Shell's work at peat depot halted

mayo | environment | news report Wednesday August 10, 2011 15:45 by B

Work was halted at Bord na Mona's Shrahmore peat deposition siteon Monday August 8th by protesters from Rossport Solidarity Camp. From 11am up until 6pm four protesters prevented Barrett's and Lennon's quarry trucks from entering the site with road building gravel. Inside the compound, two of the protesters climbed up onto a digger in order to stop it proceeding with the road construction on the site.

Shell oil company is planning to dig up 125,000 tonnes of peat from Shruwaddacon estuary and lay down a high pressure raw gas pipeline. The local community have not consented to Shell's operations. The peat which Shell plans to dig up is scheduled to be dumped at Shrahmore. However, without the presence of adequate road networks within Shrahmore, the heavy peat dumping machinery cannot operate. By halting road building works at Shrahmore from proceeding, protesters are challenging the social, environmental and economic validity of Shell's activities.

Meanwhile, it has also been announced today that Shell, Statoil & Vermilion have now extended their expected date for when Corrib Gas will flow to 2014.  Every year it seems that they push their expected finish date out further and further.  Originally the finish date was due to be 2003, so now the project would be 11 years delayed by Shell's current guess: http://www.irishexaminer.com/business/corrib-pipeline-w....html