Fossil fuel burning plant gets go ahead in Mayo

mayo | environment | news report

Tuesday January 08, 2008 16:51

by mr blue

little now stands in way of incinerator style power project

Plans are fast progressing to redevelop part of the old Asahi chemical plant in Killala County Mayo with a power plant using the same type of technology that is used in incinerators. Although the company behind the scheme say they intend to generate electricity using a mixture of peat, wood, and imported coal, many fear that the huge facility will be converted to an incinerator in the future.

The board of MAYO POWER with Myles Staunton (ex Fine Gael TD) second from left

The company behind the scheme is Mayo Power, with the main player being Myles Staunton (pictured above second from left), former Fine Gael TD who owns the company jointly with Rockland Mayo Holding Company (a UK and US consortium). Staunton's son Myles Junior is currently a county Cllr. Mayo County Council gave planning permission for the site just before Christmas.

It's interesting to note that the advantages listed by Mayo Power, backed by the Chamber of Commerce, are almost exactly the same as those given by Shell for the Bellanaboy Refinery- i.e. jobs and security of energy supply.

At the moment the scheme's backers are claiming that there will be 30 jobs, but they often talk about 80 jobs sometime "in the future" and while the actual figure will probably never be made public, the projected estimate will no doubt rise to the hundreds as the cheerleaders for the project gain confidence.

Oddly, while the scheme will obviously generate power from the peat bogs, little mention is made of the fact that nearby Bellacorick power station, a peat fired generator which was operated by the ESB, was decommissioned a few years back and recently demolished. The peat that would have been burned in Bellacorick, which was said to be uneconomic, magically becomes economic to burn in the CHP plant Mayo Power want to install in Killala.

Concerns about the environment, the pumping of ash and waste into the air, the increase in traffic and the impact on tourism are being brushed aside at the moment. Instead, we are hearing the same ritual formula about "providing jos", as if working to make the characters pictured above richer was a gift to be thankful for, and "kickstarting industrial development" , as if all the warnings we have heard about fossil fuels and industry making climate change worse, simply did not exist.

No one explains why Bellacorick had to be torn down if another generation plant was so badly needed.

No one raises the issue of exactly why the disputed Shell refinery could not have been sited at Killala.

With the backing of then Chamber of Commerce, it seems the scheme has everything on its side to get through the final planning stage. At times like this it would be useful to have an opposition party who might provide a different set of arguments to the outdated models put forward by the business community to enrich themselves.

Sadly, previous experience in Mayo would imply that the local people who are worried about the scheme in Killala would be wrong too wait for the established political parties to speak against the interests of the chamber of commerce.

In this, as in so many things, it's hard to see much difference between opposition and the Greena Fáil coalition.