A war of words is developing between oil and gas company Tamboran Resources UK and LAMP Fermanagh, a community group in the county.

Last week, LAMP posted a status on its Facebook page saying that LAMP “has won” and “Tamboran has gone”.

The post added that “the quarry is going back to the quarry company - end of fracking company”.

Locals left comments underneath the post celebrating the news, with one saying: “Never judge the power of Fermanagh people on issues like this! Best news for everyone who lives and sleeps in Fermanagh.”

Committed to exploration

However, in a statement to the Irish Farmers Journal, Tamboran Resources UK said it “remains fully committed to its investment plans for the exploration of natural gas in Northern Ireland.

“In September 2014, the company initiated legal challenges against the then Departments for Environment and Enterprise Trade and Investment regarding its operations in Belcoo, Co Fermanagh,” the statement read. “Tamboran’s personnel left the site over two years ago and the site has been inactive ever since. As these matters are subject to live legal challenges, we are unable to discuss further at this stage.”

Our health and sustainable farming industry is at risk

A spokeswoman for Acheson + Glover, which owns the quarry site, confirmed to the Irish Farmers Journal that Tamboran is no longer on site and all the fencing around the quarry has been removed, but she would make no further comment on Acheson + Glover’s future plans for the area.

Community view

Speaking to the Irish Farmers Journal, Dianne Little, a farmer’s daughter and spokesperson on fracking for LAMP Fermanagh said she is not concerned about Tamboran’s ongoing court cases and she still sees the company’s vacation of the quarry site and the removal of the security fencing as a step in the right direction.

“We are not concerned about the ongoing court cases at the moment,” she said. “We know as long as this industry is supported by heavy government subsidies, a bit like a benefits system for the energy industry, our health and sustainable farming industry is at risk.

“Every little development in this story counts while the UK government pushes forward to facilitate an industry that exploits our clean land, air and water and sacrifices our health and homes.”

Tamboran view

For its part, Tamboran has said it believes the presence of natural gas in Northern Ireland could bring “considerable benefits” to the local and regional economy, with the potential for billions of pounds of investment: “Hundreds and potentially thousands of jobs could be created locally and Northern Ireland could secure a supply of energy that could last for decades and potentially help reduce local energy costs.”

Background

In 2011, Tamboran was granted a petroleum licence to explore for natural gas in Co Fermanagh. The company had planned to drill a 750m-deep borehole to see if the levels of gas would make extraction commercially viable.

It had three years to inform the then Department of Enterprise, Trade and Investment (DETI) on its decision to drill or drop their plans. However, in August 2014, one month before the deadline expired, the then Northern Ireland Environment Minister Mark H Durkan said that Tamboran would have to make a full planning application before drilling at the site.

The need for a full planning application meant that Tamboran could not drill the borehole within the set time period, so it applied for an extension to the deadline. However, then Enterprise Minister Arlene Foster refused the extension.

Following this, Tamboran instigated a number of legal actions against both DETI and the then Department of Environment in the North.

Fracking in ROI

Following the publication of an Environmental Protection Agency report on fracking last month, Denis Naughten, Republic of Ireland Minister for Communications, Climate Change and Natural Resources, said that fracking is not going to happen in the south while he is minister.

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