CASTLE Cement's announcement about the application to burn Cemfuel in kiln seven and to restart Cemfuel in kilns five and six, made it a black week for the Ribble Valley.

Some facts that may be of interest to the people who will have to live with decisions made by others. If Castle obtain permission for waste burning in kiln seven, at 40 per cent and commence burning on kilns five and six again at 40 per cent on each, they will be permitted approximately 135,000 tonnes of waste per year.

We mistakenly thought that the European Hazardous Waste Directive would not permit kilns five and six to use waste because of the dioxin limit of .01NG which we knew they could not meet.

What we did not know was the Environment Agency was going to allow cement plants to have a much higher limit up to .08. The House of Commons select committee was given evidence in 1994/95 showing a 53 per cent increase in dioxins and furans when waste is used as a fuel in cement kilns. Select committee 1996/97 cement kilns account for 23 per cent of annual global dioxin production when waste is used.

The latest US environment agency draft review of dioxins concludes that "cancer causing risks from dioxins exposure could be ten times higher than previously assessed."

With all this information, it is a disgrace that the limit for cement kilns are now going to be much higher than incinerations, this cannot be right.

The European Directive was set at .01 to protect the public and the environment. They believe that is the safe limit, so why make exceptions?

Castle Cement's kiln seven will adhere to the .01 limit but because the two old kilns are allowed a much higher limit, I can only conclude that the Environment Agency are moving the 'goalposts' to allow old wet kilns carrying on long after their technology has become obsolete.

LYNDA ENGLAND, Secretary, RATS (Residents Against Toxic Substances), Worston.