ISPAT, the only steel plant in the Republic, has confirmed it will lodge an objection to the Integrated Pollution Control Licence (IPCL) issued earlier this month by the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA). It says the future of the company may depend on an evaluation of the cost of meeting the licence requirements.
The licence effectively brings the plant under the stringent control of the agency and contains 15 conditions with numerous sub-clauses governing emissions to air and water as well as noise control and safety. Mr Thomas Mulcahy, an ISPAT employee, was killed at the Haulbowline plant in Cork harbour during a fire and explosion on January 15th last. Another employee lost his life in 1999 in a fall from a crane.
As well as ISPAT's objection to the licence, The Irish Times has learned the Irish Naval Service, which shares the Haulbowline complex with the steel company, has lodged a third party objection. The company said yesterday it would object to the licence on several grounds and that the cost of implementing all of the EPA's requirements was being evaluated.
Asked if this meant the future of the former Irish Steel Plant was in jeopardy, a spokesman said the implications of the financial evaluation were a matter for the parent company, ISPAT International.
According to industry sources, the cost to ISPAT of meeting all the EPA's requirements could be more than £2 million. The ISPAT spokesman said the company had arrived at a "guesstimate" of the figure and while it came to a substantial sum, the company was not prepared to disclose it.
Under the terms of the EPA licence issued on March 12th, ISPAT has until April 5th to lodge an objection, while third-party objectors must have their objections in by tomorrow.
The Naval Service has complained regularly over the years about noise and dust emissions at the plant, but as of yesterday it was the only third party objector to the licence.