Call for Kerry councillors to support €650m LNG terminal

US backers of a proposed Shannon Estuary liquefied natural gas (LNG) terminal have called on Kerry councillors to bolster the case for the €650 million project in a development plan to be settled before a key planning ruling in September.

Government policy is opposed to imports of fracked gas on environmental grounds, but Russian president Vladimir Putin’s invasion of Ukraine has changed the European debate on energy.

As EU leaders strive to wean the union off its dependence on Russian gas and oil, US president Joe Biden has promised to boost shipments of liquefied gas to Europe.

Mr Biden’s pledge has already prompted demands in some Government parties to rethink policies championed by Green Party leader Eamon Ryan. Fianna Fáil MEP Billy Kelleher was quick to argue that the proposed north Kerry plant could be used to send LNG imports into EU networks via Ireland’s interconnector with Britain.

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In a February submission to the local authority, Shannon LNG Ltd urged councillors to reflect “the role of gas” in securing energy supply in their 2022-2028 development plan. The company’s owner is New Fortress Energy of New York.

“[We] eould respectfully request Kerry county council to specifically refer to the need for additional infrastructure, including additional natural gas infrastructure, to address the intermittency problem in wind generation and thereby contribute to the security of energy supply in Ireland,” said Shannon LNG vice-president Martin Ahern.

Councillors are due to adopt the 2022-2028 plan in July, two months before An Bord Pleanála hands down its delayed decision on Shannon LNG’s planning application under strategic infrastructure laws.

The latest planning application follows a High Court ruling that quashed an earlier grant of approval.

Carbon neutrality

Environmentalists have long campaigned against the proposed LNG plant, saying it would use large amounts of fracked gas imports from the US at a time when the State is supposed to be moving towards carbon neutrality.

Although Kerry councillors are not due to vote on the development plan until the summer, any supportive language on the proposed LNG terminal would set the local authority apart from the Coalition. Fianna Fáil, Fine Gael and the Greens said in the 2020 programme for government that it did not make sense to develop LNG import terminals using fracked gas.

When the Attorney General found last year that there was no legal basis for a domestic ban on fracked gas imports, the Government said “it would not be appropriate” for any LNG terminals to be permitted pending a formal review of the security of energy supplies.

That review by the Department of Climate is due to conclude by the middle of the year. Having started long before the Ukraine war began in February, the review will be submitted against the backdrop of anti-Russian sanctions and intensive EU efforts to develop new sources of energy supplies.

Mr Kelleher said the Government would have to “get off their hands” if the proposed Kerry terminal was to assume a role in boosting European LNG imports.

“We are in an energy security crisis. If it is a choice between LNG arriving into the EU via north Kerry or Putin having the EU over a barrel due to our dependence on Russian gas, there is only one right answer.”