Shell fined for 'noise and light pollution' at Bellanaboy
SHELL Ireland been fined €1,000 and ordered to pay €15,000 in legal costs for causing light and noise pollution from a gas flare during start-up testing at the Corrib gas terminal in north Mayo.
The prosecution was brought by the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) following complaints from people living around the Bellanaboy Bridge area in Mayo, the location of Shell’s terminal to bring in gas from the Corrib gas field 65 kilometres offshore.
Today (Monday), Shell E&P Ireland Ltd pleaded guilty at Dublin District Court to breaching two counts of the Environmental Agency Protection Act during “flaring” tests at their processing terminal at Bellanaboy on New Year’s Eve.
The company admitted that emissions from the gas flaring activity during the night resulted in impairment of, or interference with amenities of the environment beyond the installation boundary when people might reasonably be expected to be sleeping.
The second charge stated it resulted in noise emissions that exceeded the applicable limits for evening time at noise sensitive locations.
Outlining the background, prosecution solicitor Alan Doyle told Judge John O’Neill that during the start-up tests, Shell needed to flare off the mixture of gas and seawater until they had pure gas which they could then refine.
EPA Inspector Kealan Reynolds told Judge O’Neill that it had been agreed that a certain amount of flaring would have to happen for 15 to 30 minutes during daytime.
Consent was given on December 29 last to open the valve on to the Corrib Field, he said.
He said the EPA began to get complaints from locals regarding noise and light from the flaring from 8 pm on New Year’s Eve until about 4 am on January 1.
Mr. Reynolds said the EPA carried out an investigation and visited the terminal unannounced on 4 January when they gathered data from personnel and the monitoring equipment on site.
The information they obtained confirmed the noise limit had been breached from 8 p.m. on New Year’s Eve until early the next morning and this would have had impairment on the environment, he said.
The court heard the company had no prior criminal convictions.
Judge O’Neill also noted that there was no danger to life inside or outside the facility and said he took into consideration Shell’s early guilty plea as well as their apology. He said the company met the charges in a responsible manner.
However, he said he understood why people in the vicinity might be concerned having regard to the history of the location.
The judge fined Shell €500 on each charge and directed that the money must go to the EPA. They must also pay the EPA’s legal costs, he directed.