Local LNG Foes Go Green

• Brosnans Criticize Irish Project •

BY ANNE SOBLE

Going “green” has a special meaning for Malibuites Pierce and Keely Brosnan who, along with a broad coalition that ranged from environmental activists to school children, helped defeat the proposed Cabrillo Port liquefied natural gas project off the local coast two years ago.
The pair are taking some of the lessons learned in that fight and applying them in the fight against Ireland’s first LNG terminal proposal, slated to be built at the Shannon Estuary.
The Brosnans’ Malibu spokesperson confirmed that the couple have joined the opposition to the project earmarked for County Kerry in Pierce Brosnan’s native country—he was born in Navan in County Meath.
The $700 million proposal by Shannon LNG, a subsidiary of the U.S. Hess corporation, received its permit last March. A hearing on a pipeline link to preexisting facilities was held in December.
The Brosnans are coordinating their efforts with the Irish “Safety Before LNG” group’s campaign against the Shannon terminal.
On the SBLNG Web site, the Brosnans address many of the same issues that were raised with BHP Billiton’s Cabrillo Port project, noting the lack of assessment of the “serious and significant risks to public health and safety.”
In a letter to the Kerry County Council, the local couple wrote: “We strongly support Safety Before LNG’s request that the planning department find that this project and its associated pipeline must be thoroughly reviewed for the serious cumulative risks it poses for the local population and the environment.”
Although Cabrillo Port tried the same ploy unsuccessfully, the Irish project received fast-track planning approval, despite its Irish neighbors saying, much like the residents of Oxnard, that the dangers to them were ignored during the approval process.
A key environmental concern is that up to 100 million gallons of chlorinated seawater would be pumped into the Shannon Estuary daily, with potential major damage to marine life and water quality.
As is the case for building a facility on the U.S. West Coast, there is no general acceptance of the need for an Irish LNG terminal, if no suitable site is available. Critics contend that any Irish need for LNG can be met by the construction of terminals in the United Kingdom that can provide LNG to Ireland via existing gas pipelines in the UK.
The Shannon challenge is a double whammy for Hess LNG, as the company’s LNG proposal in Massachusetts has been blocked on environmental and safety grounds for over half a decade.
Another group mounting a legal challenge to the Shannon project is “Friends of the Irish Environment,” which was formed to address concerns that European environmentalists were lagging behind activists in the United States, demonstrating the efficacy of at least one American export.