Climate Treason by the Irish Green Party as Shannon LNG formally lodges new US fracked gas import terminal application. 

Shannon LNG formally lodged its planning application with An Bord Pleanála in Dublin on Friday (August 27th 2021). The application can be viewed by clicking here: https://www.pleanala.ie/en-ie/case/311233

Local Environmental campaigners on the Shannon Estuary feel completely deceived and betrayed by the Green Party for refusing to implement the Programme for Government policy against LNG terminals.  

The Green Party TDs facilitated the Shannon LNG fracked gas import terminal on the Shannon Estuary every step of the way. It is clear that Green Party TDs are fake environmentalists.  

In our opinion, the Green Party in Ireland has lost all credibility as the no-Shannon-LNG Red Line for going into Government has been deliberately broken by its Energy Minister Ryan and Chairman Leddin of the Climate Committee. 

Chairman Leddin, the fracked gas champion in government, blocked all amendments proposed in the Climate Bill to ban the importation of fracked gas to the advantage of his former employer Arup which lodged a planning application for the Shannon LNG terminal.  Chairman Leddin had unbelievably claimed to the Oireachtas Committee on Climate Action that he had not become aware that his company ARUP was working on the Shannon LNG project until after he had left the company on becoming a TD.

In the High Court, Green Party Minister Ryan actually defended Ireland putting Shannon LNG on the EU Projects of Common Interest List, successfully arguing that the Irish Cabinet did not have to consider the Climate Impacts of such a decision - using a loophole in the Climate Act which he refused to close in the new Climate Act published earlier this year. The consequence of the PCI accreditation is that Shannon LNG must now be considered in the overriding public interest as it goes through the permit-granting process.   

On May 18th  a new Irish Government policy against LNG terminals was published which stated

"pending the outcome of a review of the security of energy supply of Ireland’s electricity and natural gas systems being carried out by the Department of the Environment, Climate and Communications, it would not be appropriate for the development of any liquefied natural gas (LNG) terminals in Ireland to be permitted or proceeded with".

However, Green Environment Minister Éamon Ryan and his advisors repeatedly refused to agree to a direct order being given to An Bord Pleanála to comply with the new policy against LNG terminals, using the powers provided for under Section 29(1) of the Planning and Development Act 2000, as amended. For the order to be obligatory it had to be given before Shannon LNG lodged its planning application. It is now clear that Minister Ryan, the Green Party and its advisors deliberately ran down the clock by refusing to act against Shannon LNG in the narrow window of opportunity that existed to do so before the planning application was lodged. That is where the sleight of hand took place - to pretend they were acting for the environment by having An Bord Pleanála notified of the new policy which it only has to "have regard" to, while leaving a loophole open for Shannon to reapply with a strong expectation of success by not giving the direct order to An Bord Pleanála to comply with government policy against permitting any LNG terminal application to get planning permission. 

The Green Party TDs are not nice people for the Climate and have betrayed the environmental movement that elected them. It is becoming clearer by the day that the Green Party TDs are acting in a very anti-environment way in Government.  They have supported heavy carbon taxes on  poor people who will have no alternative but to consume electricity produced by US fracked gas imports, which scientists have informed the Climate Committee would leave a carbon-equivalent footprint 40% greater than that of importing coal to Moneypoint over a 20-year period.

Shannon LNG lodged its new application before the 5th PCI list comes in to being, meaning that it now retains the status of PCI throughout the permit granting process.  The timing of when it made the application is what is important under article 5 of the PCI regulation 347/2013,  which states:

"Projects which are no longer on the Union list shall lose all rights and obligations linked to the status of project of common interest arising from this Regulation. However, a project which is no longer on the Union list but for which an application file has been accepted for examination by the competent authority shall maintain the rights and obligations arising from Chapter III, except where the project is no longer on the list for the reasons set out in paragraph 8."

 
Article 7 of the PCI regulation 347/2013 states:

"Where such status exists in national law, projects of common interest shall be allocated the status of the highest national significance possible and be treated as such in permit granting processes — and if national law so provides, in spatial planning — including those relating to environmental assessments, in the manner such treatment is provided for in national law applicable to the corresponding type of energy infrastructure." and

"With regard to the environmental impacts addressed in Article 6(4) of Directive 92/43/EEC and Article 4(7) of Directive 2000/60/EC, projects of common interest shall be considered as being of public interest from an energy policy perspective, and may be considered as being of overriding public interest, provided that all the conditions set out in these Directives are fulfilled".

It will now be real activists who stop the Shannon LNG terminal and not the disgraceful gas-lighting, fake, virtue-signaling Green Party TDs who have sold their souls to stay in power. 

Ends.

Contact: John McElligott  Tel: 087-2804474 / [email protected] / www.SafetyBeforeLNG.ie