(This article is time sensitive. Click on the title for a link to the Shell to Sea website where you can read an update about this and the Corrib pipeline)
Oil and gas is a finite resource and is quickly becoming more expensive to get out of the ground. Our usage is growing at a phenomenal rate and this supply and demand imbalance is causing prices to shoot up (Note the price of petrol next time you fill your car up!) The people in Rossport, Erris, Co Mayo know more than most just what length oil and natural gas producers will go to get the product onto our shores at the lowest possible cost. Five farmers known as the Rossport five, are spending their third week in Cloverhill prison accused of obstructing work on a pipeline that is cutting through their land. Shell oil, the major shareholders in this project, has, the men claimed already started the preliminary work to lay the pipes. Shell were given consent to bring pipes to the area but not to start welding them together which is what they have apparently started doing. The Rossport five are now being taken very seriously and claim that they are not against the production of oil itself, just the fact that the pipeline will run directly through their land. There are some that say that oil and gas companies have been doing this for years and no-one bat an eyelid, but public awareness is changing and the last thing you need to see are pipes carrying high pressure gas running past the bottom of your garden. The Corrib oil field was a huge asset to Ireland but was allegedly given away in the 1980’s to three major oil companies. One issue that is really getting up peoples noses is the fact that these multinationals can exploit the natural resources and not pay a cent in royalties to the State. It will be interesting to see if any compromises are made between the farmers, oil companies and the government
Environmental.
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