Wicklow Cyanide Debacle - More Shameful Madness

http://www.politics.ie/viewtopic.php?f=160&t=36965

I came across this while trawling the environment threads on p.ie. I have to admit that with work for the last three weeks, I've had my head in the sand - the pile of unread newspapers has been growing and the radio has been switched off all day, but I can't believe that I missed hearing about this. It's a scandal.

A private company has been given permission to dispose of 15kg Hydrogen Cyanide - in the middle of the Wicklow Mountains, in close proximity to where your drinking water comes from and in the area where the Shankill River (a tributary of the Liffey) flows.

The hard work of locals means that all work on this has been halted for now - it was due to be exploded in the area on June 23. Locals knew nothing about it until news of the secret plans were leaked in the Wicklow People.

The thread isn't long and the links below are worth a look too.

This makes me sick to my stomach, absolutely sick on a number of levels.

Firstly the waste belongs to a private company.
Secondly the Minister for the Environment gave permission for this to go ahead, apparently.
Next, this is toxic stuff, used in chemical warfare.
And there are a hundred other reasons that will become apparent if you read the thread and the links.

To me this feels like another Tara because it involves a desecration of an area of spectacular natural beauty, not that there's any part of the country that should be subjected to this. And the locals have been completely disregarded - should we be surprised? And there are environmental health concerns as well...

Don't we learn anything in this country? And why, oh why do we continue to put up with having our environment and our rights being disregarded in this way?


Link to An Phoblacht article June 26
Irish Times June 23

Edit
This pdf from SDCC answers a lot of questions but it seems it's still a very hazardous operation. While it puts a certain amount of concern regarding the science to rest, it doesn't take from the principle that this is lethally toxic, hazardous to transport, and, if anything goes wrong, likely to cause serious contamination.

A total disgrace alright.

Here's two links from Indymedia from folks on the ground:

Link 1

Link 2

*bumpety bump*

Thanks for those Hermes. Any word on where things stand at the moment? Has it been postponed indefinitely or - has it been done under cover of darkness while no one was looking, to facilitate security etc?

Hydrogen Cyanide is Zyklon B which was used in the gas chambers.

Yep, so it is. Now to be disposed of in the Wicklow Mountains, in what's supposed to be a very safe process, all things considered - if everything goes right.... If not, it's a problem.

It seems to me that there is at least a question as to whether Planning Permission should be required before turning a military camp into a dangerous chemicals disposal facility for the private sector ( who is paying for this btw ).
The question should be asked of Wicklow County Council.

The costs will be recouped from Rentokill.

But the SDCC link above gives answers to some of the questions you've asked, cf. Just not the answers I'd like.

I'm disappointed with the response to this thread.

Kate P - do you know if this happened or not, and if not is it rescheduled?

That's the question, isn't it? Another one to inquire about tomorrow. I'll ring SDCC. I can't find anything online and the thread on p.ie has gone dead as a doornail.

The thing is, that it could have happened without people knowing because of the conditions that are needed. The stuff will probably be transported at night when there is less likelihood of disturbance to the contents.

I'll phone first thing in the morning to find out.

Phew, what a day.

Finally got a reply. The story at the moment is that because locals destroyed the 'height' from which the canisters would be detonated, things are on hold. There is no information yet regarding how long it will take to get it ready but it will be within in the next few weeks.

The locals received a newsletter in the last day or two - my email copy hasn't arrived yet.

Talks are continuing now with the specialised agencies involved to see what is the best and safest way to proceed though there is no indication that an alternative method of destruction is being considered.

They are posting up as much information as they can on this site..
...which, it must be said is considerably less informative than I was led to believe.

And there is an info centre in Kilbride each day from 3pm to 9pm in the Village Hall and again from 10-2 on Saturday.

Further update tomorrow. Or tonight.

Kate P wrote:

Phew, what a day.

Finally got a reply. The story at the moment is that because locals destroyed the 'height' from which the canisters would be detonated, things are on hold. There is no information yet regarding how long it will take to get it ready but it will be within in the next few weeks.

The locals received a newsletter in the last day or two - my email copy hasn't arrived yet.

Talks are continuing now with the specialised agencies involved to see what is the best and safest way to proceed though there is no indication that an alternative method of destruction is being considered.

They are posting up as much information as they can on this site..
...which, it must be said is considerably less informative than I was led to believe.

And there is an info centre in Kilbride each day from 3pm to 9pm in the Village Hall and again from 10-2 on Saturday.

Further update tomorrow. Or tonight.

It still seems to me that there is a question to be asked as to whether planning permission is required for this operation. I will lob an email over to WCC for their view.

I don't think planning permission is required - I'm sure I read that somewhere.

I might just go to Kilbride one of these nights, Friday maybe and fill in the blanks. When people don't return calls, I get jittery. And when they don't answer very straightforward questions I get even more jittery.

*Bumpety bump*

The poison has been disposed of secretly.

Seems that 'safe' and 'secret' mean the same thing.

Link.

Well the initial furore has died down and the cyanide has been disposed of in a very safe manner - though, as Hermes cites, without telling anyone.

As late as last Friday, the local committee was told that there was no way to prevent the open burn in Kilbride going ahead. On Sunday, four Americans were flown in with their equipment to neutralise the HCN with a mixture of bleach and caustic soda, remotely and in a virtually closed system. These guys do this all the time - one has to wonder what kind of research SDCC were doing all this time that led them away from the real experts.

Local people spoke of getting their lives back when they heard that the stuff had been disposed of safely in Grange Castle, though in an admirable show of non-nimbyism, they expressed sympathy for those in and near Clondalkin who were also not informed. I'm inclined to disagree on that last point, because the Americans - and the company RPS who recommended them, seem to be the only ones in this debacle who had any clue what they were doing. And RPS were only brought in very recently.

I have a notion that there's a lot more to this than has yet been seen and heard...

One of the residents made a video of this and I think it's to be shown in Mooney's - the local on Saturday night. Should be worth seeing an overview of what happened with the perspective afforded by time.

Though my own perspective hasn't brought any soft-focus to the edges of this sorry saga.

Did you get any reply from WCC, cactus?