The attention in this section focuses on the Environmental Protection Act of 2002
(EPA2002) principally.

Under the EPA 2002, the Municipal Solid Waste to Energy Project is not explicitly defined as an undertaking that requires either a Preliminary Environmental Report or an Environmental Impact Assessment Report.

However the WTE Project consists of components that are listed undertakings that require an EIA report, namely:

• Waste Incinerator
• Power Station
• Landfill

The proposed WTE Plant is a major undertaking for which the environmental, social and financial sustainability are controversial. Moreover EPA 2002 does not cover all the legal and regulatory issues pertaining to this type of project. For example, the environmental standards as defined in the EPA 2002 show limitations for such Project, with regard to namely:

• Standards for water;
• Effluent Limitations;
• Standards for air;
• Standards for Hazardous wastes

Furthermore given the predictions of solid waste generation in the short to medium term, incineration as a method of solid waste treatment is contradictory to the present solid waste management policies that focus on waste reduction, reuse and recycle and sustainable waste behaviour. Moreover incineration is associated with potential adverse environmental impacts that necessitate a high level of regulation and monitoring that requires capacity building in the enforcing agencies.

As a consequence of the above, it was expected that the Department of Environment at the stage of approval of Board of Investment (BOI) would have specified explicitly the requirements for such an EIA study. In this regard, Clause 15 (Part IV-Environmental Impact Assessment), (3) provides the Director of the Department of Environment with the power to specify the terms of reference for the EIA study1.

For the reasons stated above, we consider that the Department of Environment should have specified the Terms of Reference for the EIA study for the proposed WTE Project and this should have been stated explicitly in the terms and conditions in the Letter of Intent by BOI.

Hence it is regrettable that the Department of Environment has not found it necessary to impose the Terms of Reference as a conditionality of the Letter of Intent from the BOI.

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1 Bold and underline for emphasis.