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The Department of the Environment has confirmed it has given
preliminary approval for a foreshore licence to build ship-landing
and other facilities for the country’s first liquefied gas
terminal on the Shannon estuary.
However, a spokesman for the department said legal details
of the licence for the jetty and other shore facilities for
the proposed plant between Tarbert and Ballylongford in Co
Kerry have yet to be finalised. It may be a number of weeks
before this is complete.
The foreshore application was made more than two years ago
and there has been some local anxiety about the length of
time taken. It is four years since the project was unveiled
and almost three years since it was deemed strategic infrastructure
and eligible for fast-track planning.
Ships from all over the world will call at the terminal with
liquefied gas, which will be offloaded, regassified and put
into the national gas network.
The foreshore licence is the last piece of the jigsaw in
the proposal by Shannon
LNG - an Irish subsidiary of the global Hess corporation
- to construct the terminal.
Since it was unveiled in 2006 and among the first projects
to be 'fast-tracked' under the Strategic Infrastructure
Act, there have been two oral hearings by An Bord Pleanála
- one into the terminal itself and another into a 26km pipeline
linking the import terminal with the national gas grid near
Foynes. Both got the go-ahead.
The €500 million facility will mean a boost for north Kerry.
Endesa,
a Spanish energy company, is proposing to construct a natural
gas-powered electricity station on an ESB site at nearby Tarbert
island, with gas supplies coming from the new LNG plant.
Source - The Irish Times
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