Foster set to reject EPA plan
ENVIRONMENT Minister Arlene Foster's plan to protect the Ulster environment for present and future generations is expected to reject the case for an independent Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) when it is brought to the Assembly this morning.
The decision – discussed at last Thursday's Executive meeting – appears to have brought an end to the chance of an EPA, something a broad-based group of campaigners say was recommended as long ago as 1982.
And although the decision has strong echoes of that made 25 years ago – when there was also a widespread call for an independent EPA – it is expected to go out to consultation before being formally adopted.
In 1982, the Government rejected creating an independent body, instead opting for a strengthened Environment and Heritage Service (EHS).
However, environmental campaigners say that since then the EHS has not been able to adequately champion the environment because it is a part of the Department of Environment (DoE), making it difficult or impossible to prosecute cases against government bodies such as Northern Ireland Water when they break environmental laws.
Conservationists, anglers, influential business leaders, the Consumer Council and senior politicians have all said the current system is failing and called for an independent agency.
However the creation of an independent body has been strongly opposed by many farmers, who fear it will increase the bureaucratic burden on them.
Friends of the Earth Northern Ireland director John Woods said he would be bitterly disappointed if the minister’s reported decision is what comes before the Assembly today.
But last night the DUP’s North Down Assemblyman Peter Weir – who said there was no need for an independent agency – rallied to the minister’s defence, praising her support for the environment.
He said: “It is welcome that the Environment Minister has stepped up the campaign against those currently flouting environment laws through illegal dumping.
“This type of approach, right across the board, is fundamental to ensuring that Northern Ireland leads the way in effective environmental governance legislation.
“The campaign and resources devoted to detecting and prosecuting those flouting current laws must be stepped up.”
However, Nigel Smyth, chair of the influential Confederation of British Industry (CBI) in Northern Ireland, said the current structures were not working and needed changed.
“The environment is very important to business and we will look at the minister’s statement in detail,” he said.
“At present, there is a limited amount of faith in EHS among the business community – part of it maybe because it is under-resourced – but part of it we put down to a poor strategy and poor culture in EHS.
“When we talk about an independent environmental protection agency, we’re not talking about setting up a whole now group – basically EHS would effectively be transferred off and you would create a new organisation around that.”
Last week, Mrs Foster said creating an independent EPA would cost about 2.5 million to set up and 600,000 annually to run.
But Ulster Unionist Assemblyman Basil McCrea said it was wrong to claim that an independent EPA would be too expensive.
“We found 100m to sort out underpay in the civil service – if the environment is worth protecting, then it’s worth doing it properly,” he said.
“There’s plenty of waste in the civil service – we need to start reducing that waste and applying it to things like this that actually need done.
“We view the farming community to be at the centre of environmental protection but you only have to look around to see that there are serious problems around issues such as illegal dumping.”
Mr McCrea said there were fundamental problems with EHS, which were “overly-bureaucratic and insufficiently empowered to deal with the issues”.
“We need something better than that and an enhanced EHS just appears to be throwing more good money after bad,” he said.
And Mr McCrea said rejecting an independent EPA could be a “false economy” as Ulster faces multi-million pound EU fines if the environment is not protected.
“This is not something we can fudge – if we don’t do it we’re going to be spending a lot of money on fines.”
Alliance leader David Ford said that he would be “extremely disappointed” with the Executive if Mrs Foster rules out an independent EPA.
“There is a clear need for an independent agency, not least to provide independent advice to the DoE on issues such as planning,” he said.
“The overarching view of the involved organisations – and every party but the DUP – is that there should be an EPA and simply fiddling around with the powers of EHS is not enough.
“I believe it would leave Northern Ireland significantly behind the rest of these islands and I believe would be at the detriment of both the economy and the environment.”
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Monday 13 February 2012
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