Shell to offer new gas terminal plan

20 November 2003

New moves by the gas and oil production company Shell to get planning permission for a €150m gas terminal in north Mayo are to be opposed by local residents on safety and environmental grounds.

An Bord Pleanála rejected the project last April, but the company has told the Government it is hoping to submit a new application.

This follows talks with Bord na Móna over the storage of a large amount of peat which will have to be removed from the site at Bellanaboy.

The terminal at the centre of the row is needed to process gas from the Corrib Field which has been discovered 70km off the Mayo coast.

Mayo County Council gave the project planning permission but this was subsequently overturned by An Bord Pleanála.

Its biggest concern was how 650,000 cubic metres of peat which would have to be excavated on the site could be safely stored without the risk of a bogslide.

Now Shell EP has revealed it is in discussion with Bord na Móna with a view to transporting the excavated peat from Bellanaboy to Strathmore, 11km away, and spreading it on a cutaway bog there.

It says it believes this could provide a solution to the problem.

However, Maura Harrington, one of the leading campaigners against the terminal, says this plan is even more hazardous than the original proposal.

From: http://www.rte.ie/news/2003/1120/corrib.html