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One of Rossport Five quits Corrib hearing
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BRENDAN Philbin, one of the Rossport Five, withdrew in protest yesterday from an Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) hearing into an operating licence for the Corrib Gas project.
Mr Philbin told the hearing in Mayo into the granting of a licence for the refinery that there was not yet a pipeline. "There's a gas field, there's a site for a refinery, but there's a big blank in between . . . You cannot deal with an license when there's a vital piece of infrastructure missing."
He said that the pollution prevention control licence should not be issued until ongoing court proceedings were concluded, and asked how the EPA could reach valid conclusions by calculating imaginary figures - the new pipeline could be 5km or 50km long, he said.
Chairman Frank Clinton said his legal advice was "to press on", and that the company had informed the agency it was not yet in a position to clarify matters.
Mr Clinton agreed he would have to consider such problems in his report. "You are absolutely right; the changing situation in the background has a bearing."
He added that the new pipeline could change the inventory of what was needed for the project.
The hearing reconvenes next Tuesday.
Irish Independent
Showing posts with label shell Ireland. Show all posts
Showing posts with label shell Ireland. Show all posts
Monday, 30 April 2007
Monday, 23 April 2007
Rossport five man wins 'Nobel' prize for environment
A north Mayo farmer who was jailed over his opposition to the Corrib gas pipeline and an Icelandic businessman who lobbied the Government to implement the new ban on driftnetting for salmon are among six winners of the Goldman Environmental Prize.
Willie Corduff, one of the "Rossport five", and Orri Vigfusson of the North Atlantic Salmon Fund have been selected for Europe and for the islands and island nations respectively - the first time that the award has gone to Ireland, or an Irish-related campaign.
Along with winners from Peru, Mongolia, Zambia and Canada, they will be celebrated in San Francisco Opera House on Monday and will meet US congressional leaders as part of a series of functions in Washington DC next week.
Each winner of the prize, known as the "Nobel" of the environment, is awarded $125,000 (€92,000). It is endorsed by more than 100 heads of state and eight previous winners have been appointed to or elected to national office in their countries. The 1991 winner for Africa, Wangari Maathai, was also awarded the Nobel peace prize in 2004, and the late Nigerian writer, Ken Saro-Wiwa, who was executed with compatriots over his opposition to Shell's activities in Ogoniland in the Niger delta, received the award in 1995.
Mr Corduff said he did not start objecting to the Corrib gas pipeline to win prizes.
"It isn't about the money, it is about our health and safety and that of our children," the father of six, who is being accompanied by his wife, Mary, said.
He added that he hoped to use the money to help further the campaign, while acknowledging that his family had undergone considerable hardship since the Corrib gas developers - Shell, Statoil and Marathon - sought access to the couple's land.
Mr Corduff, and fellow landowners Philip McGrath, Bríd McGarry and Brendan Philbin were permitted by the High Court earlier this week to continue their counter-claims against Shell E&P Ireland, and the consents held by the project for the existing pipeline route must now be dropped.
The company, which says it is working on a modified pipeline route, must also pay legal costs associated with the injunctions which led to Mr Corduff's jailings.
Shell says it is studying the judgment.
Lorna Siggins
© The Irish Times
Willie Corduff, one of the "Rossport five", and Orri Vigfusson of the North Atlantic Salmon Fund have been selected for Europe and for the islands and island nations respectively - the first time that the award has gone to Ireland, or an Irish-related campaign.
Along with winners from Peru, Mongolia, Zambia and Canada, they will be celebrated in San Francisco Opera House on Monday and will meet US congressional leaders as part of a series of functions in Washington DC next week.
Each winner of the prize, known as the "Nobel" of the environment, is awarded $125,000 (€92,000). It is endorsed by more than 100 heads of state and eight previous winners have been appointed to or elected to national office in their countries. The 1991 winner for Africa, Wangari Maathai, was also awarded the Nobel peace prize in 2004, and the late Nigerian writer, Ken Saro-Wiwa, who was executed with compatriots over his opposition to Shell's activities in Ogoniland in the Niger delta, received the award in 1995.
Mr Corduff said he did not start objecting to the Corrib gas pipeline to win prizes.
"It isn't about the money, it is about our health and safety and that of our children," the father of six, who is being accompanied by his wife, Mary, said.
He added that he hoped to use the money to help further the campaign, while acknowledging that his family had undergone considerable hardship since the Corrib gas developers - Shell, Statoil and Marathon - sought access to the couple's land.
Mr Corduff, and fellow landowners Philip McGrath, Bríd McGarry and Brendan Philbin were permitted by the High Court earlier this week to continue their counter-claims against Shell E&P Ireland, and the consents held by the project for the existing pipeline route must now be dropped.
The company, which says it is working on a modified pipeline route, must also pay legal costs associated with the injunctions which led to Mr Corduff's jailings.
Shell says it is studying the judgment.
Lorna Siggins
© The Irish Times
Thursday, 19 April 2007
Shell left with €1m legal bill as gas line battle ends
ENERGY giant Shell E&P Ireland Ltd has been left with a €1m costs bill after one leg of its long-running legal battle over the Corrib gas line came to an end yesterday.
The High Court allowed Shell E&P Ireland to end its legal action against four opponents of the controversial Corrib gas pipeline, but only on certain conditions.
These include that the company pay most of the legal costs of four Rossport residents, estimated at over €1m. However, counterclaims by some residents against the company and the State, which challenge the validity of ministerial consents for the pipeline, are to continue.
The court is also to consider whether the residents are entitled to seek damages against Shell over what they allege was an improperly obtained April 2005 injunction restraining interference with the pipeline route.
Ms Justice Mary Laffoy yesterday delivered her reserved judgment on a number of applications related to the legal row over the pipeline, including an application by Shell to discontinue its action against four Rossport residents - Philip McGrath, James Brendan Philbin, Willie Corduff and Brid McGarry.
Shell had asked that its proceedings be discontinued without having to meet the legal costs of the four residents or, alternatively, that the costs issues be reserved to the trial of the residents' counterclaims.
The judge said she unreservedly condemned the behaviour of Mr McGrath, Mr Philbin and Mr Corduff in refusing to purge their contempt after being jailed for 94 days in 2005 for refusing to obey court orders restraining interference with the pipeline.
However, Shell was effectively asking the court not to grant costs to the residents as punishment for this contempt, she added.
Ann O'Loughlin
Irish Independent
The High Court allowed Shell E&P Ireland to end its legal action against four opponents of the controversial Corrib gas pipeline, but only on certain conditions.
These include that the company pay most of the legal costs of four Rossport residents, estimated at over €1m. However, counterclaims by some residents against the company and the State, which challenge the validity of ministerial consents for the pipeline, are to continue.
The court is also to consider whether the residents are entitled to seek damages against Shell over what they allege was an improperly obtained April 2005 injunction restraining interference with the pipeline route.
Ms Justice Mary Laffoy yesterday delivered her reserved judgment on a number of applications related to the legal row over the pipeline, including an application by Shell to discontinue its action against four Rossport residents - Philip McGrath, James Brendan Philbin, Willie Corduff and Brid McGarry.
Shell had asked that its proceedings be discontinued without having to meet the legal costs of the four residents or, alternatively, that the costs issues be reserved to the trial of the residents' counterclaims.
The judge said she unreservedly condemned the behaviour of Mr McGrath, Mr Philbin and Mr Corduff in refusing to purge their contempt after being jailed for 94 days in 2005 for refusing to obey court orders restraining interference with the pipeline.
However, Shell was effectively asking the court not to grant costs to the residents as punishment for this contempt, she added.
Ann O'Loughlin
Irish Independent
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