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THREAD on €100m+ 
peatland restoration
Huge kudos to all for this. Important to put decision in full context as there are vital lessons & cautionary notes
• Access to justice for NGOs was key in enabling yesterday’s news but is at risk
• Remaining peat use
• Edenderry
peatland restoration Huge kudos to all for this. Important to put decision in full context as there are vital lessons & cautionary notes
• Access to justice for NGOs was key in enabling yesterday’s news but is at risk
• Remaining peat use
• Edenderry
The major 
in peatland restoration announced yesterday is very welcome & will hopefully be annual rather than one-off - just like the annual subsidy to peat plants of €100+ million p.a. that has so damaged our peatlands that they now need life-support. https://greennews.ie/4bn-environment-damaging-subsidies/
in peatland restoration announced yesterday is very welcome & will hopefully be annual rather than one-off - just like the annual subsidy to peat plants of €100+ million p.a. that has so damaged our peatlands that they now need life-support. https://greennews.ie/4bn-environment-damaging-subsidies/
Very important to recognise the dedicated work by NGOs over many years that enabled yesterday’s funding announcement.
In many ways this is the policy analogue of the activism that enabled the recent green wave.
@FIEIRELAND @PeatlandConserv @AnTaisce @Irishwildlife @BirdWatchIE
In many ways this is the policy analogue of the activism that enabled the recent green wave.
@FIEIRELAND @PeatlandConserv @AnTaisce @Irishwildlife @BirdWatchIE
The tale: as at 2020, no peat company has planning permission for extraction in ; only BNM has an EPA licence; & impact assessments are almost totally absent.
Peat companies can’t extract peat in these circs, just as you can’t build a house without permission. For more: https://twitter.com/andrewlrjackson/status/1265277507080601600
; only BNM has an EPA licence; & impact assessments are almost totally absent.Peat companies can’t extract peat in these circs, just as you can’t build a house without permission. For more: https://twitter.com/andrewlrjackson/status/1265277507080601600
Peat companies incl. BNM have fought regulation tooth & nail.
A decade+ ago, @FIEIRELAND visited a series of bogs in Westmeath & formally queried the lack of planning.
In 2013 ABP ruled that the activities were not exempted. Two peat companies....
A decade+ ago, @FIEIRELAND visited a series of bogs in Westmeath & formally queried the lack of planning.
In 2013 ABP ruled that the activities were not exempted. Two peat companies....
....Westland and Bulrush then judicially reviewed ABP’s decision. The High Ct ruled in favour of ABP in 2018, setting a strong precedent requiring planning for virtually all peat extraction from Sept 2012 onwards all around the country.
Judgment: https://www.courts.ie/viewer/pdf/fdd81b2f-e647-43a3-9276-2dbc724fee1d/2018_IEHC_58_1.pdf/pdf#view=fitH
Judgment: https://www.courts.ie/viewer/pdf/fdd81b2f-e647-43a3-9276-2dbc724fee1d/2018_IEHC_58_1.pdf/pdf#view=fitH
Suddenly all that unauthorised peat extraction was captured by the planning system! This was the trigger for the govt to legislate to try to take large-scale peat extraction outside the planning system, thereafter to be handled by a new licensing system to be operated by the EPA.
The new system was designed in collaboration with a peat working group made up of the big peat companies.
But @FIEIRELAND judicially reviewed the new legislation and won in 2019, striking down the new system.
But @FIEIRELAND judicially reviewed the new legislation and won in 2019, striking down the new system.
The legislation was struck down because the new EPA-run system wld allow peat companies to apply for a licence from the EPA but also continue extracting peat for 18 months-3 years w/out EIA or appropriate assessment while the license application was being processed.
So the peat companies fell back into the pre-existing system: planning permission. And the Westland/Bulrush judgment above clearly establishes that planning permission is needed for extraction post-Sept 2012 where EIA or appropriate assessment is needed.
The peat companies were rightly worried that their extraction would have to stop while they applied for planning (with appeals, legal challenges etc) - it would.
But they had an even bigger problem!
But they had an even bigger problem!
Those that didn’t have planning permission (all of them!) couldn’t simply apply for planning. They had to first apply to ABP for ‘leave to apply’ for ‘substitute consent’ (and then apply for substitute consent) to regularise their past misdemeanours.
Only once they had substitute consent could they apply for planning permission.
This article contains a good summary and shows that the peat industry realised its predicament. https://www.agriland.ie/farming-news/peat-extraction-ruling-leaves-horticulture-sector-on-cliff-edge/
This article contains a good summary and shows that the peat industry realised its predicament. https://www.agriland.ie/farming-news/peat-extraction-ruling-leaves-horticulture-sector-on-cliff-edge/
Here is a summary of what the peat companies needed to do next
BNM has the licence mentioned at (d) for its bogs but none of the other peat companies do. And, as mentioned above, none of the peat companies has planning permission.
BNM has the licence mentioned at (d) for its bogs but none of the other peat companies do. And, as mentioned above, none of the peat companies has planning permission.
So BNM recently made applications at (a) for ‘leave to apply’ for substitute consent (i.e. you need permission to apply before you apply).
Westland did the same.
@FIEIRELAND argued that there should be public participation at this ‘leave’ stage. ABP disagreed.
Westland did the same.
@FIEIRELAND argued that there should be public participation at this ‘leave’ stage. ABP disagreed.
All the while BNM couldn’t extract peat this year (note ‘suspends’ not ‘ceases’ below) because it doesn’t have planning permission. It has been relying on reserves. https://www.irishexaminer.com/news/arid-31005606.html
THEN the Supreme Court handed down a long-awaited judgment in July 2020 about substitute consent in a case taken by An Taisce and Peter Sweetman to do with quarries. https://www.irishtimes.com/business/construction/supreme-court-rules-substitute-consent-inconsistent-with-eu-environmental-law-1.4293618
The Supreme Ct effectively held that the entire system of ‘substitute consent’ is contrary to EU law; plus a failure to provide for public participation at the ‘leave to apply’ stage is contrary to EU law.
ABP had granted BNM ‘leave to apply’ for its bogs but there had been no provision for public participation. So @FIEIRELAND has challenged ABP’s decision. This is ongoing. https://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/activists-win-right-to-challenge-bogs-peat-extraction-vxr5jb7cs
In other words: years of detailed work by NGOs has finally closed the regulatory net on peat extraction. As a general rule the peat companies cannot now lawfully extract peat.
As I’ve pointed out before: https://twitter.com/andrewlrjackson/status/1265277558133669890
As I’ve pointed out before: https://twitter.com/andrewlrjackson/status/1265277558133669890
So the €100m+ funding announced yesterday must have come as a very welcome intervention from BNM’s perspective given that it (and the other peat companies) cannot now extract peat legally. But they have not given up...
Hopefully it’s clear that w/out access to justice for NGOs peat extraction would still be “the largest unregulated land use in Europe”.
But
: the outgoing govt tried to restrict access to justice & the idea has not died (PfG excerpt). This will need to be watched closely!
peat extraction would still be “the largest unregulated land use in Europe”.But
: the outgoing govt tried to restrict access to justice & the idea has not died (PfG excerpt). This will need to be watched closely!
2nd cautionary note relates to ongoing peat use
BNM is getting out of peat for electricity. It’s not getting out of briquettes or peat for horticulture. & it still wants planning
Climate & biod emergency: *all* needs to stop & restoration needed on *all* peatlands (BNM+++)
BNM is getting out of peat for electricity. It’s not getting out of briquettes or peat for horticulture. & it still wants planning
Climate & biod emergency: *all* needs to stop & restoration needed on *all* peatlands (BNM+++)
Finally Edenderry power station: in 2013/14 @AnTaisce & @FIEIRELAND challenged its permission. @AnTaisce won; ultimately BNM got fresh permission but had 7 years shaved off - permission expires in 2023.
RTÉ blithely said y’day that Edenderry will then switch to 100% biomass...
RTÉ blithely said y’day that Edenderry will then switch to 100% biomass...
Not so fast! West Offaly peat-and-biomass power plant was recently refused planning permission in part on the basis that there was no adequate indigenous source of biomass & importing it would be unsustainable & contrary to EU & national policy.
What has changed? END/
What has changed? END/
