Why is Shell’s experimental pipeline in Mayo so dangerous?
When the inland gas refinery near Rossport was proposed in the late 1990s, many local people welcomed the project. But when they did some research, they quickly became extremely concerned. They discovered this was an experimental project; nothing like it had been tried anywhere in the world. Raw, unprocessed gas would be carried at extremely high pressure, directly from under the sea-bed, through a pipeline in an unstable bog where landslides are common. The proposed pipeline for Rossport is nothing like the gas pipelines people live close to in other parts of Ireland: • the pressure would be 144 bar, and possibly higher, compared to a maximum 5 bar in a domestic pipeline; • the gas would still contain chemical impurities that corrode pipes and are highly explosive – these are removed at the refinery; • it would not contain the odour that alerts residents to a leak – this is added at the refinery. At the Bord Pleanála hearing in June 2009 into this onshore pipeline route, Shell consult
