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BBC News
09-06-2025
- Politics
- BBC News
Mobuoy: Calls for public inquiry over one of Europe's largest illegal dumps
Some politicians and environmental activists are calling for a public inquiry after two men were jailed last week for their roles in one of Europe's largest illegal dumps outside Doherty, 67, of Culmore Road, Derry, admitted seven charges between 2007 and 2013 relating to the contaminated Mobuoy dump at Campsie and was sentenced to one year in Gerard Farmer, 56, of Westlake in Derry, pleaded guilty to three charges between 2011 and 2013 and was jailed for 21 judge at Londonderry Crown Court said they had "acted deliberately" and been "entirely motivated by financial gain". BBC Radio Foyle's North West Today programme has been to the site at Campsie to meet environmental activist, Dean Blackwood. Mr Blackwood, a director at Faughan Anglers and principal planner for the Department of Environment up until 2013, said there was a "bubbling lake of toxic waste and no proper remediation work started"."Not only were big holes allowed to be dug up for this waste to be deposited, they were allowed to be dug outside any regulations," Mr Blackwood dump consists of two parcels of land - the City Industrial Waste (CIW) site and the Campsie Sand and Gravel (CSG) is thought to cover more than 100 acres of land or the size of about 70 football pitches."The failure of the authorities to act in a proper manner really calls into question the effectiveness of our government departments to regulate and protect the environment," Mr Blackwood said."This environmental crime has been described as unprecedented in the UK so you would have expected an unprecedented sentence," he called for a public inquiry. The Social Democratic and Labour Party (SDLP) MLA Mark H Durkan said the men had "profited to the tune of over £40m by illegal dumping waste right beside our city's main drinking water supply". "It's clear they were only interested in their own profits and cared not one bit about the risk this posed to public health or the surrounding environment," he said the impact was being felt in the area "with the A6 road project being delayed as a result with a knock on effect on the North West's economy"."We are now looking at a bill of up to £700m to clean up this site at a time when the public purse is under significant pressure," he added. He reiterated his party's call for a full public inquiry, adding that progress and investment was needed to make the site Northern Ireland Assembly passed a motion for a public inquiry into illegal waste disposal in March in response to a question from the Green Party in 2020, the then Agriculture and Environment Minister Edwin Poots ruled one out. Alderman Darren Guy, from the Ulster Unionist Party (UUP) said the sentencing "is far from adequate"."Like other parties, we would support calls for a full inquiry as we believe that there were more people involved in this crime than the two men now sentenced.""We believe it is much more important to call for the government and the Daera minister to now find the correct solutions and the funding to begin the massive clean-up of the contaminated Mobuoy site." The court was told on Friday that the amount of waste illegally disposed of could potentially have generated £30m for Doherty's company, Campsie Sand & Gravel Farmer's firm, City Industrial Waste Ltd, the potential sum was more than £ lawyers said the case against Doherty and Farmer concerned about 636,000 tonnes of waste including construction and domestic court was told that no pollution has yet been detected in the river, but that ongoing monitoring will be required, at "significant" cost to the public £700m figure for the potential repair bill is contained in 2022/23 accounts from the Department of Agriculture, Environment and Rural Affairs (Daera) which were published in February estimate a cost range of between £17m and £ sentencing on Friday, Agriculture Minister Andrew Muir described the Mobuoy dump scandal as a "sophisticated and deliberate environmental crime of unprecedented scale".He announced plans to launch a public consultation on a draft remediation strategy for the site. Does the sentence meet the gravity of the crime? In a statement to BBC Radio Foyle, NI Water said: "Water undertake sampling and analysis for drinking water quality monitoring with samples taken at the water treatment works, the Service Reservoirs and at customer taps."There have been no water quality breaches in the treated drinking water supplied from Carmoney water treatment works that have been related to the Mobuoy waste site."Financial journalist Paul Gosling told BBC News NI "it is also one of the most dire examples possible of regulatory failure by state bodies in Northern Ireland"."The outcome will be a massive financial burden for Northern Ireland that will be a blight on the capital and revenue budgets of government here for probably decades to come," he added."People will be now asking does the sentence meet the gravity of the crime. The consequences will arguably be more severe for our society than for the perpetrators of the crime."
BBC News
06-06-2025
- BBC News
Mobuoy: Two jailed over one of Europe's largest illegal dumps
Two men have been jailed for what a judge described as "environmental crime on an industrial scale" for their roles in one of Europe's largest illegal dumps, in Northern Doherty, 67, of Culmore Road, Londonderry, admitted seven charges between 2007 and 2013 relating to the contaminated Mobuoy dump at Campsie, outside Derry, and was sentenced to one year in Gerard Farmer, 56, of Westlake in Derry, pleaded guilty to three charges between 2011 and 2013 and was jailed for 21 judge at Londonderry Crown Court said both defendants had "acted deliberately" and been "entirely motivated by financial gain". The court was that the amount of waste illegally disposed of could potentially have generated £30m for Doherty's company, Campsie Sand & Gravel Ltd. For Farmer's firm, City Industrial Waste Ltd, the potential sum was more than £13m. Prosecution lawyers said the case against Doherty and Farmer concerned around 636,000 tonnes of Mobuoy dump is beside the River Faughan, which supplies a significant proportion of Derry's drinking the court was that no pullution has yet been detected in the river, but that ongoing monitoring will be required, at 'significant" cost to the public dump consists of two parcels of land: the City Industrial Waste (CIW) site and the Campsie Sand and Gravel (CSG) is thought to cover more than 100 acres of land or the size of about 70 football pitches. 'Deliberate and premeditated' The judge said that Farmer "acted in a deliberate and premeditated manner" to engage in waste processing activities on the part of the site which he owned. He said Doherty was "willingly and knowingly receiving waste onto his lands for financial gain".The defendants pleaded guilty in 2022. The court was told the case had been lengthy owing to its complexity, the need to engage experts, and arguments over the quantities of waste which the court should consider. How much will it cost to fix the damage? The £700m figure for the potential repair bill is contained in 2022/23 accounts from the Department of Agriculture, Environment and Rural Affairs (Daera) which were published in February estimate a cost range of between £17m and £ prosecution was brought by the Northern Ireland Environment Agency (NIEA).
Los Angeles Times
04-06-2025
- Health
- Los Angeles Times
PG&E tried to restart a battery plant over Monterey County officials' objections. It lasted less than a day
When a massive fire ignited in January at one of the world's largest lithium-ion battery storage facilities, the neighbors demanded answers. They wanted to know what started the fire that smoldered for days, spewing toxic gas into the air and prompting evacuation warnings for 1,500 people. Nearly five months later and with the fire's cause still unknown, Pacific Gas & Electric began reopening an adjacent battery site on Sunday, despite objections from local officials. But the restart — which the utility company said was needed in order to meet summer energy demands — was called off almost as soon as it began. On Sunday, workers who 'began methodically returning the batteries to service' discovered 'a clamp failure and coolant leak' in a Tesla Megapack battery unit on site, PG&E spokesman Paul Doherty said in a statement Monday. 'Out of an abundance of caution we are deferring the facility's return to service until a later date,' Doherty said. The situation in Moss Landing highlights some of the underlying tensions of California becoming more reliant upon renewable energy, electric vehicles and battery-powered devices. State officials have aggressively pushed to reduce greenhouse gas emissions by switching to clean energy sources. But the Vistra blaze has prompted calls for additional safety regulations around battery storage — as well as more local control over where storage sites are located. The Elkhorn facility — which is owned by PG&E and maintained by both the utility company and Tesla — is one of two adjacent battery energy storage systems at the Moss Landing power complex near Monterey Bay. The other is owned by Texas-based Vistra Corp. The batteries store excess energy generated during the day and release it into the power grid during times of high demand, including evening hours. Both facilities have been offline since Jan. 16, when a Vistra-owned building containing 99,000 LG battery modules caught fire. The Elkhorn site includes 256 stationary Tesla Megapacks — essentially shipping container-sized units filled with battery modules. The facility did not burn but automatically shut down when its safety equipment detected the fire in the Vistra building. PG&E announced last month that it planned to restart the Elkhorn facility by June 1 because, during the summer, 'that power is necessary to effectively manage the demands of the California power grid.' Tesla and the utility company, two PG&E vice presidents wrote in a letter to the county supervisors, 'performed extensive inspection and clean-up' at the Elkhorn site. After the discovery of problems at the Elkhorn facility Sunday, Monterey County Supervisor Glenn Church, whose district includes Moss Landing, called it 'a good sign' that PG&E quickly paused the restart. But, he said, he still wants the utility company to wait until the fire investigations are complete to try again. 'That PG&E encountered problems as they recharged their batteries points out the volatility of this technology,' Church told The Times in an email Monday night. In a survey of nearby residents conducted by the Monterey and Santa Cruz county health departments, 83% of respondents said they experienced at least one symptom — most commonly headaches, sore throats and coughing — shortly after the fire. Nearly a quarter of respondents said they had trouble breathing, and 39% reported having a metallic taste in their mouth. The survey, conducted in February and March, was completed by 1,539 people who lived or worked in the region at the time of the fire. The results were released Monday. Jim says, 'Always tell the truth and you never have to remember what you said.'Lisa says, ''Things always look better in the morning.' My dad was a realistic pessimist so this was solid advice coming from him and, over the years, it's proved to be true in my own life.' Email us at essentialcalifornia@ and your response might appear in the newsletter this week. Today's great photo is from Times photographer Gina Ferazzi at a Riverside track field with Abi, a transgender high school athlete who navigates a fight she never asked for. Hailey Branson-Potts, staff writerKevinisha Walker, multiplatform editorAndrew Campa, Sunday writerKarim Doumar, head of newsletters How can we make this newsletter more useful? Send comments to essentialcalifornia@ Check our top stories, topics and the latest articles on
Yahoo
02-06-2025
- General
- Yahoo
Cllr Tracy Kelly to become DUP's first female Belfast lord mayor
South Belfast councillor Tracy Kelly is set to become the city's first female lord mayor from the Democratic Unionist Party (DUP). She is expected to be voted into the top position in Belfast at a council meeting on Monday night. It will make her the second female unionist to become the city's lord mayor. The late Grace Bannister held the position in 1981, and there is a footbridge in east Belfast named in her honour. The next deputy lord mayor is set to be west Belfast councillor Paul Doherty of the Social Democratic and Labour Party (SDLP). Kelly, 47, is from the Donegall Road area of south Belfast and used to work in community development, which sparked her interest in politics. She is currently office manager at the DUP constituency office of MLA Edwin Poots, who is the speaker of the Northern Ireland Assembly. She previously worked for MLA Christopher Stalford, who died suddenly three years ago, aged 39. He had encouraged her to become involved in politics, and she was first elected to the council in 2019. "He asked me to run in that election," she told BBC News NI. "Him and constituents pressurised me into running in the 2019 election. I never thought I would ever sit in city council - never mind be lord mayor." The DUP has held the position of lord mayor in Belfast nine times, and among those to wear the chain of office were Nigel Dodds, Sammy Wilson and current party leader Gavin Robinson. Asked about being the first female from the party in the role, Kelly said: "I feel very privileged to be the first female. Women are now taking more and more leadership roles." She pointed out that the DUP has already had a female leader, Arlene Foster, who became first minister, and Emma Little-Pengelly is the current deputy first minister. Looking ahead to her year in office, she said: "My aim as lord mayor is to ensure that nobody is left behind. "Over the years Belfast has evolved and changed dramatically, since the Troubles especially. "But there's communities out there that are disengaged from the city centre, they don't feel part of this change. "And there's also young people who are disengaged from education, employment and training. I want to reach out to them." Away from politics, Kelly is a football fan and supports Linfield and Liverpool. The outgoing lord mayor is Micky Murray of the Alliance Party, who described himself as the first "openly gay" first citizen in Belfast.
BBC News
01-06-2025
- General
- BBC News
Cllr Tracy Kelly to become DUP's first female lord mayor of Belfast
South Belfast councillor Tracy Kelly is set to become the city's first female lord mayor from the Democratic Unionist Party (DUP).She is expected to be voted into the top position in Belfast at a council meeting on Monday will make her the second female unionist to become the city's lord mayor. The late Grace Bannister held the position in 1981, and there is a footbridge in east Belfast named in her next deputy lord mayor is set to be west Belfast councillor Paul Doherty of the Social Democratic and Labour Party (SDLP). 'I never thought I would be lord mayor' Kelly, 47, is from the Donegall Road area of south Belfast and used to work in community development, which sparked her interest in is currently office manager at the DUP constituency office of MLA Edwin Poots, who is the speaker of the Northern Ireland previously worked for MLA Christopher Stalford, who died suddenly three years ago, aged had encouraged her to become involved in politics, and she was first elected to the council in 2019."He asked me to run in that election," she told BBC News NI."Him and constituents pressurised me into running in the 2019 election. I never thought I would ever sit in city council - never mind be lord mayor." The DUP has held the position of lord mayor in Belfast nine times, and among those to wear the chain of office were Nigel Dodds, Sammy Wilson and current party leader Gavin about being the first female from the party in the role, Kelly said: "I feel very privileged to be the first female. Women are now taking more and more leadership roles."She pointed out that the DUP has already had a female leader, Arlene Foster, who became first minister, and Emma Little-Pengelly is the current deputy first ahead to her year in office, she said: "My aim as lord mayor is to ensure that nobody is left behind."Over the years Belfast has evolved and changed dramatically, since the Troubles especially."But there's communities out there that are disengaged from the city centre, they don't feel part of this change."And there's also young people who are disengaged from education, employment and training. I want to reach out to them."Away from politics, Kelly is a football fan and supports Linfield and outgoing lord mayor is Micky Murray of the Alliance Party, who described himself as the first "openly gay" first citizen in Belfast.
