The Department of Agriculture, Environment and Rural Affairs (DAERA) has responsibility for the designation, monitoring, reporting and management of Areas of Special Scientific Interest (ASSIs) that are that are designated under The Environment (Northern Ireland) Order 2002.
DAERA aims to carry out a rolling programme of ASSI feature monitoring and reporting every six years in support of The Conservation (Natural Habitats, etc.) Regulations 1995 (Northern Ireland) (as amended), The Environment (Northern Ireland) Order 2002, and The Marine Act (Northern Ireland) 2013.
Joint Nature Conservation Committee (JNCC) guidance states that the features that are to be monitored are the interest features for which the site has been notified or designated.
They include habitat types, species and earth science features, as well as complex features such as habitat mosaics and species assemblages.
Each interest feature must be identified, monitored, assessed and reported upon separately.
Review will submit that Dept outline what the commercial or industrial interest is, and where it is protected in law. Plus will submit that Dept have failed to apply the public interest test properly in 10(3).
• Enhanced Decommissioning Rehabilitation and Restoration Scheme (EDRRS), Quarterly Report – Bord Na Mona Q1FY22, (Apr 2021 to June 2021)
Rehabilitation commenced on bogs later than was originally planned
Decommissioning of rail line and Bog Clean Up is progressing in line with expectations.
Submit AIE Request for the Risk Register (which is reviewed with NPWS and DECC on a monthly basis), if NPWS plan not to publish the risks of the project
Progress is monitored in two ways: recorded by Hectares Completed and also by Work Content Completed
A system is in place whereby BnM submit the work packages to NPWS for approval in advance
Details on Rehabilitation to Date are redacted
Rehabilitation Costs by Bog are redacted
Decommissioning by activity is not redacted, and is broken down as follows:
Monitoring and Verification (number of samples taken and surveys completed) is redacted
Submit AIE Request the separate Monitoring and Verification reports, if NPWS plan not to publish these reports (they likely contain the actual environmental data that underpin the short quarterly reports)
Grant claim information is redacted
Employment numbers involved in the project are redacted
First quarter targets/actuals: rehabilitation hectares in the model for Qtr1 is 2,786 Ha vs 272 Ha completed
All details on project risks are redacted
Notes (Qtr2)
Rehabilitation measures completed at Kellysgrove Bog
Key metrics for the quarter and comparison with the EDRRS Financial Model are redacted
The Total Area Rehabilitated consists of areas where specific rehabilitation measures have been carried out such as drain blocking, berms and blocking of outfalls. It also includes areas where rehabilitation is either not possible or not required, i.e. areas designated as MLT1 (Marginal Lands Type 1) or AW1 (Additional Works 1) rehabilitation types. While these areas will benefit from the adjoining rehabilitation, there is no specific rehabilitation carried out within them. For clarity a distinction has been made in Table 2.1 (redacted) below between the Total Area Rehabilitated, which includes the MLT1 and AW1 areas and Total Area Rehabilitated with Specific Measures which excludes the MLT1 andAW1 areas.
The ancillary benefits to date for areas from adjoining rehabilitation have been identified, but are redacted
By the end of Qtr2 rehabilitation measures had commenced on sixteen of the nineteen FY22 (2021) bogs
The three bogs where measures had not commenced were Boora Bog, Clonad Bog and Clooniff Bog
Clooniff Bog commencement date not noted
Reasons as to why no rehabilitation measures are proposed in MLT1 and AW1 areas:
– Areas where there are no drains to block;
– Inactive turf cutting areas where 3rd party turbary rights may exist;
– Narrow strips of land around bogs that are densely vegetated;
– Area adjacent to drains/streams that need to be retained to provide drainage to third party lands;
– Areas that are vegetated where rehabilitation measures are not considered necessary or beneficial.
Constraint include some active turfcutting areas and forestry areas
It’s perhaps worth a closer look at the MLT1 and AW1 areas (adjacent lands) as there is now an opportunity for them to commence rehabilitation works (obviously would not have been possible due to legacy BnM drainage operations) ?
Qtr2 progress: 41% of the work plan for this year (FY22) completed. 2,083 Ha completed (24% of the total area)
Decommissioning by activity is not redacted, and is broken down as follows:
Surface water samples refer to surface water quality monitoring where samples are taken and analysed for the following parameters – pH, suspended solids, total solids, ammonia, total phosphorous, chemical oxygen demand (COD), colour and dissolved organic carbon (DOC)
Note: check does water quality reporting go to other competent authorities (IFI, EPA, local authority, LAWPRO)?
Review (quarterly?) meeting minutes in relation to risks/progress with BnM, Dept and NPWS. Are these minutes published, if not request via AIE.
Notes (Qtr3)
Rehabilitation had commenced on sixteen bogs and by the end of the quarter rehabilitation was ongoing on seventeen bogs and completed on one bog
The total area to be rehabilitated in the FY22 (Year 1) bogs is 8,761 hectares. The area rehabilitated at the end of this quarter was 5,196 hectares which is 59% of the total area to be rehabilitated in the nineteen FY22 (Year 1) bogs. The Work Content completed at the end of the quarter was 69.5% of the Work Content for the nineteen FY22 (2021) bogs.
Note on Clooniff Bog appears to be redacted. Only bog where work has not commenced. Why?
69.5% of the Work Content for this year (FY22) completed by the end of the quarter. At the start of this quarter 40.7% of this work content had been completed
Chart to illustrate progress to date:
Decommissioning by activity is not redacted, and is broken down as follows:
Section on Carbon Monitoring is redacted
Total number of employees is unredacted in Qtr 3 reporting. Listed as 221.5 employees across 7 employee groups/types
Notes on Kellysgrove Bog
Kellysgrove Bog (203 ha) was drained in the 1980s in anticipation of industrial peat production but no peat harvesting ever took place. The bog was completely ditched and drained, but the vegetated surface was never removed.
The site is located adjacent to the River Suck and several designated conservation sites.
To minimise potential impacts on neighbouring land, some boundary drains around Kellysgrove Bog will be left unblocked as blocking boundary drains could affect adjacent land. This includes active private turbary. It is not proposed to carry out any rehabilitation in the cutover bog zone at the north of the site
The entire bog is not within the ownership of Bord na Móna and turf cutting is having a significant impact on the northern end of the bog, both within and outside the BnM boundary. There is no turf- cutting around the southern section. 40% of the bog is not under BnM ownership, and this area has significant turf extraction operations, anc issues with dumping and burning.
Quarterly EPA mandated water quality sampling has moved to monthly sampling.
Article 6(3) Appropriate Assessment Screening Report Kellysgrove Bog, Co Galway Decommissioning and Rehabilitation 2021
Clooniff Bog (530.3 ha, Roscommon) peat extraction ceased recently, in 2019.
Parts of Clooniff Bog (outside the areas owned and under the control of Bord na Móna) are used by 3rd party contractors for the extraction peat. These areas are ecologically and hydrologically linked to Bord na Móna bog where rehabilitation is planned.
Stakeholders such as the IFA, ICMSA and multiple residential neighbours have queried likely impacts arising from the proposed re-wetting associated with the rehabilitation in relation to flooding on adjoining lands and, specifically, with regards to the maintenance of drains. The IFA also raised the issue of Health and Safety in relation to raising water levels as well as possible impacts on land and property prices.
Conservation groups have commented that ongoing turf cutting on the margins of the bog (within and outside of the area owned by Bord na Móna) needed to be addressed to maximise the benefits of the rehabilitation work being proposed.
Clooniff has a pumped hydrological regime. It is expected that when pumping is stopped that water levels will rise significantly across parts of the site. This has already occurred across a portion of the site.
Some parts the peat has been removed entirely to expose the rock / mineral deposits underlying the peat
The site is located adjacent to the River Shannon Callows and several designated conservation sites. In winter, the site can be inundated with water corresponding to winter flood levels on the River Shannon (the site forms part of the River Shannon floodplain).
EPA IPC Licence – Ref. P0502-01. As part of Condition 10.2 of this license, a rehabilitation plan must be prepared for permanent rehabilitation of the boglands within the licensed area. The key objective of ‘rehabilitation’, as required by this licence, is achieved by the environmental stabilisation of the bog.
To minimise potential impacts on neighbouring land, some boundary drains around Clooniff Bog will be left unblocked as blocking boundary drains could affect adjacent land.
Bord na Móna has extensive EPA financial obligations relating to rehabilitation and decommissioning under its Integrated Pollution Control Licence. It may be difficult to separate out the IPCL obligations (and resultant costs to BnM) from the works/costs funded by the EDRRS / PCAS scheme.
Funding provided under the Scheme cannot be used to cover costs for Bord Na Móna to meet their IPC licence obligations.
Reporting to the EPA continues until the IPC License is surrendered. The bog will be included in the full licence surrender process as per the Guidance to Licensees on Surrender, Cessation and Closure of Licensed Sites EPA, 2012, when:
1. The planned rehabilitation has been completed.
2. Water quality monitoring demonstrates that water quality of discharge is stabilising or improving.
3. The site has been environmentally stabilised.
Clooniff Bog Pumping stations and sample points
Overall monitoring has improved, and scale of monitoring seems up from the basic EPA mandatory monitoring sites. The reporting is regular (perhaps monthly or quarterly, it’s unclear), but data is only published annually. Perhaps the data could be published by LAWPRO or EPA on catchments.ie or similar so there is improved transparency for WFD
For context, this is the list and map of all bogs covered by the scheme
Appeal submitted to Office of the Commissioner for Environmental Information
Delay of one month granted to 3rd party by NPWS to review release of monitoring reports has no basis in law under the AIE Regs
There is no provision under the AIE Regs for NPWS to make “all reasonable efforts to seek the consent or otherwise of Bord na Mona prior to release of the information”
Why are heavily modified waterbodies on peatland not included?
The EPA review considers the following specified uses:
Water storage and regulation (i.e. major impounding structures such as dams and reservoirs);
Flood protection;
The urban environment;
Arterial drainage;
Navigation
It does not appear to directly consider heavily modified water bodies in the context of peatland drainage schemes and/or peatland rehabilitation schemes
Please note two IFI submissions on BnM hydromorphological conditions which do address the issues:
Correspondence between BnM and DAFM suggest that the main heavily modified water bodies will not be remediated as part of the current PCAS programme – the programme is very much aimed at improving water chemistry, not restoring the modified watercourses. This is only addressing half the problem, heavily modified waterbodies on peatland cannot support life.
Peatland pressures are listed in EPA data, but there does not appear to be a process in place similar to LAWPRO to ASSAP Ag Referrals to address those peatland pressures. In fact, the overall enforcement regime for peatland drainage is unclear, and unlicensed drainage/unlicensed peat extraction occurs at the same time on the same sites. There are ongoing issues with digging drainage for peat extraction on SACs, and drainage for peat extraction on sites that are hydrologically connected to SACs.
Note: Insomuch as any further records may potentially exist, they would be held by Bord na Móna Energy Limited, which is responsible for the Peatlands Climate Action Scheme. It is that company’s position that it is not a public authority for the purposes of the AIE Regulations and therefore, the Regulations do not apply to it.
Longford CoCo Submission on Draft Edera Bog Cutaway Bog Decommissioning and Rehabilitation Plan 2020
