The proposed development of the Corrib gas field and a gas terminal in Co Mayo has raised concerns among fishermen, local residents and small farmers about the potential impact on the environment. The Corrib gas is a public asset and the Government is licensing the oil companies to bring it to the market. How the environment is protected and how the local community is involved in this case will set a precedent if more oil and gas is discovered off the Irish coast.
The lodging of hundreds of letters containing observations and objections with Mayo County Council highlights the unprecedented level of public concern in north Co Mayo about the project. On June 28th, Mayo County Council deferred a decision on planning permission for the gas terminal for a second time.
Enterprise Energy Ireland Ltd, which is acting for three major oil companies (Enterprise Oil, Statoil and Marathon Petroleum), has been asked by Mayo County Council to provide further information on the disposal of large quantities of peat to be removed in the terminal's construction.
Recently, a small group, sponsored by Mid-West Radio, spent three days in the Shetland Islands to learn how the Shetland Islands Council - the local authority - responded to the discovery of North Sea oil 100 miles off the coast and to the proposed building of Sullom Voe terminal (one of the largest oil terminals in Europe). The Shetlands, home to 23,000 people, is an archipelago of over 100 islands, spread over 500 square miles between Scotland and Norway.
Local radio journalist Liamy Mac Nally, from Mid-West Radio, accompanied Ian McAndrew, public relations officer for One Voice for Erris and a member of ┌darβs na Gaeltachta, and M∅chΘal ╙ Seighin, a teacher and chairman of a local co-op, to investigate the Shetlanders' experience. The purpose of the trip for the Mayo group was to examine how the Shetlanders adapted to the challenge presented by the arrival of the oil and gas industry. The group met with councillors, officials, fishermen and local people.
According to the current Shetland Islands Council (SIC) vice-chairman, John Nicolson, "the oil period was viewed with apprehension at first". In the early 1970s, Ian Clark, chief executive of SIC at the time, examined what approaches had been taken in similar situations elsewhere. Recognising the potential effects of the discovery of the new oilfields on the economy and environment, the council then adopted a policy of safeguards to ensure the protection of the Shetland community's basic interests. Facilities and services were provided to ensure the local economy and community adjusted to the changes with the minimum distress and inconvenience .
The council acted quickly and had the Zetland County Council Act 1974 (Zetland was the old name for Shetland) passed in Parliament. The Act gave the council considerable control over development in and around the islands. The SIC decided first that it would take ownership of the land in order to be able to exert ongoing control, and then that a single terminal would service the new oilfields. Seven thousand construction workers were employed on the terminal site.
Local government in Shetland quickly developed multiple roles: as landowner of the oil terminal site, proprietor of the loading jetties, port authority for the tanker harbour, majority shareholder in the tug company, planning authority, environmental regulator, trustee for local oil revenues, supplier of infrastructure and services and, from the start, as a formal partner of the industry.
According to the SIC's development manager, Alastair Cooper, the council negotiated £3 million per annum disturbance money from 1974 to 2000. The SIC also received a stipend for every tonne of oil brought ashore and charged port duties on every ship.
The monies collected were set up in charitable trusts which were used "for the benefit of the inhabitants of the Shetland Islands". These benefits included social welfare, leisure and recreation projects, environmental improvements, arts funding and economic development. By the year 2000, one of the trusts had a reserve fund of £230 million. In the same year, the 20-year revenue agreement between SIC and the oil industry came to an end and a new agreement was put in place.
Cooper said that because the Shetlands in the 1970s were dependent on fishing, there was particular concern about keeping the environment clean and unpolluted. With the imminent arrival of the oil industry, fishermen were full of misgivings. People recognised the potentially transitory nature of the oil industry in the islands and wanted to maintain a pristine environment. This factor impelled SIC to set up environmental monitoring funded by the oil industry. SOTEAG, the Sullom Oil Terminal Environmental Advisory Group, was set up in 1976 by SIC and the oil industry.
SOTEAG is made up of independent environmental experts, local fishermen, SIC members and the oil industry. It commissions universities and institutions to carry out independent baseline studies, surveys and monitoring, all paid for by the oil industry.
Sullom Voe, commissioned in the early 1970s, is a sheltered deep-water inlet and is now home to one of the largest oil terminals (1,000 acres) in Europe. Its construction was funded by 33 oil companies and is operated by BP. Crude oil is delivered to Sullom Voe via two pipelines from the Brent and Ninian oilfields east of Shetland. Production peaked at 1.4 million barrels per day, but is now only half that figure. Gas comes with the oil and is separated out in a three-stage process at a 10-acre gas plant. The oil is bulk exported by tanker to the US, Europe and the Far East.
In 1974, the SIC set up the Sullom Voe Association with the oil industry to oversee development of the terminal and to share information between the industry and the council. The current oil terminal manager, Gordon Grant, said it was good to have a forum for debate, and that, due to stringent environmental monitoring, there were less hydrocarbons in the water now than in the 1970s.
There was direct advice to Mayo fishermen on dealing with oil companies from John Goodlad, chief executive of the Shetlands Fishermen's Association (SFA). The SFA negotiated with the oil companies about disturbance to fishing grounds and the potential loss of fishing gear due to pipelines on the seabed. The Shetland Islands Fishermen's Trust was established in the mid-1970s and the reserve fund is now £3 million. This has proved an invaluable source of funding for fishermen.
"We don't pay individuals compensation; we pay it into an SFA reserve fund," said Goodlad. He also said that a new deal is being worked out with fishermen over the development of the Magnus field, east of Shetland.
Goodlad urged Mayo fishermen to get an environmental monitoring system in place. "When you are dealing with compensation from oil companies, you must all hang together or you will hang separately. Speak with one voice," he said. Much was learned on this visit that was relevant to the Corrib development in Mayo. There will be a need for independent baseline surveys to ensure the protection of the environment, and local participation in the development must be guaranteed.
Among the questions raised were the following: should Coillte be allowed to sell State land to a private company without public consultation and a debate on how it can be managed to benefit the people of Co Mayo? Why is Mayo County Council concerned only about the planning implications? What about setting up a framework in Erris to generate revenues from the gas for the local community to improve its neglected social and economic infrastructure?
While getting the gas ashore may be top of the Government's agenda, neglecting the concerns of the local people would be a perilous course with an election on the horizon.