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oil rig via Shutterstock

How will 'unprecedented' levels of oil and gas exploration affect wildlife?

The Government has announced a new plan to carry out surveys of areas of potential exploration.

THE GOVERNMENT IS set to carry out a survey of Irish waters to gauge the potential impact of oil and gas exploration on protected wildlife and the environment.

This is aimed at addressing knowledge gaps that exist in the understanding of protected species and sites in offshore basins.

Speaking at the Atlantic Ireland Conference in Dublin, Minister of State with responsibility for Natural Resources, Joe McHugh, today urged for the “very significant” momentum of exploration to continue.

He noted that the level of seismic acquisition – a method of underground imaging – between 2013 and 2014 was higher than in the previous 10 years combined.

There is currently the highest level of exploration authorisations in place since this process first took place 40 years ago.

“All of this demonstrates that exploration in the Irish offshore is moving in the right direction,”  McHugh said.

The Government’s intention is that this momentum should be maintained, with the ultimate aim of ensuring that the true potential of our indigenous oil and gas resources will be realised for the benefit of our people.

He added that there has been “positive interest” in the next round of licensing.

These areas involved will now be subject to a Strategic Environmental Assessment (SEA).

“My Department, in liaison with the National Parks and Wildlife Service is establishing a marine mammal data acquisition programme, with funding being made available for this programme from research funding managed by my Department,” he said.

“By acquiring a more detailed understanding of species distribution, relative abundance and sensitivity/vulnerability in our offshore waters we will ensure continued robust decision-making in relation to proposed petroleum exploration activities.”

Earlier this year, the Government announced new fiscal terms for oil and gas exploration.

Under the new regime, which is hoped to attract more business to the industry, will see the system of royalty payments to Government increase.

Read: Dubai state-owned oil company plans €627m buyout of Irish exploration firm >

More: Ireland will receive more taxes from oil and gas exploration under new terms >

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31 Comments
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    Mute Willy Moon
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    Oct 20th 2014, 5:33 PM

    The mind boggles, this should have started years ago, they will make a feck up of this also

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    Mute Sean J. Troy
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    Oct 20th 2014, 6:59 PM

    The main reason for this isn’t the environmental impact of drilling itself but of seismic sections.
    Basically, structural geologists on a vessel set off an underwater explosion which is loud enough to reverberate through the bedrock and bounce off layers. That’s how we know what rocks are where and where possible traps are etc.
    The problem with this is that these explosions are incredibly loud to animals who can pick up the frequencies. Especially cetaceans and pinnipeds. It’s believed that it disrupts migratory patterns.
    Ireland is unique in how rich our waters are with these particular families and their migration paths. It’s not just copy and paste from research done on other basins such as the North Sea, everywhere is unique and it requires due dilligence.

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    Mute Rob Conneely
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    Oct 21st 2014, 2:04 AM

    They use a water or air cannon to create the noise, not explosives.

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    Mute Ashley Bcloud
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    Oct 20th 2014, 5:49 PM

    They should do that years ago and don’t even thing about fracking, ban it!
    http://www.sgoal.org/Stop-fracking

    37
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    Mute Cowenwatch
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    Oct 20th 2014, 7:36 PM

    It occurred to me the other day that if they do decide to frack, they will need a company to generate lots of money to pay to have our water cleaned. Could be a million miles of the mark but is that what the beast of Irish Water is meant for???

    Fracking and Irish Water can f*ck off!

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    Mute Sean J. Troy
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    Oct 20th 2014, 7:53 PM

    I don’t think there’s anything inherently wrong with fracking when it’s well regulated and has proper oversight. The problem is that it just isn’t in the US. The horror stories happen because the companies do whatever the hell they like because there are no reglutions or risk of punishment.
    The same goes for GMOs. Again, nothing wrong with them and they will inevitably be ubiquitous to increase our agricultural productivity. But the complete lack of regulation and the delegation of oversight to the companies in question is a joke. Any tool, no matter how useful will be corrupted and tainted by big business which is unhindered and only looks to cut costs.
    Again, coal is another example. I personally don’t agree with it. But at least in the Ruhr it’s relatively safe and clean. In Kentucky, the coal companies are allowed to blow up entire mountains if it will save money.

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    Mute Cowenwatch
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    Oct 20th 2014, 8:04 PM

    I don’t know Sean, a whistleblower within the Encana Corporation let it out that up to 80% of concrete casings used in the fracking process were leaking. They just can’t be sure since it’s all underground. But, we can safely say there will be leaking of some amount given the high pressure the liquids used are pumped through the pipes. In a country the size of Ireland we can’t take that chance. A couple of companies have applied for a license to frack in the Bog of Alan and, if it does go ahead, they could contaminate a sizable proportion of the water table pretty much in the center of Ireland.

    There are a lot of regulations and measures in place to make it as safe as possible but all it takes is one f*ck up. I have a cousin in Canada who said the place is destroyed over there with it and, while this isn’t Canada, I think it’s only asking for trouble.

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    Mute Sean J. Troy
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    Oct 20th 2014, 8:15 PM

    I agree. Fracking does not have a good record so far. But what energy form does?
    It’s up to the industry to reform and dramatically improve safety standards which they are more than capable of doing of it’s required to get the licenses.

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    Mute Cowenwatch
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    Oct 20th 2014, 8:26 PM

    That’s pretty much the crux of the issue, how to sustain ourselves and leave as little a impact on the earth as possible. Hopefully with developments in technology we’ll be ok!

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    Mute Sean J. Troy
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    Oct 20th 2014, 8:29 PM

    We’ll have fusion before I’m dead. I’m fairly optimistic. It look us longer to go from ballooning to powered flight than it did to go from powered flight to landing on the moon. Our technological prowess is growing at an exponential rate.

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    Mute Philip O'Dowd
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    Oct 21st 2014, 7:24 AM

    GMO have nothing to do with feeding people. Sure the people need feeding cant afford the food. We throw away around 40 odd % of our food as waste. We don’t need more food, better ways of using it is needed. GMO’s are about food ownership by corporations and control of food.

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    Mute Gavin Daly
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    Oct 20th 2014, 6:08 PM

    To prevent the catastrophic scenario of a planet heated by more than 2 degrees Celsius, 80 percent of the world’s current fossil fuel reserves need to stay in the ground.

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    Mute Sean J. Troy
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    Oct 20th 2014, 7:00 PM

    The mind boggles when environmentalists get so many red thumbs. It paints a depressing picture of my fellow Irish citizens.
    Keep fighting the good fight Gavin, even if we disagree on certain issues.

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    Mute Gavin Daly
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    Oct 20th 2014, 7:36 PM

    Thanks Sean, but I wouldn’t describe myself as an “environmentalist”; Just someone who takes scientific evidence seriously and is interested in the survival of humanity

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    Mute Sean J. Troy
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    Oct 20th 2014, 7:40 PM

    Well unfortunately scientific evidence would dictate that there’s no alternative right now. We either keep pumping CO2 into our atmosphere, go back to pre-industrial revolution ways or be realists whilst also being optimistic that the next Norman Borlaug is hard at work on our energy crisis.

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    Mute Gavin Daly
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    Oct 20th 2014, 7:51 PM

    I dont agree that is what the science says, but in the current neoliberal hegemonic milieu, i do agree that the change required is impossible to achieve

    therefore, either way, we are headed back to pre-energy revolution ways- just a matter of when

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    Mute Sean J. Troy
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    Oct 20th 2014, 8:02 PM

    Well the Science is fairly clear. There is no way of producing the amount of energy we need at the price that fossil fuels give us.
    I’m more hopeful for the future, I’m optimistic about the NIF like we’ve talked about before. Skunkworks have even announced their own fusion reactor since we’ve last debated. We’re well on the way.

    http://news.yahoo.com/lockheed-says-makes-breakthrough-fusion-energy-project-123840986–finance.html

    I guess even the military industrial complex has a silver lining!

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    Mute One-Off Ireland
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    Oct 20th 2014, 8:08 PM

    That’s economics, not science. Most of the energy we produce is wasted. There are always choices.

    As for fusion, its a chimera, cannot be ramped up in the time needed and produces electricity, the world requires liquid fuel to maintain current economic output.

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    Mute Sean J. Troy
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    Oct 20th 2014, 8:27 PM

    I think it’s a myth that recycling and turning the lights off will be enough. Energy is wasted, true. We should work on reducing our energy demands. Which starts with giving up meat and reducing the amount of kids we have.
    Hydrogen fuel cells are already a real thing. They’re not yet cost effective though, and they don’t produce net energy. But they will become cheaper and more economical, and if you have a source of cheap and unlimited electricity then it doesn’t matter if hydrogen fuels consume more energy they produce. We only need them for convinience.

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    Mute One-Off Ireland
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    Oct 20th 2014, 9:56 PM

    Sean, with respect, that’s fantasy.

    Most of the energy is lost in Transformation and transmission, nothing to do with turning lights off. I respect the fact that you have ( blind) faith in mankind’s technological prowess, I don’t.

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    Mute Sean J. Troy
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    Oct 20th 2014, 10:00 PM

    I couldn’t agree more. That’s my point. People are being sold a lie that they can significantly reduce their energy consumption when they can’t. There’s a huge amount of loss that’s inherent within the system.
    It’s hardly blind faith to be optimistic about fusion. Humanity has a proven track record of solving problems. And we’ve already made huge progress.

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    Mute One-Off Ireland
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    Oct 20th 2014, 10:27 PM

    Humanity has a proven tack record of creating problems, many of which it could not overcome with technology, despite its hubris.

    The only lesson we can take from the past is that all former human civilisations collapsed, usually due to lack of resources or climatic changes. This one is less than a few hundred years old.

    Fusion is a pipe dream, a distraction and beyond our capabilities

    5
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    Mute Sean Delaney
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    Oct 20th 2014, 5:52 PM

    Fuk the wild life start finding oil and gas so we can become a rich country.

    33
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    Mute Willy Moon
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    Oct 20th 2014, 5:58 PM

    Ya really think us poor Irish folk will get any benefits from it lol!! Think again, every Other Country In The World Would make the Irish government will cost us

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    Mute Avina Laaf
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    Oct 20th 2014, 6:17 PM

    Ya cuz money trumps every other kind of richness right?

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    Mute des
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    Oct 20th 2014, 7:14 PM

    Very well put

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    Mute Rob Conneely
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    Oct 20th 2014, 8:10 PM

    To be fair once the pipelines and rigs are in place they become an artificial reef for fish and the rigs are homes to many birds.
    They attract so much fish that trawlers used to follow the pipelines. Now the oil companies employ fishermen as guard vessels to keep other fishermen away.

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    Mute sean nihill
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    Oct 20th 2014, 6:12 PM

    They wasted away millions with water. If they struck the mother load of Oil they’d find a way to prevent the people from sharing. UH we have have a contract and are bound by it. We’ll end up paying for the most expensive oil in history. A few years back $200 a barrel was forecast. No prizes for guessing who’ll b first in queue.

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    Mute Mike
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    Oct 20th 2014, 6:16 PM

    Look to the north sea. Plenty of countries can give all the information you want.

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    Mute Get Lost Eircodes
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    Oct 20th 2014, 7:41 PM

    Overseen by the same Dept. that are making a balls of postcodes, what could possibly go wrong?

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    Mute Sheik Yahbouti
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    Oct 21st 2014, 12:16 AM

    While I am very much in favour of such surveys of all of our resources I find the trumpeting about it a bit much. Successive Governments have failed to make any reasonable effort heretofore, so I’ll give one small cheer for this announcement.

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