An Taisce wants review of pipeline location

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Monday December 26, 2005 20:11

by An Taisce Fan

Irish Times December 24th 2005

An Taisce wants review of pipeline location

by Lorna Siggins, Marine Correspondent

An Taisce has called on Minister for Marine Noel
Dempsey to conduct a review of the proposed location
for Shell's onshore gas terminal in north Mayo in the
light of a recent Government consultancy study of the
controversial onshore pipeline.

This article is published as "fair use" to bring its content to a wider audience than it might otherwise have. Any subsequent user should identify the author and publication from which the article originally came, and it must in no circumstance be reproduced in whole or part for profit. This article is the work of Lorna Siggins, Marine Correspondent of the IRISH TIMES. www.Ireland.com.

An Taisce wants review of pipeline location

by Lorna Siggins, Marine Correspondent

An Taisce has called on Minister for Marine Noel
Dempsey to conduct a review of the proposed location
for Shell's onshore gas terminal in north Mayo in the
light of a recent Government consultancy study of the
controversial onshore pipeline.

Leo Corcoran, former senior engineer with Bord Gáis
Éireann (BGE) and consultant to An Taisce, says the
safety review of the onshore pipeline by the
Government-appointed consultants, Advantica, is
excellent but within limited terms of reference.

He believes some of the consultants' own findings in
their review demand that the safety review's scope be
extended to identify the "optimum" location for the
terminal.

An Taisce's submission is one of 17 observations on
the draft safety review of the pipeline published
earlier this month by Advantica consultants.

One of the review's key recommendations was that the
pressure in the pipeline should be limited to 144 bar,
and it also said that Shell had failed to take account
of societal risk to the local population in its risk
assessment.

The Minister's Corrib technical advisory group (TAG)
had given a two-week period for submissions, and a
final report will be prepared early in the new year
which will form the basis for further consents for the
€900 million project by the Minister.

Separate mediation talks are currently being conducted
by ministerial appointee and former Ictu secretary
general Peter Cassells, between Shell and the local
community.

Significantly, the recent analysis of the pipeline's
safety by US expert Richard Kuprewicz for the Centre
for Public Inquiry (CPI) has been referred by the
Minister to the consultants. Other submissions on the
draft were published yesterday on the Department of
Communications, Marine and Natural Resources website.

In a comment on the Advantica draft safety review, Mr
Kuprewicz has said that it further questions the use
of a quantified risk assessment as a basis for
approving the pipeline.

He believes the minimum safe distance for the
pipeline, which he describes as unique, is 200m to
400m from residential homes and individuals.

Currently, it runs as close as 70m to residences.

Mr Kuprewicz said there were no surprises in the
Advantica review, and observed that some of its
recommendations were further evidence of a "Space
Shuttle syndrome" by which authorities tried to rush
projects through without adequately dealing with
safety risks.

The submission by Leo Corcoran for An Taisce says the
design of the upstream pipeline was compromised to
facilitate the construction of the terminal at
Bellanaboy. However, this location was selected in
advance of the 2002 Gas Act under which a more
appropriate coastal site could have been selected and
acquired.

Mr Corcoran, who was chief engineer on the Cork-Dublin
gas pipeline for BGE, argues that, given Advantica's
emphasis on the importance of minimising the length of
pipeline between the wells and the terminal, it should
be asked by the Minister to identify or confirm the
optimum location.

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An Taisce wants review of pipeline location