INCINERATOR IN FOCUS AT RESIDENTS’ MEETING
Headline of 23 Feb. 2017 report in the BarryGem page 20.
Headline of 23 Feb. 2017 report in the BarryGem page 20.
At last the word “Incinerator" comes in the Gem's headline; at last they are accepting the permit application is for an ##incinerator## on the docks.
The NRW has conceded to Jane Hutt that the documents should be on-line and in the Barry Library. Another little victory for people power!
The NRW has conceded to Jane Hutt that the documents should be on-line and in the Barry Library. Another little victory for people power!
OUR report ##The Regulators come to Barry Town## makes up most of the item:
At last the NRW came to face Barry people on the Monday evening (13 Feb.) in the Castleland Community Centre. Some 50-60 people, including many forceful objectors, crowded the meeting room, with Jane Hutt chairing. The first question was - Why claim it’s an energy production plant when it’s to burn waste wood? Many spoke strongly against such a plant being built so close to the town and homes, no-one in the room wants it, said one, and no-one contradicted.
One person thought it would burn 'clean' woodchips - the NRW said contamination is controlled at chip-making sites - painted or glued wood and chipboard are allowed but creosoted wood excluded. Any imported waste wood-chip is apparently uncontrolled. Another thought burning waste chipboard is best – the answer being that chipboard manufacturers want it for stripping off the coatings re-making into board. Such recycling should have priority over burning, but regulators are making burning too easy.
The NRW said they had to be satisfied the plant would not harm human health or be a risk to the environment before they would license it. Responding on the point that the NRW has allowed wood-chip stores that went on fire, the NRW leader (Nadia de Longhi) said they had refused a license at Cwmfelinfach. That plant’s emissions would have emerged at the level of homes on the valley sides, and the company could not show the fumes would disperse harmlessly.
One resident reported fog often hangs over the dock area, showing temperature inversion like at Cwmfelinfach. Surely this would trap the incinerator fumes, she asked, but no reply.
The NRW read out their standard list of aspects they can take into account, saying that the new ‘gasification’ technology of the plant and lack of experience with it are excluded. This provoked a comment - we're to be guinea pigs!
The principal NRW officer, Nadia de Longhi, said they expect to issue a draft license by 8th May, but hadn't decided if this license is important enough for 'extended' public consultation.
She said people could write in to NRW’s Cardiff Office - but couldn’t promise responses and can’t afford to put documents on the internet !. How pathetic - no openness and transparency, no offer to circulate basic information, no agreement to answer questions. -
She said people could write in to NRW’s Cardiff Office - but couldn’t promise responses and can’t afford to put documents on the internet !. How pathetic - no openness and transparency, no offer to circulate basic information, no agreement to answer questions. -
Jane Hutt cut short the questioning and calmed things, saying we might all not want the plant but the three NRW people are the ones who will decide on the license. She added she would discuss ways of consultation with them. Jane Hutt’s office would circulate minutes of the meeting, but couldn't promise anything further.
DIAG are pleased at the turn-out (despite the limited publicity) and expects this vocal meeting to wake up our Councillors and reluctant public servants. The group is asking on the Facebook site (Stop the Barry Town Incinerator) for people to send in pictures of fog trapped over the Dock. They also ask if amateur owners of one of new digital weather stations could supply wind data in Barry, to help show how this differs from the winds at Rhoose airport assumed by the company.
