SHELL E&P Ireland has released an engineering review of an alternative site for the Corrib gas landfall and refinery.
The review of Glinsk on the north Mayo coast, which was proposed as a compromise by three priests and local community groups, is rejected in the study.
The study, commissioned last year, was released by the developer on the eve of a Bord Pleanála oral hearing into a modified onshore pipeline route.
In 1999, Arup had identified six potential landfall sites and four potential refinery sites in north-west Mayo and Sligo for processing gas from the Corrib field, then owned by Enterprise Oil.
Subsequent studies “examined but rejected” a landfall at Brandy Point to the west of Sruwaddacon Bay, and a pipeline route and landfall in Connemara, Co Galway, the new Arup study says.
The townlands of Glinsk and Laghtmurragha in north-west Co Mayo were not considered as suitable for landfall or terminal, the study says.
Glinsk, which is located on sea cliffs in a largely uninhabited area close to the Glenamoy blanket bog complex, came to prominence two years ago when it was identified by RPS Consultants for Shell as a potential corridor in early work on a modified pipeline route.
It was then proposed formally as an acceptable compromise by three Erris priests who wrote twice to Minister for Energy Eamon Ryan on the issue.
In 2008, two new Kilcommon community groups involving Shell to Sea supporters backed the location, effectively dropping their demand for a refinery at sea. Building both pipeline landfall and refinery at Glinsk would not require an onshore high pressure pipeline, and would not pose a threat to drinking water supplies, the groups said.
This move was supported by Bishop of Killala Dr John Fleming, Labour Party TD Michael D Higgins and Fine Gael TD for Mayo, Michael Ring. It was rejected by Shell on cost grounds.
The new Arup study assesses Glinsk’s suitability for both landfall and terminal, and rules it out for both. It notes that Glinsk is largely uninhabited, but says that the location would “make no measurable difference to public safety in the operation of the pipeline or terminal”.
It says Glinsk would be technically difficult. The study does acknowledge that both Glinsk and the existing landfall at Glengad are “adjacent” to designated conservation areas, and in both cases this is ranked as a “minor disadvantage”.
The study says that “it should be noted that all sites have advantages and disadvantages” and the aim is “to find the site with least disadvantages and most advantages”. Copies of the study are available from the Corrib Natural Gas office in Belmullet.
