| New EIA Regulations C-66/06 Environment |
Mr. Conor O'Sullivan,
Planning and Housing Policy Section,
Department of the Environment, Community and Local Government,
Custom House,
Dublin 1.
21 October 2011
conor_o'sullivan@environ.ie
Submissions/observations on the draft Guidance for Planning Authorities on the Drainage and Reclamation of Wetlands - Consultation Document September 2011 The Planning and Development (Amendment)(No.2) Regulations 2011 (S.I. No.454 of 2011) and the European Communities [Amendment to Planning and Development] Regulations 2011 (S.I. No.464 of 2011).
The threshold for mandatory planning permission for wetland drainage has been reduced from 20 ha to 0.1 hectares and the threshold for mandatory EIA is set at 2 hectares.
These thresholds are a dead letter as they exceed the scale that such developments are carried out in practice. The 100m x 100m (0.1 hectare) threshold would wholly encompass a significant proportion of wetlands in Ireland including most ponds, springs, streams, dune slacks and wet woodland relics or could significantly undermine the conservation function of larger wetlands. // Read More // |  |
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| Posted By Tony Lowes on 04/11/2011 ( Reads : 544 ) | Comments (1) | EU |
| New EIA Regulations C-66/06 Agriculture |
Department of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food,
Nitrates, Biodiversity and Engineering Division,
Johnstown Castle Estate,
Co. Wexford.
21 October 2011peter.cafferkey@agriculture.gov.ie Submission on Department of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food Guidance document for public consultation: European Communities (Environmental Impact Assessment) (Agriculture) Regulations 2011) (SI 456 of 2011) We welcome the fact that Ireland is taking steps to address the findings of the ECJ in case C-66/06. However, these steps are not adequate to produce a functioning EIA system in compliance with EU law. // Read More // | |
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| Posted By Tony Lowes on 04/11/2011 ( Reads : 686 ) | Comments (0) | EU |
| Peat Extraction Infringement Lodged |
FIE has appealed to the European Commission to enforce the European Court of Justice 1999 ruling against Ireland for failure to assess peat extraction. The Judgment required Ireland to ensure that Environmental Impact Assessment [EIA] takes place for the wide spread industrial extraction of peat. Ireland's failure to do this led to a return to Court seeking daily fines of more than €20,000. But this case was withdrawn on the basis of 3 commitments for Ireland. Five years later these committeemen's have been entirely ignored and industrial extraction has dramatically increased - and not a single EIA has been done. Includes April 2010 Site Reports of 4 sites in County Westmeath.
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| Posted By Tony Lowes on 27/06/2010 ( Reads : 504 ) | Comments (0) | EU |
| Access to Justice in the European Courts |
| FIE has joined with more than 12 other European ENGOs in appealing to the Aarhus Convention's Compliance Committee the fact that the European Courts has blocked all access to justice for individuals and NGOs in environmental matters. The European Courts have interpreted the criteria so narrowly that individuals and NGOs have in every case been refused standing to challenge EC institutions' decisions, exempting these decisions from public scrutiny before the Courts. Read the submission. // Read More // |  |
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| Posted By Tony Lowes on 10/12/2008 ( Reads : 1131 ) | Comments (0) | EU |
| CALL FOR PESTICIDE NATIONAL ACTION PLAN AFTER EU REPORT |
FIE is calling for a kick start to a pesticide ‘National Action Plan' after a leaked EU Report on pesticides due to be published shortly reveals that a record proportion of 49% of fruits and vegetables sold in the EU are contaminated with pesticides. But the percentage of cereal samples containing pesticides residues sold in Ireland doubled from 2005 - 2006 from 17% to 38%.with 11% over the MRL - more than 15 times the EU average. More than twice as many Irish fruit and vegetables were over the MRL limits compared to fruits and vegetables imported from our European partners. Of 84 apples on sale in Ireland, 61 had pesticide resides at or over the MRL. FIE has written to the Minister for State for Agriculture and Foods, Trevor Sergeant, urging him to take Pesticide contro, away from the Department of Agriculture and bring them under the Food and Safety Authority and to kick start' to a National Action Plan for pesticides with explicitly mandatory reduction targets. Press release | Report and backup documentation on FIE website | Lobbying letters // Read More // | |
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| Posted By Tony Lowes on 31/10/2008 ( Reads : 1155 ) | Comments (0) | EU |
| CALL FOR TV ENERGY RATINGS |
FIE has written to European Environment Commissioner Stavros Dimas seeking the extension of Star Energy ratings to televisions. Through a loophole in the law, television are not required to show their power consumption yet huge modern plasma TVs can require many times the power of traditional TVs. If half of British home owners bought a plasma-screen TV, two nuclear power stations would have to be built to meet the extra energy demand - some 2.5 gigawatts. FIE's letter to the European Commissioner points out that conservation must be the cornerstone of government's policy but that without proper information, the consumer will be unable to play his part and member states like Ireland are unable to introduced minimum standards. Press Release
Letter to the Commissioner Q102 Radio interview // Read More // |  |
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| Posted By Tony Lowes on 01/02/2008 ( Reads : 1639 ) | Comments (1) | EU |
| 23 OCTOBER: EU AIRBOAT COMPLAINT JUSTFIED |
| Acting swiftly on FIE's complaint against the licence for the Airboat on the Blackwater River, filed only a week previously, the European Commission's Environmental Directorate has informed FIE that the complaint is justified.
'As you correctly mention, the Merchant Shipping Act 1992 is absent from the 2nd Schedule of the relevant statutory instrument, thus excluding the possibility of an 'appropriate assessment' of a type of activity that may constitute a project for the purposes of Article 6(3) and (4). The registration of a complaint would therefore be justified on this ground.'
FIE and the recently formed local group, the Blackwater Alliance, are awaiting replies from the Minister for State for the Marine Pat 'The Cope' Gallagher and Dick Roche, the Minister for the Environment. The Commission's swift response indicates the serious view they take of Ireland's failure to control jet skies, quad bikes, and other activities that are often irreversibly damaging areas which Ireland has the responsibility to protect.
Unless the Minister uses his powers to revoke the license and agrees to amend the legislation FIE will pursuer its complaint and the Government will find themselves subject to yet another EU Court case.
Read The Telegraph's coverage.
Read our Press Release.
And the latest coverage.
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| Posted By the editors on 23/10/2005 ( Reads : 2114 ) | Comments (0) | EU |
