December 2015

Residents say EPA decision on Bellanaboy is flawed and should be set aside, court hears

Four local residents have initiated a legal challenge to the Environmental Protection Agency’s decision granting Shell E&P Ireland an Integrated Pollution Prevention and Control Licence (IPPC)for the Corrib gas refinery in Co Mayo.

The EPA granted the IPPC licence for the Bellanaboy Bridge gas terminal, a gas refinery and large combustion plant designed to process 9.9 million cubic meters of natural gas per day.

When operational, the refinery will treat gas transported via a 65km pipeline from the offshore Corrib gas field before it is discharged via a pipeline into the existing Bord Gais gas network.

In proceedings before the High Court on Friday, four residents argued the decision to grant the license is flawed and should be set aside.

The action, against the EPA and the State, has been brought by Martin and Maura Harrington, Doohoma, Ballina, and Monica Muller and Peter Sweetman, Rossport South, Ballina.

Dear Editor,
I was surprised to read Dr Ruairi Hanley’s article ‘Put ED plan, not Shell, out to sea’ in Irish Medical Times (‘Put ED plan, not Shell, out to sea’, November 10, see bit.ly/IMT-Hanley-Shell). It was a hard and harsh political piece that in my view unfairly demonised and ridiculed the people of north Mayo and others who have questioned and opposed the controversial Corrib gas project.