Irish Examiner - 28/07/05
EPA did not contact firm on day of toxic spillage
By Mary Dundon

THE Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) admitted last night that no one from its agency spoke to the company which leaked 252 tonnes of caustic waste into Cork Harbour on July 3.

The EPA last night confirmed "nobody from the EPA" had spoken to ADM Ringaskiddy until Monday, July 4, when two people went to inspect the plant 36 hours after the spillage.

The admission by the State environmental watchdog is contrary its earlier explanations, which said a public health warning was not issued because a senior official assessed the situation during a telephone conversation with ADM on the morning of the spillage.

Last Thursday, the EPA named this official as environmental enforcement director Dr Daragh Lynott.

"From the data given to him Dr Lynott came to the conclusion that the spillage posed no threat to public health or safety," the EPA spokeswoman said at the time. This was reaffirmed by the agency last Monday.

But the following day a spokesman said Dr Lynott had no contact with ADM as he was on annual leave.

A "senior official" decided not to send an inspector immediately to the Cork plant, but they could not identify him, said the EPA spokesman.

Yesterday, however, a spokesman for ADM confirmed no EPA official spoke to his staff on the day of the caustic soda spillage even though the company alerted the agency of the accident by phone and fax on Sunday, July 3.

In a statement yesterday, the EPA said the spillage was reported by ADM as a "non-urgent" incident to the agency's phone voicemail at 8.15am that day.

The EPA gives companies reporting accidents the option of putting them into an 'urgent' or 'non-urgent' voicemail box, director of licensing and guidance, Dr Padraic Larkin, said.

If an accident report was put into the urgent box, the 24/7 emergency system would have kicked in and a senior person would have contacted the company immediately, Dr Larkin added.

But because it was in the non-urgent box, EPA inspectors were first alerted on Monday, July 4, and were in contact with the company immediately to establish the nature of the accident, Dr Larkin said.

"It was clear there was no risk to public health and the impact on marine life was minimal and localised," Dr Larkin added.

Asked why the EPA stated last Thursday that a senior official phoned the Cork company on the day of the accident, Dr Larkin said: "The assumption was made that this emergency call was logged as urgent and the assumption was made that a particular senior official would have handled it."

Dr Larkin insisted no attempt was made to mislead the public and the EPA only discovered yesterday that the call was non-urgent.

He said the EPA took the accident very seriously and enforcement action against the company would be taken and prosecution if necessary.

An ADM Ringaskiddy spokesman defended their handling of the accident and said they contacted the EPA as soon as was practical after dealing with the spillage.