Dr Sinéad R. Sheehan writing in The Clare Champion
I write, as an environmental campaigner living in Clare, to express my opinions and concerns about the proposed Liquified Natural Gas (LNG) terminal and the process, or lack thereof, around the legislation rushed through the Dáil associated with the project.
Minister Darragh O’Brien (FF), aided and abetted by Government TDs on the Joint Committee for Climate, Environment and Energy, forced a Bill through the Oireachtas that smells seriously off.
What does it smell of you ask? It’s the smell of Donald Trump’s gas on its way across the Atlantic Ocean. Yes, he drilled baby, he drilled and Europe better be ready to receive his product.
France? Tick. Italy? Tick. Spain? Tick. Germany? Tick. Ireland?
I question the underlying narratives being peddled by the Government about whether we need a LNG terminal, whether there would be benefit or harm to the community and what the new law might mean for land sovereignty.
The use of false narratives related to the proposed Floating Storage Regasification Unit (FSRU) in Clare is straight out of the Trumpian playbook.
Politicians are pushing the story that we need a storage facility to provide “energy security”.
Narratives around security are generally persuasive because psychologically, humans have a need to feel safe.
However, let’s take a moment to explore whether the Cahiracon LNG would lead to more security.
Much of Ireland’s current supply of energy is imported from the North Sea, which, although far from ideal, is more secure than relying on fracked gas from US LNG tankers.
Recently, a Russian LNG tanker was hit by a US drone, which caused fires, and the crewless vessel is currently floating between Italy and Malta.
A FSRU off the coast of Clare would appear to be fair game if it came to more blows between the two countries.
There is a current question mark over Irish neutrality, so having a very large vessel full of flammable fluid in an industrialised area well-known to the Russians, due to Aughinish Alumina being Russian-owned, increases the odds of it being a fairly strategic target.
If the Government really wanted energy security, the solution would be to generate indigenous energy and there are many ways this could be achieved that would not involve LNG or large scale corporate-owned windfarms.
This Government has clearly decided to take Trump’s gas, and because the laws were unlikely to allow this to happen, the Government has changed the laws.
We can all agree that sometimes laws need to be changed, if it is for the greater good of the people, but the way that this law is being changed is what I really take issue with.
This new law, the Strategic Gas Reserve Bill, is designed to over-ride other laws including the Climate Act and EU Habitats laws designed to protect nature.
The Bill, passed with less debate than is typically allowed, takes away any power that An Coimisiún Pleanála has in making decisions about planning permission for the proposed LNG terminal.
We have to ask ourselves, if the proposed LNG terminal would not do any harm to the community, to natural resources or to climate change, then why does the Government need to override planning law, climate law and the habitats directive in the Strategic Gas Reserve Bill?
Minister Darragh O’Brien is trying his best to take away everybody’s opportunity to meaningfully contribute to what happens here in Clare and I think it’s time for people to put their party politics aside, to get together and do something about it.
Because it’s the Kildysart gas terminal first, but what next?
What other projects are going to be considered too strategic for mere mortals like ourselves to be able to have a say in our own communities?
Perhaps there is good reason for the Government to call this bill “strategic”.
It’s strategic because there is huge Fianna Fáil support in Clare and so it’s less likely to attract objections from people who have voted for them their whole lives.
It’s strategic because it is close to an existing gas pipeline. It’s strategic because there is already a lot of heavy industrial activity in the area, which will make it difficult to pin any damage on the facility.
It’s strategic because it will supply all the energy that the big tech industry needs to keep growing.
And it’s strategic because the legislation is designed to prevent anybody stopping it.
The name of the law “Strategic Gas Reserve Bill” also seems to imply that the gas would be used as an emergency reserve, and the information that the government and Gas Networks Ireland have put out might lead people to believe that a big ship will sit in Cahiracon as a reserve or “back-up” facility if the Russians decide to hit our underground or overground pipes carrying gas from the North Sea.
We know that this is technically not possible and that the gas needs to be used frequently in order to remain viable.
There are many negative impacts of LNG that ought to be considered in the decision-making process about the terminal.
According to scientific evidence, LNG is 33% more potent than coal in terms of Greenhouse gas, meaning that it is worse for climate change and will increase Irish emissions leading to higher EU fines.
Importing LNG from the US is expensive and ultimately this cost, along with the cost of fines, will fall on household energy and tax bills.
In terms of potential local impacts, the terminal would result in increased dredging, noise and light pollution and we know this based on the operations of other LNG import terminals in Europe.
It would be remiss not to mention the risks and hazards associated with LNG too, notwithstanding the risk of sabotage or attack.
The terminal would need a large buffer zone, which would affect local rights and sovereignty over the land.
What is currently on our side is that the LNG terminal has not yet been built.
I can only appeal to people in Clare and in the area to collectively come together to ensure that they have a say in what happens in Cahiracon, because it already appears that the facility itself will have more rights than the people living there.
If we think about the new legislation and decision-making in terms of health and well-being of people, of place and of planet, this Strategic Gas Reserve Bill isn’t strategic at all.