The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has released its annual summary report, and has highlighted the impact of enforcement efforts conducted in 2021. The focus of the efforts was mainly surrounding ‘unauthorised peat extraction sites’ upon which the EPA had conducted 48 inspections regarding this. The EPA had confirmed that it had increased its enforcement activities throughout the country, with emphasis on the activities at 840 licenced industrial and waste installations.
Dr. Tom Ryan, director of the EPA’s Office of Environmental Enforcement, says “the EPA focused its enforcement efforts in 2021 on tackling unauthorised extraction of peat; improving water quality downstream of licenced sites; and the safe and appropriate management of waste”.
The report additionally highlighted the following actions undertaken by the EPA:
- 1,295 inspections at EPA licenced sites during the year, a 19% increase compared with 2020
- 48 inspections at unauthorised peat extraction sites
- 41 inspections at waste licenced sites, with a focus on improving fire risk management
- The removal of 14 sites from the EPA’s Water Framework Directive ‘significant pressure’ list
- 11 sites were identified as National Priority Sites in 2021, a decrease from the twelve sites in 2020
Speaking about the enforcement actions, Dr Ryan says “our enforcement activities are risk-based and are targeted at sites that are not complying with their EPA licence requirements. We carried out almost 1,300 inspections of industrial and waste licenced activities and a further 55 inspections of unauthorised activities which require a licence or must cease operation.”
LSL News.