LOCATION/TYPE

NEWS HOME

[ exact phrase in "" • results by date ]

[ Google-powered • results by relevance ]


Archive
RSS

Add NWW headlines to your site (click here)

Get weekly updates

WHAT TO DO
when your community is targeted

RSS

RSS feeds and more

Keep Wind Watch online and independent!

Donate via Paypal

Donate via Stripe

Selected Documents

All Documents

Research Links

Alerts

Press Releases

FAQs

Campaign Material

Photos & Graphics

Videos

Allied Groups

Wind Watch is a registered educational charity, founded in 2005.

News Watch Home

ESB at odds with landowners over blame for peat instability 

Credit:  By Dan Danaher | The Clare Champtioin | May 18, 2021 | clarechampion.ie ~~

The ESB has come under fire from land owners in South Galway following the erection of a sign near the entrance of Derrybrien Windfarm warning about the “risk of peat instability from peat harvesting”.
There are about 114 plots of land within the windfarm site boundary that many residents of Derrybrien and Killnadeema have been using through their lifetime for individual use as fuel.
The South Galway Flood Relief Committee has claimed the ESB has turned the tables on local communities, meaning that turf-cutting contractors will be the ones liable for peat destabilisation and not the company, by erecting this sign, which has effectively halted peat operations in the region.
The ESB has stated it didn’t issue any instruction to turbary rights holders or contractors stopping them from accessing or harvesting at Derrybrien.
It also outlined the community liaison for Gort Windfarms Ltd.remains available to discuss the findings on an environmental level with the local community.
In October 2003, the group alleged a subsidiary of the ESB destabilised the peat on the Slieve Aughty mountains during the early stages of construction of the 70-turbine Derrybrien windfarm, which resulted in dislodging around half a million cubic metres of peat down the mountain.
In November 2019, the Court of Justice of the European Union slapped Ireland with a €5 million fine and a subsequent €15,000/day fine until a retrospective environmental impact assessment and mitigation measures are put in place.
Last year, the group stated as part of a ‘Remedial Environmental Impact Assessment Report (EIAR)’ Gort Wind Farms outlined it “engaged with the public throughout the development and operation of the project”, which consisted of providing a ‘plain-English’ flyer to people within 10km, putting up the required notices in August and letting people know that the EIAR had been completed.
The group claimed there is no willingness to engage with local communities on this issue.
“Within the face of all the controversy surrounding the ESB’s management of the Derrybrien windfarm, this just shows the level of belligerence that South Galway communities have to deal with,” said David Murray, Chair of the South Galway Flood Relief Committee.
“They caused the issue, they were asked to fix it but for years they refused.
“The Irish public has since been required to bail them out with fines now mounting to €13 million, and growing daily and this is how the ESB continues to behave. It’s atrocious,” added Mr Murray.
“The Derrybrien windfarm continues to have a big impact on the communities here but the ESB with this latest statement, they are exacerbating it”, said Martin Collins, Derrybrien.
“We cannot accept and will not accept the self-serving assertion that there are no significant adverse impacts form the windfarm development. Even the erection of this sign has now had a direct impact on people here who now cannot get their turf cut”
The ESB stated the planning application for this development was made in full compliance with the regulations in force at that time. The wind farm has been in production through its subsidiary Gort Wind Farm Limited since 2006 and continues to play an important role in Ireland’s low-carbon economy.
The ESB noted it agreed to completed an Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) and submitted an application for substitute consent to An Bord Pleanala in August 2020 after the EU ruling.
As part of this substitute consent process, ESB had to complete a peat stability risk assessment report, which was carried out by an external expert company.
This report warned there is the risk of peat instability from harvesting peat with heavy machinery on certain areas.
To ensure public safety, the ESB erected signs at the site to inform of this risk while also engaging with the local community.

Source:  By Dan Danaher | The Clare Champtioin | May 18, 2021 | clarechampion.ie

This article is the work of the source indicated. Any opinions expressed in it are not necessarily those of National Wind Watch.

The copyright of this article resides with the author or publisher indicated. As part of its noncommercial educational effort to present the environmental, social, scientific, and economic issues of large-scale wind power development to a global audience seeking such information, National Wind Watch endeavors to observe “fair use” as provided for in section 107 of U.S. Copyright Law and similar “fair dealing” provisions of the copyright laws of other nations. Send requests to excerpt, general inquiries, and comments via e-mail.

Wind Watch relies entirely
on User Funding
   Donate via Paypal
(via Paypal)
Donate via Stripe
(via Stripe)

Share:

e-mail X FB LI TG TG Share


News Watch Home

Get the Facts
CONTACT DONATE PRIVACY ABOUT SEARCH
© National Wind Watch, Inc.
Use of copyrighted material adheres to Fair Use.
"Wind Watch" is a registered trademark.

 Follow:

Wind Watch on X Wind Watch on Facebook

Wind Watch on Linked In Wind Watch on Mastodon