THE HANDSTAND | JANUARY 2008 |
Is Shell's Corrib Gas project good for the local community?
NO:Maura Harrington says local benefits are exaggerated and far outweighed by the costs to the environment and democracy. Rossport, in the noble barony of Erris, is a global village. Its current vicissitudes mirror the dilemmas facing the planet at the beginning of the 21st century: peak oil and what Al Gore calls "reclaiming the integrity of democracy". Both of these have played out in Erris on a daily basis in a community-led campaign, now in its eighth year. The response to what was originally considered a fait accompli - building a gas refinery in a bog before the locals got their heads around complicated stuff - has been turned into a display of local commitment and competence which exposes how thin is the veneer of citizen protection in Ireland today. It is standard Big Oil spin to talk in terms of "local benefit", when the bottom line for all such corporations - in this instance Royal Dutch Shell - is the maximisation of shareholder profit. Shell makes a conservative 2 million profit per hour, 24/7. To talk therefore of "benefits" of 1 million here, or 20 million there, is insulting when it is looked at in terms of one or 10 hours of Shell profit in any one year. The current Shell proposal that landowners along the as-yet undefined raw gas pipeline route be paid 300,000 over 15 years may seem an acceptable sum to many readers and may, indeed, confirm the view of some that this is simply a case of "farmers holding out for more money". Both views miss the point, because in Rossport, Dooncarton/Glengad and Pullathomas (the scene of major landslides in 2003) - in fact all the villages in the parish of Kilcommon - there exists an intelligently informed resolve that the project as proposed is unacceptable. This resolve is attested by over 80 per cent of parish inhabitants willingly signing a petition to that effect. Discussion on "benefits" in relation to a proposed project such as Corrib often ignores the intangible assets - clean air, clean water, clean soil - upon which no economic value is set, obviating the possibility of a proper cost/benefit analysis. Erris, the same size as Co Louth, has one source for its regional water supply. The Ballinaboy River provides 27 per cent of the water catchment of Carrowmore Lake, a shallow, spring-fed lake which is one of only six in the country. Scotland, a country with a long history of oil/gas development, precludes the building of refineries within the catchment of any regional water supply. Air quality in Erris is pristine; small farms in Erris practised sustainability before it became a buzzword. Broadhaven Bay is home to the widest variety of cetaceans recorded in Irish waters, together with, at last count, 58 species of fish. Sruwaddacon is a place of divine beauty. There are cliffs higher than Moher, beaches and nature trails to equal the best. In other words, Erris is a natural resource in its own right - ironically, through decades of State neglect, it is now ideally poised to answer the deep-felt need of so many who seek rest and refuge from an often soul-numbing existence in places "developed" past the point of human ease. Shell has an execrable record of dealing with its fence-line communities. The Niger Delta communities have been ecologically despoiled by Shell's 50-year presence in their midst. In Erris, we feel a particular empathy with the Ogoni - once small farmers and fishermen as many in Erris are - now denizens of a destroyed land. They and communities in Durban, Curacao, the Philippines, Louisiana - all speaking from bitter experience - tell those who are willing to listen of the difference between Shell rhetoric and Shell reality. In Erris, there is support for the proposed project from the usual quarters, the Chamber of Commerce, the golf club, local party politicians and anybody who is currently making a few bob. The myth of 300 local employees is just that. The figure can only be arrived at by adding those who are already employed by, for example, local quarries delivering product onsite and others who deliver or serve onsite. Many, if not most, of the Erris-based security staff work a three-day week and sign on for the other three days. The much-heralded short-term construction figure of 700 would include a majority of specialised crews from outside the area. In Rossport in 2005, the safety notices were in Italian, not Irish. The proposed Corrib project will benefit communities countrywide when Shell folds its tent and goes quietly into the good night. The Rossport Five and the Shell to Sea campaign have done the State some service. The communities of Erris have established the principle of community consent, which will not be imposed upon for profit or subverted for a pittance. Maura Harrington lives and teaches in Erris and has campaigned against the Shell project since 2000 She was opposed by a gentleman who, for starters wrote "Erris is experiencing its first major inward investment since electricity was brought to north Mayo in the 1950s. The memory of rural electrification for me is very faint and distant, but I do remember that at the time a lot of the old people were worried that it was not safe and would cause house fires. There were even some altercations with gardaí. Perhaps some things never change!" After this insult, he omits any reference to Ms Harrington's reminder - "Erris, the same size as Co Louth, has one source for its regional water supply. The Ballinaboy River provides 27 per cent of the water catchment of Carrowmore Lake, a shallow, spring-fed lake which is one of only six in the country. Scotland, a country with a long history of oil/gas development, precludes the building of refineries within the catchment of any regional water supply." (This fact, in my opinion the most serious point of conflict that effects a complete population far beyond the actual landowners, whose complaints in view of known facts of this company's pollution history, are surely just, must overide this problem and bring to a close the entire project. JB.Editor)
The terminals main purpose will be to convert gas from the Corrib reservoir into sales gas, ready for distribution throughout Ireland via the Bord Gáis Éireann (BGE) national grid. The terminal has been designed to process up to 10 million standard cubic metres of sales gas per day and will be operated 24 hours a day by up to fifty workers working on a shift system. Shell Europe boss visits
Bellanaboy Mr Botts acknowledged the wide consultation being undertaken by RPS as part of the process for securing an alternative onshore pipeline route and confirmed his hope that an application for consent for an alternative route would be submitted by the end of the year. http://www.shell.com/home |