This article is from page 16 of the 2012-05-01 edition of The Clare People. OCR mistakes are to be expected so download the original SWF or the rendered page 16 JPG
HUNDREDS of potential West Clare jobs will be lost if Shannon LNG pulls plans to develop a € 1 billion gas terminal along the Shannon Estuary.
The company has reached an impasse with the Commission for Energy Regulation (CER) over tariffs the regulator claims it will be liable for.
The company estimates this could cost it up to € 83 million per year.
Following a meeting between the Kilrush area members of the council and Shannon LNG last week, Clare County Council has also invited the energy regulator to address the members on the issue.
Kildysart councillor Oliver Garry (FG) said that the issue must be resolved in the interest of job creation and the provision of gas to Ireland.
It is estimated that the building of the terminal between Tarbert and Ballylongford, across the estuary from Clare, will create more than 650 construction jobs and more than 100 permanent jobs.
Cllr Garry said that many of these jobs will be available to Clare workers.
“This is the biggest project to come to the estuary since the building of Moneypoint in 1980,” he said.
The chair of the Kilrush area councillors said that just as many of the workforce at Moneypoint came from Kerry on the ferry, so too would Clare workers be travelling to Ballylongford.
“We have to see where a solution can be found. It is so important that we develop industry on the estuary,” he said.
Shannon LNG has already invested € 45 million in the project that is already four years in the making.
Planning permission for the terminal was granted in March 2008, while permission for the pipeline from Ballylongford to Foynes was granted in February 2009.
Shannon LNG now maintains that just as it was getting all major consents for the project, such as a foreshore licence and third party access exemption, the CER proposed changing the pipeline tariff structure, introduced by a Government directive in 2001 to encourage new infrastructure.
The company said it needs Government support, not subsidy, if it is to continue as well as regulatory certainty.
“Indecision and delay will further postpone project progress,” it said.