Leitrim Councillor critical of government approval of LNG terminal

On Wednesday, the government approved plans for a national Liquid Natural Gas (LNG) terminal to be built in Ireland while scrapping the ban on imports of fracked gas.

Leitrim Cllr Eddie Mitchell has said that the government's decision to allow an LNG terminal to be built in Ireland has put the future of Leitrim at stake.

The decision to build the reserve is aimed at establishing a strategic emergency gas supply in Ireland and has received criticism from environmentalists nationwide, as gas imports would include bringing fracked gas into the Irish energy supply.

“We will fight the planned fracked LNG import terminal,” read a statement from a coalition of over 22 environmental groups.

The coalition, which includes Love Leitrim, Treasure Leitrim, North Leitrim Sustainable Energy Community, Leitrim Wind Industry Awareness, has vowed to fight the planned construction of a fracked gas import terminal in Ireland, saying the project would be “both a climate disaster and a betrayal of the people who helped to ban fracking in Ireland.”

“According to our government, fracking is now okay again. We live in a gas basin. Yesterday was a very difficult day for Leitrim. Our future is at stake again,” said Leitrim Councillor Eddie Mitchell, who was part of the campaign in Leitrim that led to a ban on fracking in Ireland.

“To resist this planned LNG terminal is to resist part of the biggest rollout of new fossil fuel infrastructure on the planet,” said Cllr Mitchell.

“We will not let down our friends in communities in the U.S., such as Pennsylvania, by agreeing to the building of a facility to take in this hazardous ‘extinction fuel,’ which is killing their communities. To do so would be a betrayal of those who helped us ban fracking here in Ireland.”

The decision from the government puts an end to a policy against the importation of fracked gas, which had been in place since 2021.

“This emergency reserve will provide an alternative source of gas at an appropriate scale if Ireland were to experience such an interruption,” said Minister Darragh O'Brien.

However, the gas imports will not be left sitting in the LNG terminal for emergency use. The strategic reserve will need to be emptied and refilled every two months to keep the gas fresh and usable, according to the government.

The gas will be put into the Irish gas network each time it is emptied, which Cllr Mitchell, along with fellow activists, fears is the first step toward building a reliance on fracked gas that will eventually lead to fracking activity in the country.

The government approval means that a floating LNG terminal, which will be owned on behalf of the state by the system operator, Gas Networks Ireland (GNI), can now be built in Ireland, though the exact location is still undecided.

An Bord Pleanála is currently reviewing an application from New Fortress Energy, an American oil and gas company, to build an LNG terminal in Kerry.

The application was first submitted in 2007 but was denied on the basis that a review of Ireland's energy security did not support the development. However, the company brought the case to the High Court, which ruled that the government's policy was too vague and needed clarification, so the application is being reviewed again.

Climate groups have also argued that the Planning and Development Bill 2024, which grants “strategic infrastructure” status to an LNG terminal, could allow it to be built while circumventing normal planning processes, making it more difficult for campaigners to object.

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