McKinty enraged as Minister sidelines local representatives

Larne Deputy Mayor Mark McKinty has described himself as "enraged" following today's announcement that Environment Minister Alex Attwood has given the go-ahead for a £400m undersea natural gas storage facility a mile beneath Larne Lough.

Speaking after the announcement, the Ulster Unionist Larne Lough Councillor detailed his anger: "Today's announcement by Minister Attwood has shown his utter contempt for democracy and community engagement by sidelining locally-elected political and community representatives. There has been a shortage of proper community engagement and consultation with local people, and this announcement is sudden and unexpected."

The development in County Antrim will allow for storage for 500 million cubic metres of natural gas in caverns a mile under the lough. The scheme would create the first energy bank of its kind on the island of Ireland. Imported natural gas would be stored in seven caverns or caves.

"Whilst I can understand the potential benefits of such a project, I believe this announcement is premature" said Cllr McKinty. "There are concerns within the community which need addressed, and the Department of Environment ignoring these concerns is totally disrespectful".

The underground storage areas, about 1 mile underground, are created by removing salt in the rock strata with equipment similar to high pressure water jets. Environmentalists have already voiced their objections to the process, claiming it could have a serious impact on marine and bird life.

Cllr McKinty also shares local environmental concerns: "One of my grave concerns about this project is that waste brine will be deposited into the lough or the North Channel, severely upsetting the local ecosystem, ireeparably damaging the local wildlife and environment. Unfortunately, the local environment has not received the protection of the Environment Minister."

Continuing, Cllr McKinty challenged the Minister: "I would ask Alex Attwood how this project ties in with his decision in July to designate the sea and seabed around the Maidens as one of two new marine Special Areas of Conservation in Northern Ireland".

More than 350 complaints have been made to planners. Nigel Hamilton, from Marine Conservation Northern Ireland, is among those who have objected to the project. He said local residents were concerned about the expulsion of brine from the underwater caverns, and that the construction phase would bring "a considerable amount of high, heavy vehicle traffic movements on to the island on what are particularly narrow roads, unsuitable for this type of traffic movement, over a three to four year period".

"As with projects of this scale, there are many on both sides of the debate. However, this project currently lacks the community confidence to proceed. How can Mr Attwood expect the local community to be happy with his decision when representatives were not even aware of it, never mind being invited to the press conference. The Executive has a duty to consult with local representatives at all levels; I will certainly be making my voice heard to the Department and the Minister on behalf of those local residents whom I represent, those who will be directly affected by today's announcement, and who, to date, have been largely ignored" the Deputy Mayor concluded.




Notes:

The application has been made by Islandmagee Storage Limited, a joint venture between InfraStrata and Mutual Energy, the company which owns the Moyle Electricity interconnector, which links the power grid in Northern Ireland with Scotland's.

Before any work begins, the company behind the project will have to raise the necessary capital, which is thought to be in the region of £400m. A regulated all-Ireland gas market would also be required. If built, the project could hold enough gas to power all the energy requirements on the island of Ireland for six weeks.
The storage scheme would act as an energy bank for the gas industry with gas sold on to industrial users.
Potential customers would include companies like Airtricity's parent company, SSE, Bord Gais and other large scale industrial users.

Ninety per cent of Northern Ireland's gas is supplied by an underwater pipeline from Scotland, which comes ashore at Ballylumford power station at Islandmagee. The planned storage plant is near the power station.