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Press Release February 22nd 2018: Over One Thousand people object to Shannon LNG Extension of Planning. 23 Environmental Groups unite in common cause against Shannon LNG. Over one thousand people signed objections to the extension of planning for the abandoned Shannon LNG project on the Shannon Estuary that were deposited at An Bord Pleanala in time for the 5.30 deadline for submissions today. Organised by Friends of the Earth at 2 days notice the groundswell of support against the whole Shannon LNG project was astonishing in its rapid response to a simple message from Friends of the Earth which stated: "We oppose the building of an LNG terminal on the Shannon: We banned fracking in Ireland, it would be absurd to import fracked gas instead. It would lock us into fossil fuel dependence and blow our chances of containing climate change. An Bord Plenala should not extend the planning permission for Shannon LNG. The Government and the EU should not support or subsidize it." The 1,001 people who signed the petition by close of business today did so on the clear understanding that their objection would be deposited today in time to be considered by An Bord Pleanala. And, in an unprecedented step, 23 Environmental Groups from Ireland, Belgium, Germany and the USA united in one joint submission against the extension of planning for the Shannon LNG terminal which has been abandoned by its US sponsor, the giant Amerada Hess corporation. The group highlighted 7 main areas of concern: 1. An LNG terminal would have a devastating effect on the biodiversity of what is now a Special Protected Area. 2. Building LNG infrastructure is completely incompatible with Ireland’s climate targets. 3. New research as to the warming effects of methane mean that gas can no longer be viewed as a transition fuel. 4. Any integration of Ireland into the global LNG industry would make the Irish people complicit in the exploitation of communities abroad by the fracking industry. 5. Major new developments in renewable energy means that LNG is no longer necessary as a source of energy or guarantee of energy security. 6. Global trends against the fossil fuel industry show that investors are prioritising green development and turning away from ties with fossil fuel infrastructure. 7. International law now demands greater public consultation on environmental issues. They noted that the BNP Paribas Group, a leading financial services provider in Europe and worldwide, has announced on 11 October 2017 that the group “will no longer do business with companies whose principal business activity is the exploration, production, distribution, marketing or trading of oil and gas from shale and/or oil from tar sands.“ Furthermore, it “will no longer finance … LNG terminals that predominantly liquefy and export gas from shale.“ The group also highlighted the fact that by law it is only allowed to extend planning by 5 years at most but the construction phase of the project would be 6 years in total (4 years for the first 2 tanks and 24 months for the other 2). An Bord Pleanala will find it next to impossible to give an extension of planning for a project that was never even started and that they know cannot be built in the maximum 5 years allowed. We wonder what trick they will use to get around that one. The submissions from 4 different countries prove that the proposed Shannon LNG terminal is a project with local, national and international consequences well aware of the fact that EU countries can burn gas for just nine more years before exhausting their share of the earth's carbon budget to keep global warming below 2 degrees.
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