Corrib crisis

Corrib crisis deepens

Warnings of more protests as Shell claim majority of landowners consent to CAOs

Áine Ryan

SHELL has been accused of resorting to Compulsory Acquisition Orders (CAOs) once again because there is no consent for the new, modified pipeline route for the controversial Corrib gas project. Announcing the new pipeline route last week after a 14-month selection process by Shell appointed consultant, RPS, the company confirmed that CAOs will be applied for in respect of all lands, including tracts of commonage. 
The Mayo News has learned that two of the Rossport Five – Willie Corduff and Brendan Philbin –  have shares in commonage lands on the new route. Last November over 20 commonage shareholders in Rossport and Muingnabo took a case to Belmullet District Court objecting to RPS entering their lands to carry out tests, including borehole drilling. Judge  Mary Devins ruled that proper notification was not given to landowners nor was their consent sought under the Gas Act 1976. The judge said ‘the constitutional right of the landowner was paramount’ and prohibited entry until the provisions were adhered to.
According to RPS the revised route is twice as far away from houses and will operate at half the pressure of the original proposal. Three Government Ministers must give a number of approvals for the amended route, and it could also be the subject of yet another oral hearing.
Mr Terry Nolan, Shell’s Deputy Managing Director, told The Mayo News that the decision to CAO the land was taken ‘so that consenting owners are not under undue pressure from objectors’.
“The majority of landowners have given their consent to letting the pipeline go through. We are compulsorily acquiring all the lands so that the consenting owners are not under undue pressure from objectors,” said Mr Nolan.
The new route is 9.2km long and runs for 40 per cent of the original high-pressure pipeline track. As with the original route, the landfall is at Glengad, and it crosses Sruwaddaccon Bay into Rossport, where it continues in a northeasterly direction, and then southeasterly through commonage shared by over 60 landowners. It cuts into the Glenamoy bog complex, a Special Area of Conservation (SAC), before crossing Sruwaddaccon Bay for a second time and traveling south to the refinery at Bellanaboy.
An option to run straight down Sruwaddaccon Bay, also a SAC, was abandoned, mainly on environmental grounds, according to RPS.
Responding to the announcement at the weekend, Mr Vincent McGrath, of the Rossport Five, said this route ‘is even worse than the first one’.
“A section of the village of Rossport is now encircled by the pipeline and traverses three road crossings instead of one. These are roads that people use for school, the shop, church and post  office. Where are people to go now if there’s an explosion? Out to sea is the only option, ” said the retired teacher.
He stressed that the pressure in this pipeline was still at 144 bar and not at four bar as it is in pipes that run through Dublin or other towns
Mr McGrath also observed that at the landfall at Glengad, there will be tunneling at the bottom of Dooncarton mountain, where the disastrous September 2003 landslides occurred. He said that two landholders at Glengad were now involved in the dispute and will not be consenting to the development.
“Since we were jailed in 2005, many people who didn’t understand the issues, and had originally consented, have learned about its flaws and how unprecedented it is to put a high-pressure pipe and a refinery across bog and in an inland location,” said Vincent McGrath.
“When, and if, they [Shell] try to start putting down the pipeline, the situation will be worse than in 2005,” added Mr McGrath.
However, both RPS Director, PJ Rudden and the aforementioned Mr Nolan told The Mayo News that the majority of landholders were consenting.
“In the case of the commonage, we’re going to have to CAO it as it’s the only legal way to do it,” said Mr Rudden.
Mr Nolan said they had ‘very seriously considered going right up Sruwaddaccon Bay, but after hiring the best experts, it was decided that, on balance, there would be a significant environmental risk’. He declined to comment on the reality of a Green Minister for the Environment (John Gormley) refusing such an application, stressing the decision was made due to environmental concerns and not political ones.
However, he did say that : “The statutory authorities couldn’t have accepted that route when there were alternatives available.” Mr Nolan stressed the final route was selected after balancing community input with environmental concerns.
Responding to a question about a recent article in The Mayo News in which Labour Party President, Deputy Michael D Higgins called on Minister Eamon Ryan to consider moving the refinery to an onshore site at Glinsk, Mr Nolan categorically said: “The site of the refinery is not going to be moved.”
Meanwhile, the Pro Gas Mayo group welcomed the announcement, noting it addressed the recommendations of independent mediator, Cassells’ Report.
ends