Press
Release 20th April 2010: 'Safety Before LNG' says it has no choice but
to break a local taboo and opppose the Endesa gas project until a
Strategic Assessment is completed as requested by the EU Commission;
says Endesa will become a hostage to Hess/Shannon LNG gas.
'Safety Before LNG' says that it has no choice, but to challenge a
local taboo subject and object to the entirety of the Endesa gas-fired
power plant until a Strategic Environmental Assessment (SEA) is first
undertaken of the Hess/Shannon LNG project as demanded by the EU
Commission in January.
This position was confirmed and validated when, on April 15th, 2010,
the Commission for Energy Reguation (CER) gave Shannon LNG a 25-year
exemption from regulated third-party access to the propsed LNG
terminal. Endesa had requested that 30% of the terminal capacity
should be subjected to regulated third-party access to maintain its
independence but the CER refused. This will now make Endesa a
hostage of Shannon LNG - as the nearest national grid access is 26
kilometres away - unless the EU overturns the CER decision.
Recent media revelations in the United States of America highlighted
the control Shannon LNG will have over another gas-fired power plant it
plans adjacent to the proposed LNG terminal.
It is crazy in the current trend away from fossil fuels to renewable
energy and our supposedly strong committment to the Kyoto protocol in
the fight against climate change that we are even thinking of building
2 new gas-fired power plants with an initial capacity of 700 Megawatts
that will be fed exclusively by the Cayman-Island registered Hess LNG
gas without the slightest Strategic Assessment.
We accuse the Irish authorities of legal corruption, where decisions
with huge strategic consequences are being made with nods and winks,
where who you know is more important than what you have to offer
the country and where only lip service is paid to EU Directives.
We believe that the LNG terminal will sterilise the entire Shannon
Estuary from further development and challenge any politican to prove
to us that the massive transhipment hub for the Estuary, which would
give hundreds of sustainable jobs, is still possible.
At the oral hearing, Endesa announced that the number of full time jobs
at the plant will drop to 38. This will come as a big blow to the
community following the news on December 3rd 2009 that Endesa had
entered into negotiations with the unions to reduce the workforce from
90 to 55 from a high of 240 people at the plant 4 years. The number of
people working at the power plant was down to 126 last year but a
drop to 38 is felt to be a skeleton crew. The construction jobs will be
a welcome short-term boost to the local economy, but they are not
sustainable (see http://www.irishtimes.com/newspaper/ireland/2009/1205/1224260145154.html )
Please consult our website press release pages http://www.safetybeforelng.ie/pressreleases.htm for further information.
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