A US environmental lobbyist has expressed shock at Royal Dutch Shell's plans to build the terminal for the Corrib gas field on fragile blanket bogland in north Mayo.
Mr Denny Larson, director of the Global Community Monitor, says that any such refinery should be built offshore, as advised by a Bord Pleanála inspector in April 2003 when the initial planning application was rejected.
Mr Larson, who produces an environmental publication, The Other Shell Report, every year, also believes that the gas terminal is a "footprint" for a more extensive oil refinery, based on reserves at the Corrib field lying 70 kilometres off the Mayo coast.
However, Shell E&P Ireland has rejected Mr Larson's claim as "inaccurate" and says it is not withholding any information on the field's mineral reserves.
Mr Larson was in Erris this week to meet opponents of the Shell development, including a school principal, Ms Maura Harrington, on the eve of judicial reviews of the project.
Two applications were made to the High Court last month by opponents, following planning approval which was finally granted by An Bord Pleanála in late October last year.
The first hearing is scheduled for the High Court next Monday.
Mr Larson said he was struck by the unique environment on which Shell intends to build its terminal.
"Given that some 70 per cent of this blanket bogland is water, there are very few places which are suitable for constructing anything on the scale of this terminal project," he said.
The onshore aspect was a "first", he noted, in that Shell and its partners had built shallow-water or offshore terminals at its other international locations. He discounted Shell's claim that an offshore construction was not feasible in the Atlantic environment.
"Offshore terminals have been built in the North Sea and other hostile sea areas, and it can be done. It is just that bit more expensive," he said.
Mr Larson said he witnessed Shell personnel seeking to enter land in the Rossport area in relation to the onshore pipeline for the terminal at Bellanaboy.
"Many landowners have given Shell permission to enter, but some have not," he said.
A spokesman for Shell E&P Ireland confirmed that discussions with landowners who are still opposed to the project had been initiated by the company earlier this week, and the company had sought the assistance of the Garda in relation to protecting its personnel when it had encountered opposition.
No agreement was reached in the discussion, and the company was considering its options, he said. The majority of almost 40 landowners had given permission and been compensated for access to their lands to facilitate the pipeline, he pointed out.
A spokesman for Shell E&P Ireland said that exhaustive studies and analysis had been undertaken in relation to the best location for the Corrib gas terminal.
A thorough re-evaluation of all the development options was carried out before the second planning application, and this had supported the original development proposal of an onshore terminal and a sub-sea offshore development. This had been given Bord Pleanála's support in its approval last October, he said.
The planning application approved related to a gas terminal only, and no oil had been found in any of the drilling exercises undertaken on the field, he added.
