Ireland's planning authority, An Bord Pleanala, has told Royal Dutch Shell PLC it is dissatisfied about the level of risk posed by the planned Corrib gas pipeline.
The board said the proposed high-pressure pipeline would run too close to housing at Rossport and between Glengad and Aughoose. It is "unacceptable" that these houses were within "the hazard range of the pipeline if a failure should occur."
The board said, "The design documentation for the pipeline and the quantified risk analysis provided with the application does not present a complete, transparent, and adequate demonstration that the pipeline does not pose an unacceptable risk to the public."
The board asked Shell and partners Statoil Exploration and Vermilion Energy Trust to modify part of the pipeline route, and provide more information on the project.
Incomplete application
An Bord Pleanala's ruling also said the application could not be approved because part of the application dealing with the pipeline section between chainage 83+390 and chainage 83+400 was missing.
The board further noted that 5.64 km of the 9-km route was unacceptable because of its proximity to houses, its impact on local land value, and insufficient plans to upgrade the road network in the area.
The board gave the partners until Feb. 5, 2010, to return with additional information on the safety of the pipeline and its effect on the peat bogs along the route.
The board also asked that the route between chainages 83+910 and 89+550 be diverted to the Sruwaddacon estuary, a move which the partners had ruled out earlier due to environmental and technical considerations.
If these requests were complied with by the deadline, the board said, it would be "appropriate" to approve the project.
Rethink needed
However, opponents of the Corrib project suggested it is now time for a complete rethink not only of its safety but also of its basic economics.
"This is a clear vindication of the stance that local people have taken on health and safety grounds over the last 10 years, and those concerns will remain our top priority until a resolution is found," said John Monaghan of the protest group Pobal Chill Chomain.
"It is now time for a complete rethink on the Corrib project by the developers Shell and Statoil, and even more importantly by Minister Eamon Ryan and his department, within whose remit the safety issues central to the ongoing conflict clearly lie," Monaghan told Mayo News.
Sounding an altogether different note was Maura Harrington of the Shell to Sea protest group: "It is now time for a proper economic debate on the huge implications of this giveaway."
For its part, Shell was quoted as saying: "In relation to the issue of safety, the Corrib gas partners remain firmly of the view that the pipeline, as designed, is safe and meets all international standards and industry best practice."
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