Incinerator ‘watchdog’ committee says no immediate cause for concern at rise in dioxin levels in soil

The Minutes of the Richmond Hill Consultative Committee meeting, held in October last year, have recently been made public.

The Government Analyst, Mr Lenartowitz, circulated to the Committee the latest set of dioxin results for soil samples taken from sites within 5km of the plant on Richmond Hill.

However, he added that if the coming year’s results also show an increase then this would be a cause for concern.

The Committee were pleased to note though that milk samples are not appearing to show a similar increase.

The Manx Herald understands that - even if the background dioxin levels are found to be increasing, and of course any increase, no matter how small, is worrying - the Committee are satisfied that the current levels are still very low and, as such,  they do not pose a significant risk to the public.

Moreover, it is by no means certain that the incinerator is responsible for the apparent increase; and it is believed that further research work has been recommended to try to identify, or eliminate, other possible sources.

Without doubt the unregulated burning of construction and other wastes, containing PVC, in the open, in yards and on building sites etc. will be contributing to the problem and this practise needs to be outlawed sooner rather than later.

Dioxin is one of the most persistent organic pollutants in the environment and is considered by the World Health Organization to be a cancer causing chemical. It has also been connected to other adverse health effects; including suppressing the immune system.

The incinerator has also been in the news this week for reasons other than the publication of the RHCC Minutes. On this week’s Manx Radio ‘Perspective’ programme, journalist and Friends of the Earth member, Ffinlo Costain went head-to-head with Chief Minister Tony Brown and Environment Minister John Shimmin on climate change issues.

During the interview with Mr Shimmin, the Minister made a big play on how the incinerator has proven it is an ‘energy-from-waste’ plant and not just an incinerator; and how it may surprise people it contributes 7%-8% of our energy needs.

It will, therefore, possibly come as a surprise to the Minister if The Manx Herald informs him that the plant has not produced a watt of energy for the Island since the 14^th January this year!

The Manx Herald has made inquiries to try to find out whether this latest ‘outage’ is related to the turbine problem, reported on by us last year, but we have yet to receive a reply.