A former Stormont Minister was legally entitled to give the go-ahead for a major gas storage project off the Co Antrim coast, a High Court judge ruled on Thursday.
Mr Justice Humphreys rejected opponents’ claims that Edwin Poots unlawfully approved the facility at Larne Lough without obtaining consent from Executive Committee colleagues.
Dismissing their challenge to the granting of a marine licence to build seven underground units, he said: “There is no evidence in this case that the Minister embarked on the kind of ‘solo run’ which was the mischief aimed at by the legislation.”
In 2021 Mr Poots, then Minister for Agriculture, Environment and Rural Affairs, gave consent for the proposed development by Islandmagee Energy Ltd.
It is estimated that the units, close to where scenes for the TV series Game of Thrones were filmed, could provide more than 25 per cent of the UK’s natural gas storage capacity.
The plans involve carving seven caverns at a depth 1,350m below sea level by a process known as solution mining.
Located within special protection and conservation areas, the project is expected to last for 40 years. The units would then require to be decommissioned at the end of their lifespan.
Local campaign group No Gas Caverns and Friends of the Earth Northern Ireland took legal action in a bid to have the marine licence permit quashed.
They claimed it will keep Northern Ireland locked into using fossil fuel for decades beyond a target set to achieve net-zero emissions by 2050.
The excavation process will also allegedly lead to hypersaline salt and chemical solution being discharged into the sea near Islandmagee, creating a “dead zone” threat to marine life.
Eleven protected priority species, including harbour porpoise and skate, are found within 100 metres of the discharge point.
It was contended that Mr Poots failed to properly consider the environmental implications of a development proposal so significant, strategic, cross-cutting and controversial that he was required to refer it to the Executive Committee before granting permission.
However, counsel for the Department argued that amendments in the Executive Committee (Functions) Act (Northern Ireland) 2020 provided more scope to give the go-ahead without seeking consent from the wider power-sharing cabinet.
Backing those submissions, Mr Justice Humphreys held that Mr Poots had correctly recognised the importance of the project, the scope of the opposition to it and then reached an evaluative determination on which the courts should be wary about making any intervention.
“The Minister was entitled to hold that, measured against the full gamut of Departmental responsibilities, the project was not significant and in light of the nature and extent of the opposition, it was not properly to be regarded as controversial,” he said.
All decisions around infrastructure will have implications for finance, the economy, the environment and communities and some will impact on health and education.
That cannot mean that all such decisions require Executive approval.”
In a detailed judgment, he also rejected a series of other grounds of challenge, including alleged failures to comply with the Marine and Coastal Access Act 2009, properly take into account the impact on scallops and skate, and breaches of habitats regulations.
Mr Justice Humphreys confirmed: “None of the grounds are made out and the application
for judicial review is dismissed.”