Moral Framing in Resource Dispute: The "Shell to Sea" Campaing in North Mayo
In 2001, Shell undertook the project of running a gas pipeline from the Corrib Field (80 kms. off shore) – and planning permission was acquired for a processing-plant on a 400-acre site at Ballinaboy. In 2002, an amendment to the Gas Act allowed commercial industries entry to private lands (through the device of Compulsory Acquisition Order). Such a CPA was issued for land on the planned route of the pipe – over the objection of the owners; and five of these (The Rossport Five) were eventually to spend 94 days in prison in 2005.
The projected pipeline - to run alongside the homes of Rossport families – was seen as a hazard : its load would be carried at a pressure five times greater than that allowed in Bord Gais pipes. The local community would derive no economic benefit, since the gas was to be pumped to cities like Galway and Dublin. And the State was regarded as using its law-making apparatus to favour the mega-industrial interest…Finally, these perceived provocations fed into long-buried resentment towards any possible violation of local environment and habitat – going back to the days of Mayo man, Michael Davitt, founder of the Land League.
The really astounding aftermath of the Mayo protest, however, was the mobilisation of ever-widening circles of support – and the broadening of the ethical framework in which the dispute came to be seen.
Not only did the five imprisoned men become celebrities – their families did too. Locals hastened to surround their land, barring access to Shell. The Shell to Sea website was able to by-pass media outlets, and organise petition-signings, rallies, blockades – spearheading a kind of grassroots eco-movement comprising locals, environmentalists, students, political activists. Links were formed even with Nigerian resource activists.
Mayo T.D. Dr. Jerry Cowley was one of those who personally carried the campaign to Norway, whose Government has a 71% stake in Statoil. There (in the run-up to a general election), trade unionists and journalists helped educate an unaware public on the basics of the Mayo situation. A week later, representatives of the new Norwegian administration and of Statoil were in talks with Minister Noel Dempsey. Soon, the Rossport Five were released. [Minister Dempsey next offered a mediator – but some weeks later had still not contacted the five men. For their part, they considered the Minister to have taken fright at the safety-risks posed by the pipeline. And alternative pipeline-routes were soon on offer for discussion].
Liam Leonard teaches in the Department of Sociology and Politics, NUI
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