On 31 October 2003 a

landslide Landslides, also known as landslips, are several forms of mass wasting that may include a wide range of ground movements, such as rockfalls, deep-seated grade (slope), slope failures, mudflows, and debris flows. Landslides occur in a variety of ...

occurred on the side of Cashlaundrumlahan, a hill near Derrybrien in County Galway, Ireland. It was focused around turbine 68 in the Derrybrien wind farm, and disrupted further construction. The landslide dislodged 450,000 cubic metres of peat after days of dry weather. While initially coming to rest 2.5 km away, it moved further three weeks later when rains came, entering the Derrywee River (''Abhainn Da Loilioch''), and eventually spilled 20 km away into Lough Cutra. The lake was also the source of the townland of

Gort Gort ( or ) is a town of around 3,000 inhabitants in County Galway in the west of Ireland. Located near the border with County Clare, the town lies between the Burren and the Slieve Aughty and is served by the R458 and R460 regional roads, wh ...

's drinking water, and this caused disruptions to supply. An impact assessment on the wildlife within the lake determined that more than 50 per cent of fish in the lake had been killed due to this pollution, about 50,000 fish of all ages and species groups had perished. A smaller

peat Peat (), also known as turf (), is an accumulation of partially decayed vegetation or organic matter. It is unique to natural areas called peatlands, bogs, mires, moors, or muskegs. The peatland ecosystem covers and is the most efficien ...

slide near turbine 17 had occurred prior to the main movement on the 16th but it did not result in the suspension of the construction of the wind turbine farm. In 2004, the engineering and construction companies (associated with the wind farm development) were convicted of being responsible for the pollution, while the charges against the wind farm company itself were dismissed. In 2008, the

European Court of Justice The European Court of Justice (ECJ, french: Cour de Justice européenne), formally just the Court of Justice, is the supreme court of the European Union in matters of European Union law. As a part of the Court of Justice of the European Un ...

ruled against the Irish government, noting that an

environmental impact assessment Environmental Impact assessment (EIA) is the assessment of the environmental consequences of a plan, policy, program, or actual projects prior to the decision to move forward with the proposed action. In this context, the term "environmental imp ...

should have been undertaken before the project was allowed to proceed.

References

External links

*
"The Politics of Peat"
– Video containing RTÉ News coverage of the landslide {{coord missing, County Galway Natural disasters in Ireland Derrybrien Landslide, 2003 History of County Galway Derrybrien landslide Derrybrien landslide 2003 disasters in Ireland

See also

References

External links