A leading scientist yesterday warned against ignoring public safety "in the haste" to site liquified natural gas (LNG) terminals.
US professor Dr Jerry Havens also told the Bord Pleanála hearing into the proposal for Ireland's first regasification terminal on the Shannon estuary that there was growing concern in the US about security measures surrounding LNG transport ships because of terrorism.
There was a move to locate them offshore, away from locations near major population centres, he said.
While the LNG industry had an enviable safety record worldwide, this was "not the time to cut corners", Dr Havens said at the hearing which began in Tralee on Monday.
He called for global standards for terminals and transport in the LNG industry because of the potential for accidents.
The €500 million project for the estuary near Tarbert is being backed by US energy corporation Hess LNG, the parent company of the applicant Shannon LNG. LNG terminals are set to increase worldwide, the applicant has said.
Dr Havens is professor of chemical engineering at the University of Arkansas, where he directs its chemical hazards research centre and has undertaken a lifetime of research on hazardous materials. He has been involved in numerous accident investigations, including the Bhopal disaster in India.
He was appearing on behalf of the Kilcolgan residents' association, but was "neither for or against any particular LNG terminal", and was not making judgments on the Shannon site, he remarked.
Before agreeing to speak on behalf of the residents' association, he had been assured their main concern was with the safety aspects of the project and the idea "of having to live with the thought of an accident, however remote, for the next number of decades" .
Asked by John McElligott of the association about offshore terminals, Dr Havens said they could be considered and could be safer.
As demand for LNG increased, along with safety concerns, more offshore LNG terminals were being planned - "six or more" in the US, he said. In fact, many LNG companies in America were now addressing growing security worries about terrorist attacks by seeking to locate terminals offshore and away from major centres of population.
Dr Havens also warned that LNG was a liquid at very low temperature.
"The result is that an LNG vapour cloud will spread laterally and remain close to the ground, prolonging both in distance and in time the potential hazard to the facility and the public," he said.