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European Platform Against Windfarms

EPAW

Our mission is to defend the interests of our members which are either: - opposing one or more wind farm proposals; - or questioning the effectiveness of wind farms as a tool for solving the problems of man and the planet; - or defending the flora, fauna and landscapes from damage caused by wind farms, directly or through environmental degradation such as erosion, water contamination and bush fires; - or generally fighting against the damaging effects of wind farms on tourism, the economy, people's quality of life, the value of their properties, their health, or unforeseen consequences; - or a combination of the above.

Lobbying Activity

Response to Union renewable Financing mechanism

24 May 2020

The EIA Directive 85/337 EU became the law of the E U in 1986, but it was not until 2010 that the Irish government incorporated it into Irish Planning and Development Acts.(PDA). In the intervening 14 years, most developers of projects outlined in annex 1 and 2 of the EIA Directive by- passed the requirement for an EIA. In many cases the planning authorities granted planning consent with no EIA at all. This created a very difficult situation for those who wished to participate in the decision making process and for the courts to whom planning appeals were made by Judicial Review. The correct way to transpose a Directive is 1) The directive is made and member states informed. 2) National laws are amended to give the Directive full force of law in that member state and remove any conflicts between the Directive and national law. 3) Subordinate legislation is made by a government minister to regulate the practical functioning and implementation of the new procedure, done by Statutory Instrument (S.I.) in Ireland. In the interim between 1985 and 2010 developers could at their election opt to proceed under the EIA Directive treating the proposed work as a project or to proceed under the national PDA treating the work as a development only. The attitude of planners was a matter of luck and in most cases they allowed nearly complete non compliance with the EIA Directive. The result was that many facilities were built which came under the Annexes to the EIA Directive as developments only. (The were treated the same as a dwelling house) when in fact they were industrial facilities to which the Directive applied. The public were forced to request the courts to insist on compliance with the Directive and the courts were forced to decide if the Directive had force of law when it was not transposed by national statutory law. In this regard the EU failed its citizens. Had there been no EU, all national legislation on the environment would start off as legislation which would be binding on all parties. The matter was finally ratified by the passing of the P D (Amendment) Act 2010 inserting Part X into the 2000 Act 14 years after the Directive was introduced. The same situation is now happening with the overarching environmental laws of the EU in relation to strategic public plans and programmes under which the legal framework for subsequent EIA projects are considered for planning consent. There was the signing of the Aarhus Convention, the introduction of the Public Participation Directive and the introduction of the Strategic Environmental Assessment Directive (SEA) in 2004. Regulations 435/2004 and 436/2004 are made by the Minister as Statutory Instruments which are subordinate legislation in Ireland. Articles 4 to 13 purport to amend the primary statutory legislation (PDA). The sources of Irish law in order of precedence are 1) EU law, 2) The Common Law of England, 3) Statute Law (acts signed by the President), 4) Subordinate Legislation (Statutory Instruments make under acts) and 5) Quasi Legal regulation of professions such as the Medical Profession. Note: A government minister cannot make or amend primary statutory legislation signed by the President by a S.I. signed by him. It is ultra vires. All attempt to carry out SEAs are therefore invalid. The entire renewable energy plan of the EU is proceeding in defiance of the SEA Directive. The Compliance Committee UNECE has ruled on several communications and complaints by citizens that the EU is in breach of its obligations in this regard. Inconsistencies become obvious. viz, Electricity imported into Ireland from the UK produced by Coal is counted in Ireland as carbon neutral when in fact the emissions took place 300 kilometers away in England. All of this is very worrying for the citizens of the European Union which is going through very difficult times. It is imperative that the law is reformed and implemented properly.
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Response to Revision of the guidelines for trans-European Energy infrastructure

23 May 2020

The European Union for founded on guarantees of fundamental rights. The Charter of Fundamental Human Rights, the Treaty on the Functioning of the EU and the Lisbon Treaty included rights to protect the environment and gave citizens to right to participate in environmental decision making and have their contribution taken into account by decision makers with reason given for decisions. The EU signed the Aarhus Convention a decade and a half ago. The right to participate is provided for by the SEA Directive 2001/42/EC and in particular Article 6 and 7 thereof. Citizens now find that this is denied and that they are denied access to the European Court of Justice to demand public plans and programmes comply with the law. In Ireland the SEA Directive was never transposed into the Planning and Development Act 2000 which legislates for planning for all projects under the EIA Directive - 2011/92/EC and Habitats Directive. This reduced the EU to the status of a dictatorship unlike the Law in Britain and Ireland where citizens have the right to challenge government decisions in the courts. Proof of this is provided by the rulings of the United Nations (UNECE) Aarhus Convention Compliance Committee. The communication numbered C/96 on a complaint by Mr Pat Swords refers. The project called the North South Interconnector in Ireland was made a Project of Common Interest by the EU in 2013. It was granted planning consent by Irish planners following an oral hearing. In my submission I pointed out that the renewable wind energy justification for it was never assessed under the SEA Directive from an engineering standpoint and therefore the justification for the interconnector was absent and the application was proceeding without proper authority. Following the granting of consent I took a Judicial Review to the Irish High Court to quash the consent. The planners and the Project System Operator Eirgrid PLC contested my application and in their pleadings before the court, they argued among other things that the interconnector was only the start and they intended installing several times more infrastructure without compliance with the SEA requirement or the Maastricht Recommendations. The Judge refused my application and in his judgement he ruled that An Bord Pleanala (the Irish Planning Board) had no substantial decisions to make and that it was only a clearing house. He effectively ruled that once the Project was made a Project of Common Interest it was automatically granted planning consent and that in turn meant that no submission to planning could be objectively considered with a view to either granting or refusing the consent. This meant that the EU Commission can declare a project to the Project of Common Interest, it must then go though the planning process on the member state concerned, fees from participants can be collected and a sham process take place in which the public are lead to believe there will be a decision to grant of refuse the consent. This judgement means that no competent authority in a member state is at liberty to refuse consent . This means that the entire plans of the EU for renewable energy are proceeding without proper authority. This is a sad indictment on the freedom and status of EU citizens and has lead to resentment by citizens and anti EU feeling. It appears to me that there is a belligerent almost religious fervour for the roll out of the renewable energy programmes. The engineering aspect ignored. The EU has reneged on its promises for the rights of its citizens which is very disappointing for me as one who supported the EU form its inception until I discover this situation. The environmental destruction is incalculable. An analysis by me of the financial statements of Irish wind farms found they are loosing 220 millions Euros per year and cannot pay their capital cost within their life span.
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Response to Access to Justice in Environmental matters

31 Mar 2020

From Val Martin, Drumsallagh, Kingscourt, Ireland. 1) It took me 2 days to log in because your site was difficult to access. Few people know about this feedback. After years of dealing with you, I have concluded that you do not want to accept the laws that are in place for access to justice in environmental cases. I have always pointed this out to you and you ignored it. 2) The Compliance Committee of UNECE has ruled you, Britain and Ireland are in breach of the Aarhus Convention. The SEA Directive 2001/42/EC is not transposed into the domestic law of Ireland where the Planning and Development Act 2000 has never been amended to require compliance with the SEA Directive. You have brought no pressure to bear on the Irish Government for that failure. 3) The result is that there is: a) no overarching assessment framework, b) no environmental report, c) no engineering opinion, d) no consideration of alternatives, no public participation, f) no compliance with the Machinery Directive in respect of projects submitted for planning consent in most cases. In the case of renewable energy, wind energy, solar energy and energy storage, applications for consent are often submitted to local planners manned by staff with no skills in the industry concerned. If a submission is made by an expert and a counter submission made by the developer, there is no planner competent to adjudicate on it. 4) The green left wing politicians have taken control in the European Union so that elected representatives make policy based on intuition and under pressure from lobby groups. The citizen cannot take a case to the Court of Justice of the European Union because there is no law to provide for it. Only national courts can refer a case to the CJEU for a ruling. The European Platform Against Wind Farms tried to bring a case on the National Renewable Energy Action plans and was rejected. 5) The result is that I set out to destroy the EU by various means including my "You Tube Channel Val Martin Ireland Real True Educational Not Fake news Channel. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QdDjjNHnLqk" 6) I have given up in hoping the Fundamental Charter of Human Rights or the promises in the Lisbon treaty will every be delivered. They won't and the reason is the EU is corrupt. British voters approved the referendum to leave the European Union by a small percentage and had 2% voted the other way, they would have remained in. That 2% was made up of voters terrorized by energy projects in their community and the decimation of steel production and other vital industries hastened by EU green hysteria. 7) Britain is gone and so is its money. Italy, Greece, Ireland and Spain are in debt they can never get out of. They are demanding the North of the EU bail out the south. The people are upset at mass migration. Financial regulators neglect their duty. I have pointed out clear breaches of Irish company law to the Irish Director of Corporate Enforcement who ignored it. Europe's banks have overstated asset values. Ireland wind farms are valued at 6.5 billion euros and are loosing 222 million Euros per year. Fair value adjustments are used to show a profit where there is a loss. All pension funds are gone, there is nothing left. 8) Enter into this the Covid 19 virus and its impact on the world economy and you people are in trouble. The days of your squandering are over. On Sunday last the Finance Minister of the Messe Province of Germany Thomas Schafer committed suicide RIP. Some major banks and the ECB headquarters are in that district. He was worried about the cost of the virus, I suspect he knew Government and the banks lied using fraudulent accounting practices and could not face the horror now to be revealed. He was married with 2 children, it took a lot of anguish to make him do that. Summary: You won't change, its better you don't, better the whole EU project is ended as soon as possible.
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