| Licensing Process |
Foreshore Licence to Construct Marine Aspect of Shannon LNG Terminal23rd April 2010: Foreshore Licence given without SEA proves double standards in Ireland and condemned as Legal Corruption and a breach of the Public Trust Doctrine.The EU Commission agreed in January 2010 that more than 10,000 people would be affected by the traffic of the Liquefied Natural Gas (LNG) tankers to the proposed LNG regasification terminal on the Shannon Estuary in North Kerry at Tarbert. The Commission found that a Strategic Environmental Assessment (SEA) should have been completed for what is being termed a Strategic Project given planning permission under the fast-track legislation by the "Strategic Infrastructure Act, 2006". We believe that the LNG project would sterilise the Estuary for all future development. Safety Before LNG', vindicated by the EU Commission findings, is now of the opinion that if the Irish Government is to show even token respect for EU Directives requiring comprehensive Strategic and Environmental Assessments then an LNG Marine Risk Assessment must be undertaken along with an SEA before any Foreshore Licence is given. It is impossible to ascertain the cumulative effects of the project if no such assessment is completed. A Foreshore Licence is a permit to construct the marine aspect of the enitre proposed LNG Teminal covering 25 acres on SAC waters. In January 2010, following the enactment of the Foreshore and Dumping at Sea (Amendment) Act 2009, the Minister of the Environment, Mr. John Gormley, took over responsiblity for issuing Foreshore Licences from the Minister for Agriculture. We believe that following the EU Commission's interim findings it will be next to impossible for Minister Gormley to issue a Foreshore Licence without the proper assessments as required under EU Directives. There are currently 4 conflicting Plans for the Development of the Shannon Estuary:
“will stop the process of importing 95% of
the country’s gas requirements” (click here to see ‘Kerry’s Eye’, March 25th 2010).
Cork port, in 2001, commissioned a study to assess what the port needed to provide in order to become a transhipment hub (Report on the Establishment of the Port of Cork as a Transatlantic Container and Trans-shipment Hub”, Nautical Enterprise Centre, Cork, 2001). This is a relevant example of a port and region thinking strategically. In other words, it was studying the physical conditions necessary to have a transhipment hub, not the marketing conditions (which change over time). If any equivalent report has been undertaken by Shannon Development or Shannon Foynes Port Company, then it has been kept very quiet. According to the Commissioner of Irish lights, the navigable waters at the mouth of the Shannon Estuary are only 315 metres wide. At Christmas 2009, a ship got caught in a buoy chain in this area for several days. Shannon Foynes Port Company undertook a marine navigational assessment to prove that ships could travel the Estuary but did not undertake any marine LNG risk assessment to ascertain the sterilising effect exclusion zones around LNG tankers would have on the development of the Estuary as a whole or the cumulative impacts of such a project. It is impossible to assess the 4 different Plans for the Estuary in order to realise the full potential of the Shannon Estuary Ports without:
Irreversible Strategic Projects should not be developed by cutting corners or without any strategic planning. Click here to view the shorter version of the 'Safety Before LNG' submission on the Foreshore Licence Application by Shannon LNG (5 MB) Click here to view the complete version of the 'Safety Before LNG' submission on the Foreshore Licence Application by Shannon LNG (20.7 MB) |