Corrib hearing extended as An Taisce calls for adjournment

Corrib oral hearing extended as An Taisce calls for adjournment


Áine Ryan

AN Taisce has called on An Bord PleanΡla to adjourn the ongoing hearing into the controversial Corrib gas project, in Belmullet, to facilitate legal requirements under EU legislation.
In an 80-page submission on behalf of the national trust, Ms Attracta Uí Bhroin said on Friday last either the hearing must be adjourned or new information by Shell must be disallowed. 
Citing the particular pertinence of ‘the very technical nature of the new borehole log information, presented by the applicant after the hearing reconvened’, she noted that observers did not have time to properly assess this, as was their legal right. She referred to requirements under Directive 85/337/EEC. 
Earlier this summer, the Minister for the Environment, John Gormley issued Shell with a Foreshore License to carry out investigative works for a 4.9km tunnel under Sruwaddacon Bay, a Special Area of Conservation (SAC).
The tunnel, which is still at the design stage, will be longer than the Dublin Port tunnel and the longest tunnel carrying raw gas in Europe.
The resumed planning appeals board hearing is under the remit of the Strategic Infrastructure Act and is deliberating on a revised application by Shell, which involves tunnelling a section of the pipeline route under the Sruwaddacon estuary, a special area of conservation.
It has also examined Compulsory Acquisition Orders (CAOs) by Shell for access to lands along this newly-modified route, the third proposed by the developer.
Ms Uí Bhroin also said: “Notwithstanding the supposed strategic importance of this initiative the matters of law must be observed and cannot be set aside. It is An Taisce’s contention that the application should be refused on the following legal grounds: The application is simply out of time. The application is invalid as there is no application for retention of elements of the development, which have been already constructed without planning permission – and which are part of the proposed development – the subject of this application.”
She said that these constructed developments required EIAs (Environmental Impact Assessments) and were therefore illegal.
Ms Ui Bhroin referred to an issue – that has repeatedly been raised during this hearing – about the  ‘complexities associated with the constructed development from the HWM (high water mark) to the landfall at Glengad and the matter of the Section 40 consents’, issued in 2002 by then Minister for the Marine, Frank Fahey.
Ms Uí Bhroin also observed that those who have challenged the various applications for this project have ‘provided a great service’ to the relevant competent authorities and to the State.
“The knowledge, wisdom, and indeed expertise, both old and newly-acquired of a motivated community never ceases to amaze,” she said.
Mr Esmonde Keane, Senior Counsel for Shell, referred Ms Uí Bhroin to Justice Peter Charleton’s recent High Court decision upholding the legality of works at Glengad.

Protests will continue
DURING a session the previous day, Thursday last (September 16), Esmonde Keane conceded that if permission is given for the last section of the controversial Corrib gas pipeline, it expected local resistance to continue and even escalate.
Ironically, the marathon session – which facilitated questions by locals on the design stability and safety of the project – culminated in a standoff late on Thursday evening when protestors stopped Shell expert witnesses and personnel boarding a bus bound for their hotel.
Earlier retired teacher, Maura Harrington asked: “Do you accept that, should this application be approved by An Bord PleanΡla, resistance will continue and in all probability escalate?”
In response, Esmonde Keane said: “We certainly hope not [but] it would be unrealistic to expect people wouldn’t continue to object to the project given its history.”
However, he said he hoped the process of the oral hearing would help to further assure those with concerns, that the pipeline is safe
During lengthy technical questioning, Mr MicheΡl Ó Seighin, – jailed in 2005 with four other men for flouting a court order – asked the applicant had it made clear to the regulatory authorities, and their political representatives, that when it referred to ‘the safety of the pipeline’, it was, in fact, referring to ‘the pipeline’ per se, and not the consequences for people,  if there was a rupture or explosion. 
Inspector Martin Nolan suggested that Mr Ó Seighin, was playing with semantics during his line of questioning.  However, Mr Ó Seighin argued he was rather looking for ‘transparency’ about matters of concern to the receiving community.
In response, Mr Gerry Costello, for Shell, said the relevant Codes of Practise for safety had been set by TAG (Technical Advisory Group), under the Department of Communications, Energy and Natural Resources. Another Shell expert witness, Dr Jane Haswell said the relevant safety legislation, already used in the UK, was being developed for Ireland.
Referring to an earlier session, Mr Ó Seighin said afterwards he plans to make a formal complaint to Minister for the Environment, John Gormley about his granting of a Foreshore License to Shell for ongoing boreholing works in the Sruwaddacon estuary.
At Wednesday’s hearing Mr O’Seighin challenged the department’s senior biologist,  Dr Elizabeth Simes about the fact that back in the early days of the project, in 2001, she had opposed any interference in the estuary outside of the months of August and October but that now Shell was permitted by the minister to continue works for up to six months. The resumed hearing, which opened almost a month ago, has been extended for another week due to lengthy questioning by objectors.