collection will be done by Tractor with Slurry tanker (see image below)

In the applicant’s EIAR they state:

“In terms of storage capacity, the volume of storage should be guided and sufficiently sized to cater for digestate production between the period mid-October to mid-January (approximately 20 weeks depending on location within the country and weather conditions).”

So from Mid-January, there are 32 weeks in which to collect and deliver 150,000 tons of digestate to farms in the vicinity.

150,000 tons in 32 weeks is an average of 34 x 20 tonne Tractor Trailer loads a day so again we could imagine a peak of 3-4 times this and 100 tractors per day would not be unreasonable for a few weeks during peak collection. (Jan/Feb) This contrasts starkly with their proposed 17 vehicles per day.

Easiest way to spread digestate is to collect with Tractor and trailer and apply directly on land.

Ambiguity on Routing traffic through Gort Town

This is the main blind-spot that the biogas developers have. They have an inability to conceive traffic going through Gort Town.

“TRSA have been informed that hauliers making deliveries related to the proposed development will be contracted to enter the site from the south via the M18 motorway junction 16 to the north of Gort, and via the R458 regional road from the motorway junction to the site access. TTRSA have also been informed that no feedstock deliveries will be made using tractor hauled slurry type tankers and that no feedstock deliveries will be routed through Gort town centre.”

Did you see the blind-spot? Even though Galway County Council have highlighted to the developers that trafffic through Gort would be a major consideration regarding planning – they have completed ignored the 150,000 tonnes of digestate that need to be collected from the site.

Conflict at Glenbrack Roundabout (Junction 16)

It was the key item highlighted in the pre-planning meeting – concern over traffic through Gort town centre and traffic at Junction 16/Glenbrack roundabout.

Glenbrack Roundabout (Junction 16) will be used for all Biogas traffice

This roundabout would be used by every vehicle going to/coming from the factory so

100 tractors carrying digestate +
80 tractors + trailers carrying silage
20 tankers carrying slurry
4 tankers for Methane +
4 Tankers for C0₂ +

These are not unreasonable numbers during a few peak weeks. All of these will pass the Glenbrack roundabout twice. Over a 12 hour period – this would be an average of a Biogas-related vehicle every 1 minute 43 seconds at Glenbrack Roundabout spread evenly throughout the day.. Which won’t happen that smoothly of course.

Feeding the Biogas Beast

The biogas plant will be an unpredictable beast to feed and to dispose of its digestate. There will be peaks in demand for feedstock and digestate but the proposers EIAR is not really considering peak. The Biogas developers have a blind-spot regarding offering any consideration on digestate disposal – It’s like they don’t want to be in any way responsible for its disposal and have offered no insight into how the 150,000 tonnes will be distributed .

Galway County Council have been very clear in highlighting traffic concerns and requested some key data to make proper traffic assessments. The Biogas Developers (and Halston (https://halston.ie/portfolio/biogas/) have turned a blind-eye on the request – so ..from our point of view, the refusal is well justified.

Recap summary :

There are inconsistencies in the PCU numbers in Traffic Analysis
The EIAR fails to provide the detail of information previously requested by Galway County Council
The EIAR fails to consider seasonal demands of both feedstock and digestate
The EIAR does not provide any analysis of traffic through Gort Town Centre which will be likely during digestate disposal to lands in vicinity of biogas plant
The EIAR does not prohibit tractor-based haulage of feedstock (Silage Trailer) and digestate (slurry tanker) and these are common modes of haulage for other biogas plants
Based on seasonal variation and smaller loading profiles, it is not unreasonable to assume that there could be over 200 vehicles/day visiting the Biogas plant
The applicatns EIAR does not address traffic concerns adequately and is a reaonsable grounds for refusal of permission

Gort Biogas and the Brimstone Cowboys

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Brimstone, an archaic term synonymous with sulfur, evokes the acrid odor of sulphur dioxide given off by lightning strikes.

South Galway has had to deal with aftermath of ‘Green’ solutions that have had devastating effects on the environment and the people living here. We have had blanket forestry operations with ‘carte-blanche’ approach and no consideration of the downstream environment. We have had the controversial ‘Derrybrien Windfarm’ and their bullying cowboy attitude – ‘bulldoze it first and ask questions later’ – followed by their complete lack of responsibility or consideration or engagement with the community. And now South Galway has to deal with a similar threat. It’s like those spaghetti westerns and the twang of Ennio Morricone’s – ‘The good, the bad and the ugly’ as those belligerent cowboys roll into town – Is this the Derrybrien sequel then as the Brimstone Cowboys bring their dodgy Biogas plans to town?

The Biogas Plan

The plan is to build a massive mega-Biogas plant 800m from Gort Centre, 10m from the Gort River, in the heart of the Burren lowlands. Make no mistake – this plant is enormous and feeding it and distributing the output is a cause of huge concern – with Heavy-Goods vehicles (HGV) coming into the Glenbrack Roundabout every few minutes. Then – there’s the smell – This is a silage/slurry treatment plant and despite the best designs on paper – they smell! The input and output ingredients are toxic and a spill into the river or through the Karst underground network would have devastating effects on Gort River, Coole Park and environs. If this goes ahead – this is a legacy that Gort will have to live with – goodbye tourism, goodbye nice place to work and live!

Concerns over the developer

Even with the best plans on paper things can go very badly wrong with Biogas plants. The worrying thing is that what we have is a very poor design and a belligerent company that is trying to shoehorn these plans into a reality like the ESB did with Derrybrien. In order to catch a cowboy builder it’s always good to look at previous builds and how they operate.

The Gort Biogas developer is called Sustainable Bio-Energy Limited, and they are a sister company of Connective Energy Holding who developed and run the Glenmore Biogas plant, near Ballybofey, in County Donegal. If we take a quick look at some key facts- it starts to raise the alarm bells (Queue ‘rattlesnake rattle’ in the background )

Due to their atrocious environmental record the Glenmore Biogas Plant was on the EPAs Remedial Action List for a number of years. This was due to several non-compliance’s including not reporting incidents (including incidents that should have been reported to Inland Fisheries board) . The developer will steer the narrative toward ‘teething problems’ of a complex plant but reporting incidents isn’t very complex. So we could then assume that things would be getting better – Bad assumption!

In 2018, there were 23 incidents reported at the Glenmore biogas plant and 17 complaints. In 2019 these numbers more or less doubled – not a very good trend! In the case of the 2019 Biogas Plant incidents , the types of incidents are reported below.

These include uncontrolled release from over-pressure, breaches of emissions levels, and odour detected offsite. For more info you can read about it here.

Note: The Gort Biogas Plant is about 3 times bigger than the Ballybofey Plant.

Part of the EPA remedial action was due to the fact that they installed a system that provided 3 times the volume rate defined in their design but they didn’t ‘know’ how much air they were venting because they didn’t install a required flow-metre. When they installed a flow-rate metre – surprise-surprise, they then found out that they were venting far above what they were originally designed for. (Their design defined 13,488m3/hr but it seems this was mistake in their calculations because the building volume (9,053m3) needed to be vented 3 times/hour which was 27,200m3/hr)

So what do they do? – Apply for planning to increase the venting rate!

Let’s recap on this again we have seen here: For Glenmore biogas plant …..

The Design is underspecified but is the basis of the Environmental Impact Assessment
The actual build included installation of machinery that will give the output to regulation (but not as specified in original design). Installation of required flow-rate monitor was not undertaken.
Developerinstalls flow-meter and finds anomaly…
Developer says sorry and applies for permission to increase flow rates

By the time we get to 3, the Biogas plant is built and everything is treated as an increment now. The foot is in the door and this is when we see plant expansions, change of feedstock, and many more things stack up.

Under-design it, assess it, build it, fix it, get permission for it – this could be a genuine mistake or there could be something more nefarious going on (Queue – Vultures circling their prey)

Mistake or Misdirection?

If this was a genuine mistake then surely then they would catch it in subsequent proposals – especially if it was the same company doing the EIAR (Environmental Impact Assessment Report) and applying for permission to increase flow rates. Nope! It seems that with the Gort Biogas plant there is the same fundamental mistake in their Environmental Impact Assessment. This isn’t Einstein’s theory of relatively were talking about – its basic pre-junior cert maths:

From the EIAR – the total volume of the Feedstock Reception Building is 3,806 m2 x 13.4m = ~51,000m^{3 .}In accordance with regulations, the volumetric emission rate from the Feedstock Reception Building should be three times the building volume so a rate therefore, approximately 150,000 m³ /hour would need to be vented.

In 8.2.3 (Page 8-21) of their EIAR, the developer states “the volume to be emitted will be ~75,000m3/hour”, in other words – half the required rate.

Surely, given the ‘trouble’ this caused in the Glenmore Biogas Plant, this basic flaw would have been caught. This metric affects many subsequent assessments (Emissions, odour, air dispersion) in the EIAR so it’s very important in the overall Environmental Assessment and yet – it’s wrong by a factor of 2.

The head hauncho behind the EIAR is Mr Colm Staunton who is a director of Halston and a Project Manager. According to the EIAR, Colm’s experience predominantly relates to Project Management of Environmental Impact Assessments (EIA), Environmental Licensing and Environmental Due Diligence. The example above is one of many flaws in a very poor quality design and EIAR. Mr Staunton has made mistakes in traffic volumes, there are anomalies in Noise assessments, and there are large gaps in the EIAR around the operation of digestate removal. From Mr Staunton’s point of view the spreading of 150,000 tons (7,500 Slurry tanks) of smelly digestate fertilizer ‘in the general area of the site’ should not be a consideration in planning and that it’s just ‘common practice’.

Another flaw that Galway County Council pointed out and requested from Mr Staunton was a public consultation for the proposal to give local feedback. The lack of a public consultation has meant that many assessments were done using ‘desktop’ study and this has produced poorer quality visual, odour and landscape assessments.

Note – This is the 2nd time around for EIAR Corrections for Mr Staunton as we pointed out several serious flaws in his last EIAR as well (the application was withdrawn)

In Summary:

So, given the facts, what can we summarize about the Biogas Developers? You can judge for yourself.

One thing that is really concerning is that, even though the EIAR quality is clearly lacking, there is a belligerence from the developer to push this onto a reluctant community. It appears that Mr Staunton & Co are not listening -so lets’ be clear once again:

On behalf of the 1000s who signed objections, the 1000s who have voiced their objections and the 400 who submitted objections, please understand that South Galway doesn’t want your dodgy Biogas Plant in our community – now .. or in the future. We don’t trust your designs, your plans and your flawed assessments. We don’t want a repeat of your deteriorating Biogas plant in Ballybofey and don’t want to suffer what the communities there have had to put up with. Finally, stop trying to bully this community to your will – Stop with your new applications, your Bord Pleanala appeals and your high-court appeals – you are giving biogas a bad name.

South Galway doesn’t want your dodgy Biogas Plant in our community

The last thing we need in South Galway is another controversy like Derrybrien Windfarms but it should indicate how far our communities are prepared to go to protect ourselves and our environment.

David Murray