Irish Times: EPA asks Shell to update Corrib report

By: Lorna Siggins, Marine Correspondent
Published: Sep 07, 2006

The Environmental Protection Agency is seeking a review of the environmental impact statement submitted by Shell E&P Ireland as part of the company’s licence application for the Corrib gas onshore terminal.

The company must respond by next Monday to the EPA request, which is central to the State’s consent procedure for the 900 million project.

The EPA informed the company last month that the impact statement did not comply with Article 14 (2)(b) of the EPA (Licensing) Regulations, 1994, in so far as “the risk from environmental pollution is concerned”.

The impact statement was prepared by the company as part of its application in December 2004 for an integrated pollution prevention and control licence for the onshore gas refinery.

The EPA has asked the company to update the statement and has sought additional information, including details of the quantities of gaseous emissions arising from “direct venting” of natural gas during the terminal’s operational phase, and the impact on the environment.

Shell E&P Ireland said yesterday that the EPA request was a “normal” one for additional information.

“We will respond to each of the points raised, and will provide the necessary information,” a company spokesman told The Irish Times.

The company intends to resume work at Bellanaboy this month in advance of securing agreement on a promised “modification” of the route for the high-pressure onshore pipeline linking the onshore terminal to the gas field 70km off the Mayo coast.

The Shell to Sea campaign has maintained pickets at the site, and the company says it has not been able to gain access to Bellanaboy since last March.

A company spokesman said that details of a public consultation on a modified pipeline route would be announced “shortly”.

The modification, which would take the route away from housing in the Rossport area, was recommended by Government mediator Peter Cassells.

In a separate development, gardaI in Mayo are investigating the alleged removal from Mayo County Council offices last month of a file including a planning application lodged by Shell.

The application related to permission for the temporary widening of an existing access and temporary access road at the pipeline landfall site at Glengad, north Mayo. Shell says it was informed in writing of the removal of documents, and was advised by Mayo County Council that the “integrity” of the planning application had been compromised as a result.

The company said a fresh application had been submitted.

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