Environmental Statement required for Ballinlea application

Ballycastle SDLP Councillor Dónal Cunningham has welcomed the outcome of the DOE Planners application screening determination, which has concluded that an Environmental Statement is required for the Rathlin Energy application to drill a new test well site at Ballinlea.

Councillor Cunningham said “I am particularly pleased for the Ballinlea Residents group who campaigned to ensure that an Environmental Impact Assessment which includes social, economic, environmental and public health impacts is carried out before any planning decision was made”.

Councillor Cunningham continued “The public are still have many concerns around this application , hopefully the Environmental statement will comprehensively inform the decision making process”.

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Rathlin Energy confirm completion of seismic survey

Commenting  on the news that gas and oil exploration firm Rathlin Energy Ltd has publicly confirmed the completion of its Ballinlea 2012 VSP & 2D seismic survey undertaken by Tesla Exploration International Ltd, Ballycastle SDLP Councillor Dónal Cunningham has called on the company to make public the results and evaluation of the subsurface geology, and  to declare to the public if it intends to apply for permission to extract shale gas by means of the controversial hydraulic fracturing (fracking) process.

“Moyle Council have already expressed their opposition to fracking, a process which  involves the pumping of millions of gallons of water, mixed with hundreds of highly toxic chemicals, thousands of feet deep into the ground.
“Already in the U.S.A, Canada, Europe and Australia, pollution caused by this process to land, to air, to surface water and to groundwater has resulted in a terrible health toll and catastrophic environmental damage.”
“We have to say no to the possibility of fracking, anywhere in the North Coast Rathlin Basin”

Community needs to unite against possibility of fracking

Ballycastle SDLP Councillor Dónal Cunningham accused oil and gas exploration company Rathlin Energy of only confirming what we already knew, namely that if sufficient reserves of shale gas are found during their exploration in the onshore Rathlin Basin, they will consider applying for permission to extract this by use of the controversial process of the hydraulic fracturing (fracking).
Speaking after attending an open day at the Ballinlea drill site organised by the company, Councillor Cunningham felt the exercise had amounted to little more than a public relations exercise providing little information that wasn’t already in the public domain.

“The company will continue to use the language of exploring for oil and gas, but we strongly suspect shale gas is the intended target. The company did nothing to deny this, and director David Montague Smith confirmed in answer to questions from the local community that if sufficient reserves of shale gas are found they would seek permission to extract this by use of the controversial process of the hydraulic fracturing (fracking).”
“Moyle Council have already expressed their opposition to fracking, a process involves the pumping of millions of gallons of water, mixed with hundreds of highly toxic chemicals, thousands of feet deep into the ground.
“Already in the U.S.A, Canada, Europe and Australia, pollution caused by this process to land, to air, to surface water and to groundwater has resulted in a terrible health toll and catastrophic environmental damage.”
“We have to say no to the possibility of fracking, anywhere in the North Coast Rathlin Basin”