Risky business

IN his letter headlined ‘Priests challenged on Erris pipeline stance’ (November 6), Brendan Cafferty writes that the independent Advantica report said that the original pipeline was safe.

In fact, the report recommended reducing maximum operating pipeline pressure from 345 bar to 144 bar.

The report also says that a rupture at 144 bar could kill people within a 203-metre radius. This is a risk that Shell and the Government are willing to accept, despite the frequency of landslides in the locality. In September 2003, a massive landslide that swept away homes in Pollathomish covered the original proposed route of the pipeline.