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"Shell To Sea" is a campaign based in County Mayo, Ireland against the construction by Shell of a high pressure gas pipeline and a refinery at Bellanaboy which would process the gas from the Corrib Gas Field.
In October, 1996 Corrib field was discovered by Enterprise Oil 70km off Mayo coast in over 349 metres of water, with the gas field a further 3,500 metres below sea level.
Safety and Environmental Concerns
Refinery Site
The cleaning terminal, a large combustion plant, is a huge project. It will require in excess of 120 MW power to operate. The power will come from burning off the uncleaned gas condensate, containing oxides of carbon and nitrogen, sulphur dioxide, methane and ozone. There are nine chimneys, four of them approximately 140 feet high. They will release carbon dioxide and methane equivalent to the global warming potential of 27,000 dairy cows.
The waste water problem is twofold. There is a pipe to take waste impurities to sea and a perforated perimeter ditch which will surround the drainage from the site. The waste water storage sump is designed to withstand one hour continuous rainfall, though Crossmolina had 106 days consecutive rainfall last autumn 2004. The overflow will flow into Carrowmore Lake, which feeds the water supply of Erris.
This untreated waste water will contain many lethal substances, including lead, nickel, magnesium, phosphorus, chromium, arsenic, mercury and the radioactive gas radon.
The refinery is to be constructed on unstable blanket bog. Shell’s plan to stabilise this involves mixing in cement to form a hard surface. This process has only ever had small field trials and lab tests and creates a reaction which produces the very toxic hexavalent chromium.
Pipeline Route
The upstream high pressure gas pipeline that connects the well to the inland refinery site runs through the area of Rossport beside villages and peoples' homes. The pressure inside the pipeline will be up to four times greater than that of the biggest Bord Gais pipelines and will be going through boggy land with a history of landslides. The gas pipeline also has adjoining pipelines carrying hydraulic fluid, cleansing acids, and a waste pipe. There will also be electric cables.
This is a high pressure pipeline, 345 bar pressure for the gas, 610 bar pressure for the acids and hydraulic fluid. It is untreated, that is, odourless, without the added smell for detecting leaks. To compare, in Kinsale the gas is refined at sea, piped ashore at a much lower pressure and odorised. The biggest Bord Gais pipelines, in the so-called Transmission network, bringing the gas cross-country or overseas, run at 16 – 70 bar pressure.
The large pressure is necessary as the pipeline is actually pumping the gas straight out of the field, normally this process takes place completely at sea. This development is so unprecedented the relevant Irish legislation and regulations assumes its non-existence, that is, it applies to off-shore upstream pipelines and to on-land ones of around the levels of pressure used by Bord Gais.
Broadhaven Bay
Broadhaven Bay is where Shell want to discharge toxic waste from the refining process. Due to the bay’s circular tidal pattern and semi-enclosed nature a large portion of this toxic waste is likely to stay within the bay rather than be washed out to sea.
A U.C.C. research team found that the bay was an important breading and rearing area for whales and dolphins. They recorded over 220 sightings of seven whale and dolphin species including sightings of the relatively rare Risso's Dolphin, plus sightings of two seal species and marine mammals such as basking sharks and a sea turtle in Broadhaven Bay and north-west Mayo waters.
Broadhaven Bay is a Special Area of Conservation under E.U. regulations. According to state heritage agency An Duchas “Broadhaven Bay supports an internationally important number of Brent Goose” as well as regionally important populations of other birds.
The pipeline is to go straight through the machair sand dunes/coastal grasslands at one end of Broadhaven Bay. These are habitat unique to the north west of Ireland and the north west of Scotland.
Carrowmore Lake
Carrowmore lake, a special area of conservation, and the source of drinking water for the region is already being poisioned by aluminium run-off from the refinery site. This is the source of the regional water supply, and is protected as a Natura 2000 site under the E.U. habitats directive; it is also on the list of protected conservation areas. It has already been degraded due to Shell related civil engineering, with a marked decline in fishing and the arrival of algae bloom. It will be affected by the emissions from the proposed refinery at Ballinaboy.