A TIMOLEAGUE anaerobic digestion plant has been convicted and fined €15,000 in court after it failed to comply with emission licences as set down by the Environment Protection Agency (EPA).
Timoleague AgriGen pleaded guilty to six charges at Clonakilty District Court in a prosecution taken out by the EPA.
EPA inspector Krzysztof Pniewczuk told the court that Timoleague AgriGen Ltd has a licence from the EPA to operate a bio gas plant which produces energy in the form of bio-methane gas through using food waste, pig waste and waste product from brewing and distilling among other products.
Digestates from this process are then used by farmers for tillage.
He said that on November 2022 the company was in breach of the limits on impurities permitted in the digestate it was distributing to farmers. The maximum level allowed is 0.5% but this level was 1.3%, which is over double the amount allowed by the licence.
Mr Pniewczuk said that on March 31st 2023 the company again exceed their licence limit for impurities, which were recorded at 1.1%.
In November 2022, the company also failed to reuse or treat the waste in the digestate as set out on their licence from the EPA and there was a similar breach in March 2023.
Mr Pniewczuk also said the company also failed to keep and monitor records on July 13th 2023 when he and a colleague visited the premises.
He said that a basic requirement of the licence is that licencees must ensure that the records of sampling and analysis are available for inspection.
‘They told me that they had forgotten to send the samples on previous occasions and couldn’t verify where the impurities found in some of the samples had come from,’ said Mr Pniewczuk.
‘This is a basic operational requirement but it wasn’t the case here as there were no records there on that date.’
He said the company is now compliant but continues to be non-compliant with some conditions and that on their most recent visit there was plenty of co-operation.
Defence solicitor Michael Lanigan said there was definitely a breakdown in the relationship between the inspectorate and the firm’s previous consultants. He said new consultants were appointed in September 2024 and a different approach with methodologies has been agreed upon.
‘There was a problem with the management of the condition of the licence and it is being addressed and not fully finished yet. We are moving forward and I would suggest we are a hell of a long way down the path of trying to get to the point where we are 100% compliant,’ said Mr Lanigan.
He said the plant was developed by local farmers in Timoleague, which turns methane into green energy, all of which he said was ‘laudable’.
Mr Lanigan asked Judge Andrew Cody to take into consideration the pleas as well as the considerable work undertaken to get the ‘house in full order’.
Judge Cody said the development of anaerobic digestion is very important for rural Ireland and the environment but added that it’s very important that it’s carried out in an appropriate and safe manner.
‘It’s a laudable enterprise but these are serious charges and it’s disconcerting to hear of a lack of co-operation between Timoleague AgriGen Ltd and the EPA,’ said Judge Cody.
He convicted and fined the company €2,500 on each of the six charges, totalling €15,000 and gave them six months to pay the fine.
Judge Cody added that if there are more breaches the ‘sting in the tail’ would be that the company could be liable for fines of up to €2,000 a day.
Solicitor Patrick O’Reilly, representing the EPA, said they were seeking costs of €1,086 for inspections and €15,000 in legal costs, while Mr Lanigan queried the legal costs figure and offered €10,000 plus vat and expenses.
Judge Cody awarded the EPA inspection costs of €1,086 and €9,600 for legal costs plus vat and expenses.
