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Date set for new Canatxx plans



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Published Date: 24 June 2008
WE'RE back – and we want you on our side.
That's the message from bosses at energy firm Canatxx who are just three months away from submitting a new application to provide 20 per cent of the UK's gas storage capacity in Wyre.

What do you think? Leave comments below.

But opponents of the scheme, who fear the site could prompt a gas explosion, or be the subject of a terrorist attack have pledged to fight on.

Canatxx plan rejected

They collected 11,000 objections to the plan ahead of a public inquiry last October.

And local MP Ben Wallace today asked: "What part of 'no' don't they
understand?"

The firm's new planning application, revealed exclusively by The Gazette earlier this month, is set to be submitted by September – and the £300m scheme could be up and running in Preesall as soon as 2011.

Canatxx says it will NOT make major changes to the design of underground salt caverns where 1.2 million tonnes of natural gas will be stored, instead adding a 'significant amount of science' to its planning application.

To read the last full planning report click here - reproduced courtesy of the planning inspectorate

Chief executive Paul Grimes today pledged to:

Stick to strict new Health and Safety Executive guidelines on salt cavern gas storage.

Answer questions about safety raised at the last public inquiry - including new research to allay fears over leaks and cavern collapse cited as key reasons for blocking the plans.

Preserve and invest in the local environment and scale down the above-ground aspects of the site.

Give local firms, large and small, the opportunity to benefit from the work.

Give most of the 35 jobs at the site to locals.

Mr Grimes said: "The science of developing gas storage caverns is well known. Modern standards have been developed over many years.

"When we had the original inquiry the guidelines for risk assessment on underground gas storage caverns were ambiguous. The guidelines that exist now are very clear and applicable to everyone in the UK."

Guidelines

And he added: "The Health and Safety Executive will be part of the project. They have risk assessment guidelines that didn't exist when we made our original application. New guidelines for assessing the salt body were published earlier this year.

"The original application contained good science. We will be adding to that science to answer some of those questions raised at the inquiry.

"Questions were raised at the inquiry relating to safety, cavern collapse, the effect of old workings on the proposal.

"Our application will address all those concerns."

And bosses admit they made a major error in not making the plans clearer to the local community.

"Yes, I made that decision and it was a big mistake," added Mr Grimes – and he has pledged not to repeat the error.

The firm's charm offensive begins this week with the delivery of a letter to homes across Wyre informing people of the new plans.

A new website will be launched featuring details of the scheme and an exhibition will be held later this year.

Asked if he thought the firm could win over locals, Mr Grimes added: "I hope so and we will certainly try. Last time around we didn't do a good job of working with the local population. This time we're going to reach out."

And Mr Grimes hopes the new application will convince Lancashire County Council of the safety of the scheme and avoid a new inquiry.

But Wyre MP Ben Wallace said: "I have asked Canatxx to desist. Which part of 'no' don't they understand?"

The full article contains 605 words and appears in n/a newspaper.
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  • Last Updated: 24 June 2008 12:03 PM
  • Source: n/a
  • Location: Blackpool
 
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,

24/06/2008 13:09:41
Comment Removed By Administrator
Reason:
2

Rusty Shackleford,

Fleetwood 24/06/2008 14:26:04
I find it utterly amazing that a foreign company can come in and stand any chance of obtaining this planning permission. Can you imagine how the Americans would react, should the rolls be reversed and it was a British company wanting to build something that the American people overwhelmingly did not want build....the UK company wouldnt stand a chance.
To be honest I was surprised that the first application got turned down...they obviously didn't grease enough palms....i'm sure they won't have made the same mistake twice I bet.
3

Cllr. Don MacNaughton,

Bourne Ward, Thornton 24/06/2008 17:22:30
The People of Wyre have made it very clear that they don't want 1.2 million tons of highly-combustable gas stored under their homes. It would be like living on top of a bomb, which could go off at any moment.

Whatever precautions Canatxx may say they are going to take, accidents do happen, and the consequences would be horendous. The area around the Wyre Estuary would simply cease to exist. The death-toll would run to many thousands, and the environmental impact would last for decades.

We simply can't afford to take a chance on this!

Cllr. Don MacNaughton, Bourne Ward, Thornton
4

A View from the Kop,

Fleetwood 24/06/2008 22:43:49
Alarmist nonsense and NIMBYism at it's worst. But this sort of clap-trap is only to be expected from a Wyre Councillor

This is all due to the short sightedness of previous Conservative governments and the 1980's Privatisation of the UK Electricity Industry which led to a massive rise in gas usage in electricity generation, the so called "dash for gas".

Now as UK gas reserves start to decline and security of supply is the priority more projects like the Canatxx proposal maybe necessary.

I'm sure Cllr MacNaughton would be the first to complain if he couldn't heat his home in the winter or cook his Sunday roast.
5

John Addison,

24/06/2008 22:43:52
Nice one Don!

You are the voice of reason.
6

Weirdvisions,

26/06/2008 14:59:21
I've just received a letter from Canatxx telling me why I should support their renewed application to build a gas storage facility beneath the Wyre. While I agree that something needs to be done about the gas supply crisis it doesn't change the fact that the salt bed beneath the Wyre is geologically unfit for Canataxx's purpose.

We've given them a resounding no already. I'm quite prepared to continue doing so until Canatxx finally get the message. So is the rest of the community affected by the scheme.

The government was warned what would happen if power stations were converted to gas yet they proceded with their blinkered policies regardless. We also have the madness of selling British gas to the Continent and buying it back at premium rates. This is because there's a lack of storage facilities here. How come? We've always been able to store gas, even during WWII when there were tons of bombs raining from the skies. What's changed? Aren't gasometers profitable enough for the vested interests that led the so called dash for gas? Anti-terrorism seems to be a catch-all excuse when Big Business smells a profit. We are just as brow-beaten with so called "green" policies which raise a lot of revenue but don't appear to do much else.

Gas should not be stored in a geologically unstable region where, should something go horribly wrong, the inadequate emergency services and resources would fail to cope catastrophically. But since the Health and Safety Executive is on the case we should be assured by that. I don't think so.

Go home, Canatxx. The Wyre salt bed is unfit for your purpose. You know it. We know it. Go and put a huge pressurised bomb under your own houses because we don't want it here!

Councillor MacNaughton is right. We can't afford to let this happen. And the chap from the Kop needs to ask himself this: If something goes wrong (it's happened several times in the US and laws are in place to prevent companies exploiting unsound g
7

Weirdvisions,

26/06/2008 15:02:48
contd: If something goes wrong (it's happened several times in the US and laws are in place to prevent companies exploiting unsound geoglogy such as ours for the purposes of gas storage) and you survive the blast, will you be inviting Canatxx chiefs around for Sunday lunch to thank them for their trouble?
8

GBH Fleetwood,

fleetwood 27/07/2008 16:05:49
This recent new submission by Canatxx is surely arrogance and reflects a disregard for the people of the area , the local authority , lancashire county council and the Government minister who rejected them last time. GO AWAY Canatxx!!!!!
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