Enterprise says planning change will not delay Corrib gas targets

Enterprise Energy Ireland is still confident of supplying gas from the Corrib field on target, following its decision to submit a new planning application for the proposed gas terminal in north Mayo.

It proposes siting the terminal 500 metres from the original location at Bellanaboy Bridge. A revised environmental impact statement will be incorporated, promising a new peat strategy and "more detailed information on water and air", according to the company.

The Minister for the Marine, Mr Fahey, also confirmed yesterday that he had asked Enterprise for a new environmental impact statement for its separate foreshore licence application. "We weren't happy with the first environmental impact statement," the Minister said, "and it is very important for the public and the people in Mayo to ensure that the most stringent standards will be applied."

However, the Minister also said it was important that this project was not held up in the long term.

Ms Rosemary Steen, Enterprise spokeswoman, told The Irish Times that the target date of autumn 2003 would still be met, if the new application was approved, as the new location involved moving less peat during construction. The company acknowledges the application may go before An Bord Pleanala, which could cause delays.

However, she said it had held discussions with the North Western Regional Fisheries Board and Duchas, the heritage service, in recent weeks and was happy the concerns expressed by these bodies in relation to the application may now be assuaged.

When it informed the company last March that it still had "certain anxieties", the county council said the possible impact of the removal of 500,000 cubic metres of peat on water quality at Carrowmore Lake "was not addressed" by Enterprise in its Environmental Impact Statement. The peat was acidic and could damage water quality if it was not disposed of properly. Group water schemes in the area take supplies from the lake.

Elements of its landscaping plans and the socioeconomic impact of the £500 million (€635 million) project were "unclear" in the original application, according to the local authority. It believed the statement did not address the skills level of the workforce available in Mayo.

The company says that, in moving the terminal from the south to the north-east of the site, the visual impact will be far less significant. A Dublin architect, MV Cullinan, has been awarded the design contract.

The company intends to embark on a new round of public consultations immediately to inform people of the revised plans. Earlier this year, a Southampton University marine biologist commissioned by a local shellfish company employing 12 people in Porturlin, north Mayo, expressed serious concern about the environmental impact of Enterprise Oil's gas landfall on the north Mayo coastline.

The development "would appear to offer very little to the local community" and will have a "strongly negative effect" on the environment, Dr Alex Rogers of the School of Ocean and Earth Science at the University of Southampton said. Discharge of heavy metals including mercury and quantities of methanol could contaminate marine life and affect the livelihoods of fishermen, and tourism interest, in the area, he said.

He said that little attention appeared to have been paid to habitats in the area, including Special Areas of Conservation and birdlife.