Three pipeline routes for Corrib Gas- green light for further protests from court judgement

mayo | environment | news report

Wednesday September 19, 2007 17:54

by Corridor Watcher

Shortest route crosses the estaury underwater

Since the arrival during the summer of Garda patrol boats on the Sruwaddacon inlet in Broadhaven Bay, many local people have been convinced that Shell's plan was to force their high -pressure pipeline under water, up the bay and reach the refinery site without having to cross very much privately owned land.

Today, the company has shown three different routes, but the shortest is up the bay and it would be difficult to find anyone in Erris who does not believe that the inlet is Shell's preferred route.

Routes for Shell high pressure pipeline

Shell's contractors, RPS, used a large force of gardaí and a JCB to push through a crowd of protesters, and install a temporary building on the pier at Pollatomish on June 11th. They were later forced to remove this structure, after realising that they needed the landowner's consent to access the pier. This consent was not forthcoming, although after what many people described as intimidation by members of the Garda Siochána , the landowner, who is an elderly man, suffered a serious stress-related illness and had to be hospitalised.It seems unlikely that the company and their friends would go to such trouble if their plan was not to use Sruwaddacon bay for their preferred route, using the new Strategic Infrastructure Bill to bypass the local planning laws.

No doubt Shell will find an alternative route to the edge of the water, and the small parts of the onshore pipeline which are going to be on land will be forced through somehow. The company's protestations of wanting to "hear further views of the community" can be taken with the usual pinch of salt, and when they say that the routes will be "further investigated by a number of experts including archaeologists, ecologists, pipeline engineers, marine specialists, etc" you can guarantee that the experts will all be very "developer friendly" to use an old Fianna Fáil phrase.

However it is important to remember that the pipeline will still be pumping gas at a pressure much much greater than any other pipeline in Ireland, and the consequences of a fault causing an explosion would still be devastating. The pipeline, although under water, would still be close to houses, schools, a tourist hostel, a pub, and public roads.

The local community are still completely against the structure being imposed on them.

Recently, at the District Court in Ballycroy, Judge Mary Devins delivered a judgement relating to the protests against the Shell scheme where she compared the actions of a number of protesters who had hindered Shell's activities to the non-violent protests at Tiananmen Square in 1989, to taxi drivers and farmers blocking streets in the capital city, and to banned parades and demonstrations in Northern Ireland. Pointing out that the protests against Shell seemed to her to fall in to this tradition of non-violent obstruction as a form of civil disobedience, the judge dismissed charges against the protesters, and gave them a comparatively mild sentence of community service for reckless behaviour, even thought he gardaí were obviously hoping for a large fine or a prison sentence.

It's important to bear this judgement in mind when considering the prospects for Shell being able to force though the pipeline. The judge has effectively given the green light to non-violent protests, even where these cause obstruction.

Coupled with the implacable opposition of the majority of the community of Kilcommon Parish (even including the local Parish Priest), and the well organised network of supporters in Ireland and abroad, it's seems that even Shell's proposal to sneak the pipeline under water up the bay may be doomed to failure.

Protesters and supporters gather for the court hearing at Ballycroy on Thursday Sept 13th