NEWS FROM THE CELTIC LEAGUE As a spin-off from the contaminated Harbour Silt row which has exercised people (and groups) on the Isle of Man recently the Celtic League has asked the Manx Chief Minister for details about discharges into the Marine environment. The discharges involve leachate from a disused landfill site near Peel on the Islands west coast which are drawn off by tanker at the landfill and then disposed into the sea outfall off Peel. Strict monitoring was in place many years ago and the League are asking is this still the case. The League also say that given that even most opponents of the temporary harbour silt landfill arrangement also opposed sea dumping how long the leachate disposal to the open sea will continue. ?The Chief Minister Allan Bell MHK Chief Minister Office Government Buildings Douglas Isle of Man 1st May 2015 Dear Chief Minister, My apologies for burdening you with yet another query which ordinarily I would have sent to the appropriate Department or Agency however in this instance I am unsure if DEFA, DOI or the MUA are the appropriate reference point. As a consequence of the controversy surrounding the removal of contaminated silt from Peel Harbour photographs were posted on a social media site of leachate collected by MUA tankers from Raggatt tip site being disposed of into a sewer (or storm drain) in Peel (Mill Road area I believe). Obviously one of the issues advanced in relation to the Peel (Harbour Silt) operation was that the sea beds off Peel could not be contaminated with pollutants. I think everyone including those opposed to the (temporary) Poortown Dump site accepted this was a sound environmental policy and that the sea fisheries area off the west coast should be protected because of its commercial value to the local industry. Can I ask what monitoring if any is undertaken of the leachate from the Raggatt landfill to determine how benign (or otherwise) the pollutants it may contain are i.e. how often are samples from the waste liquid removed analysed? In addition is it the long term policy to continue sea discharge of this material in this way? Yours sincerely, J B Moffatt (Mr) pp Celtic League? Link here to Local Authority Minutes from six years ago. (Minute 09/050 informs.) J B Moffatt (Mr) Director of Information Celtic League 01/05/15 (Please note that replies to correspondence received by the League and posted on CL News are usually scanned hard copies. Obviously every effort is made to ensure the scanning process is accurate but sometimes errors do occur.) ISSUED BY THE CELTIC LEAGUE INFORMATION SERVICE. The Celtic League has branches in the six Celtic Countries. It works to promote cooperation between these countries and campaigns on a broad range of political, cultural and environmental matters. It highlights human rights abuse, monitors all military activity and focuses on socio-economic issues Internet site at: (voir le site) (voir le site) Share this!