Government blamed at hearing

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Government blamed at hearing

Tuesday, 08 May 2007

HERO’S WELCOME?Willie Corduff, Winner of the The Goldman Environmental Prize, was carried shoulder high by supporters following his arrival at Knock Airport last Wednesday.?Pic: Peter WilcockGovernment blamed at hearingREPORTÁine RyanThe Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA) hearing into the issuing of an Integrated Pollution Prevention Control (IPPC) licence for the Corrib gas project sat for two days last week. Last January, the agency had issued a proposed determination for the project, subject to 85 conditions. It decided to hold an oral hearing after receiving 13 objections. Issues highlighted, during the first two weeks of submissions, included cold-venting of gas, the siting of the proposed refinery within a drinking-water catchment and the non-use of international Codes of Practice. The possibility of using novel offshore technology, the ‘demonisation’ of the people of Erris in the media, the large Garda presence, as well as the country’s ‘close political-corporate’ culture were also discussed. Day 10 Tuesday, May 1The politicisation of the Corrib gas project was not the fault of Shell E&P Ireland. Mr Micheál Ó Seighin of the Rossport Five told the hearing that Shell and the other partners, Statoil and Marathon, had been led astray by the Irish Government. Mr Ó Seighin was addressing the fact that, due to project-splitting, the removal of 350,000 tonnes of peat from the proposed refinery site was progressing in the absence of an IPPC licence and a specific route.He cited, as a typical example of this politicisation, a statement by Minister for Community, Rural and Gaeltacht Affairs, Éamon Ó Cuív, at a public meeting in Belmullet, after An Bord Pleanála turned down the project in April 2003. He said the Minister announced the development was going ahead in Bellanaboy, because it was too late for it to go anywhere else. “Objectively, and from a distance, it would seem as if Shell is just ignoring the EPA. Shell is frustrated by the society we have created,” said Mr Ó’Seighin, adding that, ‘unfortunately we have developed an establishment of chancers’.Anthony Irwin, an objector who operates a marine-based tour company, said there should have been a baseline study implemented before the initiation of the project, which, he claimed, was already in breach of an EU Habitats Directive.He said that former Minister for the Marine, Frank Fahey, had issued consents and licences without checking the huge and varied resource of flora and fauna, which included orchids, whales, dolphins and basking shark.The unavailability and unaccountability of local agencies and authorities was highlighted in a submission by Ms Kate Kirkpatrick, who said she had made 30 phone calls, all unanswered, to Mayo County Council’s Project Engineer, Mr Paddy Mahon, about a diesel spill on the refinery site on March 25 last. She had also contacted the Gardaí, the local EPA office and the North Western Regional Fisheries office, she said.The stream from the refinery had a thick-brown coating on its surface and it stank of diesel, she said. It runs into Carrowmore lake, the drinking water supply of 10,000 people. She produced a sample of the polluted water at the hearing, observing that, a month later, it still smelt of diesel and that the residue was still in the water. She invited Chairman Frank Clinton to check for himself. Ms Kirkpatrick said that John Cronin, of Shell’s Bangor office, had admitted the leak occurred on March 24. Referring to a possible separate diesel spill, Shell Senior Counsel, Mr Esmonde Keane, said the company could not confirm its origin. Mr Brendan Cafferty of the Mayo Pro-Gas Group called for strict monitoring of the project and the highest standards to be implemented. He welcomed the employment possibilities provided by the project. Shell Senior Counsel, Mr Esmonde Keane accused Maura Harrington of ‘badgering Mr Cafferty’ during cross-examination. In her submission, Máire Ní Bhreathnach, quoted from the scriptures: “Take off your shoes, for the ground on which you walk is holy.” She argued that science is only now discovering what naturalists and indigenous peoples have known for millennia.“There are other ways of knowing, intuitive, ecological, as well as scientific,” she said. Day 11 Wednesday, May 2The next Minister for the Marine could refuse to issue a consent for the new route of the Corrib gas pipeline since the proposed pipeline is situated within a drinking-water catchment and thus breaches codes of practice, the hearing was told.Mr Leo Corcoran, of An Taisce, said the new route would require new consents under the Gas Act 2002 or the Strategic Infrastructure Act. The Minister for the Marine is the regulator and issues some of these consents.In his closing statement, Leo Corcoran said the consent issued by Minister Frank Fahey in 2002, without compliance with the Pipeline Code of Practice, may now be nullified in light of a recent High Court decision to vacate Compulsory Acquisition Orders for the original route. “There is no guarantee that the new application will succeed because a new consent will require a statement that the infrastructure will comply with a code of practice,” said Mr Corcoan, a former Bord Gáis engineer, He said the option was there from the outset for Shell to locate the terminal outside a sensitive water catchment. He cited the EU and Irish Government’s ‘precautionary principle’, which stipulates that where scientific evidence of environmental risk exists, evasive action should be taken in the absence of conclusive proof. Earlier, ‘planning by stealth’ was how objector, Ms Eve Campbell, from the Rossport Solidarity Camp, described a 2006 report by the Petroleum Affairs Division of the Department of Communications, Marine and Natural Resources. It is entitled Cost Effective Field Development Study for Atlantic Ireland Basins.“Several of the hypothetical fields use the Corrib infrastructure, or adjacent facilities at Bellanaboy,” she said, referring to the fact that the proposed refinery site is 407 acres in area, while the present proposal will encompass 32 acres.The report details the potential expansion of the Corrib refinery to facilitate a number of fields in the Slyne-Erris-Donegal Basin Gas/Condesate Fields. Ms Campbell said this seemed to indicate that the Bellanaboy area has been designated a refining zone, similar to the St Fergus site (in Scotland), albeit informally or without public pronouncement. Goldman Environmental Award winner, Mr Willie Corduff, addressed the hearing after arriving in a motorcade of over 100 cars. “I just want to thank everybody that’s behind us. It’s time that Shell copped on that the people of Erris are not behind them, or the people of the world, as we found out,” said Mr Corduff. He received a standing ovation. The hearing reconvenes tomorrow (Wednesday) and is expected to conclude later in the day.