Shell encounter problems at Ballinaboy

mayo | environment | news report Friday March 09, 2007 12:41 by Shinobi

Pyle's piles posing an obstacle

Much of the steel piling intended to support roadways on the Ballinaboy site has been found defective and may need to be replaced, claims an inside source.

Over the fence

An anonymous source on the Ballinaboy site has revealed that Shell may have encountered a major obstacle in their preparation for construction of the Corrib Gas terminal. While attempting to dig a ditch on the site, a section of steel piling was discovered to be defective. When other sections of the piling were examined, it was found that a large number of other piles were suffering the same problem. The piling is essentially what is supposed to support the roads on site over which they intend to transport large amounts of peat, machinery, materials etc.

According to sources, the absolute maximum percentage of defective piles allowable is around ten; the number discovered to be substandard on the site is reported to be far greater. This would then be a major obstacle to the Shell operation, as all piles currently in place would need to be inspected and if found to be faulty, replaced.

Seeing as this appears to have been discovered by accident, it begs the question of when Shell were planning to conduct stress tests and what form of testing (eg sonic testing, weight testing or simply ploughing ahead with construction and hoping for the best) they were planning to use. One might also wonder who apart from Shell is monitoring what is going on and ensuring that Shell are operating to the “highest international standards” they are so fond of invoking.

These allegations alone are sufficiently serious to call for a cessation of work, leaving out the many other factors which call Shell’s ability to be trusted with a project such as this into question