![]() ![]() The judge also dismissed the challenge that Edwin Poots, then environment minister, had acted beyond his powers in granting consent for the storage. Islandmagee had made an error in calculating the area affected by the extra salt being discharged, the court heard, but “the court accepted that the applicants had failed to demonstrate that there was a real risk caused by the incorrect figure being cited”. The judge determined that the developer, Islandmagee Energy Limited, which is owned by Harland & Wolff, has committed to following the rules in order to safely shut down the site after its forecast 40 years of use. ![]() Protected species living nearby include harbour porpoise. The campaigners contended that the plan should have been referred to other authorities, that it broke environmental protection legislation and that there has been insufficient research done on the impact of eventually decommissioning the site. ![]() In a six-page decision, Mr Justice Humphreys dismissed the seven grounds for challenge to the plan.įriends of the Earth was joined by campaign group No Gas Caverns in applying to have the scheme stopped. Energy firm Centrica reopened its Rough storage facility last year, but industry bosses say more is needed. Recent swings in the price of natural gas has shown how little resilience the UK has in energy storage in the wake of Russia’s attack on Ukraine. To do so it will flood the caverns with seawater to dissolve the salt and pump it back into the bay, which environmental campaigners said would create a “dead zone” because of the high concentration of salt, killing marine life. The facility has a potential 40-year lifespan, as it could also store hydrogen as a green alternative to methane when natural gas is phased out. It would store enough gas for 14 days of supply for Northern Ireland, or about 25pc of the UK’s storage needs. The company wants to flood a network of salt caverns under Larne Lough off the coast of County Antrim to store gas more than a kilometre under sea level. Harland & Wolff, owner of the shipyard that built the Titanic, has overcome a challenge from Friends of the Earth to develop a natural gas storage site in Northern Ireland. ![]()
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