Upcoming Events

Mayo | Environment

no events match your query!

New Events

Mayo

no events posted in last week

Blog Feeds

Public Inquiry
Interested in maladministration. Estd. 2005

offsite link RTEs Sarah McInerney ? Fianna Fail?supporter? Anthony

offsite link Joe Duffy is dishonest and untrustworthy Anthony

offsite link Robert Watt complaint: Time for decision by SIPO Anthony

offsite link RTE in breach of its own editorial principles Anthony

offsite link Waiting for SIPO Anthony

Public Inquiry >>

Human Rights in Ireland
Promoting Human Rights in Ireland

Human Rights in Ireland >>

Lockdown Skeptics

The Daily Sceptic

offsite link Grooming Gangs Inquiry ?Told Not to Investigate Senior Police Officers? Tue Jan 14, 2025 11:00 | Will Jones
Investigators who examined police failings in the Rotherham grooming gangs scandal were told not to investigate senior officers and no one lost their jobs, a whistleblower has said.
The post Grooming Gangs Inquiry “Told Not to Investigate Senior Police Officers” appeared first on The Daily Sceptic.

offsite link Where Are They Now? Council Bosses Who Failed Victims of Rotherham Grooming Gang Went on to Be Gover... Tue Jan 14, 2025 09:00 | Will Jones
Council bosses in Rotherham who were criticised for failing to protect 1,400 young girls from?grooming gangs?have gone on to become Government advisers, bankers and an "executive coach and mentor".
The post Where Are They Now? Council Bosses Who Failed Victims of Rotherham Grooming Gang Went on to Be Government Advisers, Bankers and an “Executive Coach and Mentor” appeared first on The Daily Sceptic.

offsite link Are Novels Part of Our Cultural Malaise? Tue Jan 14, 2025 07:00 | James Alexander
Never mind smartphones: surely it was the novel that invented mental health problems, suggests Prof James Alexander, as he pays tribute to the theorist of the form, David Lodge, who died on January 1st.
The post Are Novels Part of Our Cultural Malaise? appeared first on The Daily Sceptic.

offsite link News Round-Up Tue Jan 14, 2025 01:05 | Richard Eldred
A summary of the most interesting stories in the past 24 hours that challenge the prevailing orthodoxy about the ?climate emergency?, public health ?crises? and the supposed moral defects of Western civilisation.
The post News Round-Up appeared first on The Daily Sceptic.

offsite link Rachel Reeves is Making the Same Mistake as Liz Truss Mon Jan 13, 2025 20:00 | Will Jones
Labour loves to remind voters how Liz Truss 'crashed the economy', but Rachel Reeves is making the exact same mistake. She's asking the markets to lend the Government vast sums and they're telling her where to get off.
The post Rachel Reeves is Making the Same Mistake as Liz Truss appeared first on The Daily Sceptic.

Lockdown Skeptics >>

Voltaire Network
Voltaire, international edition

offsite link Trump and Musk, Canada, Panama and Greenland, an old story, by Thierry Meyssan Tue Jan 14, 2025 07:03 | en

offsite link Voltaire, International Newsletter N?114-115 Fri Jan 10, 2025 14:04 | en

offsite link End of Russian gas transit via Ukraine to the EU Fri Jan 10, 2025 13:45 | en

offsite link After Iraq, Libya, Gaza, Lebanon and Syria, the Pentagon attacks Yemen, by Thier... Tue Jan 07, 2025 06:58 | en

offsite link Voltaire, International Newsletter N?113 Fri Dec 20, 2024 10:42 | en

Voltaire Network >>

Shell Sparks in Erris

category mayo | environment | opinion/analysis author Sunday October 15, 2006 17:22author by Shell to Sea Supporter Report this post to the editors

The enormity of a spark

Shell gas leaks and sparks

Last week the Environment Society of UL held a lively meeting on the Shell to Sea issue. In microcosm the agitation in the meeting mirrored that in any local community about to be forced to face a multinational in its midst.

One perceptive commentator insisted on the essential spark to ignite the non odorous gas. There is no shortage of sparks in Rossport and surrounds. At almost every house treading the hills around is a large heap of fresh dry turf stored for open hearth fires all through the winter. Millions of sparks on any one night so God help any wisp of escaping non odorous gas lurking around. The spark too late will be the almighty harbinger of destruction.

On the bogs of Donegal in high summer at the first sound of a roll of thunder everyone deserts the bog at once. It is known that the minerals under the peat draw the lightning leading to those creeping bog fires that crawl silently along. What if they meet a wisp of gas. There are continuous fires in the English moors. They burn for weeks. Fire is a reality on bogs.

Blacksmiths still carry on their art in Erris and is only possible with heat and the sparks that jump out of the hammers that strike iron. There are cigarette smokers and Christmas and Church candles. And big bonfires on John's night in June. Not a great place to have raw high pressure gas in proximity. Anyone grasps the danger.

author by JMpublication date Tue Oct 17, 2006 00:25author address Rossportauthor phone Report this post to the editors

Recent studies on pipeline accidents in the UK and America have revealed that up to 60% of gas pipeline ruptures self-ignite, due to the tremendous forces involved in flying steel and stone and the resultant air/gas mixture.

Worse than that, a delayed ignition from an external source actually results in a greater chance of fatalities, because of (1) the curiosity factor of a roaring gas rupture luring people from the relative safety of their homes and towards the rupture site, and (2) the possibility of slower gas build-up in structures frequented by people, who tend to do highly dangerous things like smoke cigarettes, turn on light switches, start cars etc.

So, very often no need for extra sparks at all... and I'm a blacksmith!

Related Link: http://www.shelltosea.com/
author by xinapublication date Thu Oct 26, 2006 16:58author address author phone Report this post to the editors

Take the time to look up Shell's record on Health & Safety, Environment, & Human Rights: it's all bad news

 
© 2001-2025 Independent Media Centre Ireland. Unless otherwise stated by the author, all content is free for non-commercial reuse, reprint, and rebroadcast, on the net and elsewhere. Opinions are those of the contributors and are not necessarily endorsed by Independent Media Centre Ireland. Disclaimer | Privacy