You may have heard of our fight over the years to stop seven skyscraper sized gas caverns from being solution mined out under the sea bed in Larne Lough? 

Unfortunately the battle to stop these giant caverns continues.

After years of campaigning, No Gas Caverns and Friends of the Earth Northern Ireland together took legal action to stop the gas caverns. We went to the High Court and we then took the case to the Court of Appeal, with the support of thousands of people like you from across these islands.

In June 2024, the Court of Appeal handed down its judgment over the plans to construct these massive, damaging fossil fuel gas storage caverns - the outcome was a unanimous decision made by three Judges, and the Marine Licence was overturned. With your help, we won our legal challenge to stop the gas caverns in Islandmagee, Northern Ireland.

We had hoped this was the end of this climate wrecking project, but unfortunately we need your support again.

No Gas Caverns and Friends of the Earth Northern Ireland are very disappointed that the recently appointed Minister for the Department for Agriculture, Environment and Rural Affairs (DAERA) has directed his Department to try and take this recent decision to the Supreme Court - the most senior Court in the UK. 

The Supreme Court will need to decide if this is a case they are willing to hear.

Please can you help us raise funds to give us the best chance to stop these gas caverns once and for all? Even getting ready for the potential of Supreme Court action, will incur costs that we can only meet with help from supporters like you.

Our legal team has already successfully argued that the former DAERA Minister, Edwin Poots, acted unlawfully in authorising the Marine Licence for the construction of the massive fossil fuel development. And now Minister Muir is trying to overturn the Court's decision. We must fight for our nature and environment once again. There is a possibility the Supreme Court will want to hear the case and we have to be ready in the event this goes ahead. 

This is what we’re trying to stop?

The process to create the seven skyscraper sized gas caverns will create a “dead zone” where no marine life could survive. 

These caverns will trap us into 40 years of new fossil fuel infrastructure, which is contrary to binding climate change policy & targets.

This area, where key scenes in Game of Thrones was filmed, is a Special Area of Conservation and Area of Special Scientific Interest, providing habitat for eleven Northern Ireland Priority Species. These species,  including harbour porpoise and skate, are protected under legislation.  Irelands’ only mainland Puffin breed at the famous Gobbins cliffs and Roseate Tern within Larne Lough. These species & habitats must remain protected. 

We cannot let this happen and we need your help to support our legal team to fight this once again.

What else should we know about Minister Muir's decision?

This decision to take this case to the Supreme Court stands in stark contrast to the Alliance Party’s, recent manifesto, which stated a commitment to end oil and gas extraction and the Minister himself has said: “moving away from fossil fuels must be our priority as we face into the climate crisis”. So we are aghast at why he wishes to take this dirty fossil fuel project back to court. 

What are the details of the unanimous Court of Appeal Judgment?

The Court of Appeal Judgment means that certain decisions relating to fossil fuel projects which are contrary to climate change commitments, must be taken by all members of the Northern Ireland Executive rather than a single Minister. This was scrutinized and the outcome was unanimous by three Judges.

Environmental and climate change concerns were at the heart of the legal challenge before the Court of Appeal.

The Court of Appeal, when considering whether the project was controversial, considered detailed expert objections from respected organizations such as Friends of the Earth Northern Ireland, Ulster Wildlife Trust, Royal Society for the Protection of Birds, Northern Ireland Marine Task Force,  Divers Action Group, Northern Ireland Fish Producer Organisation, Northern Ireland Scallop Fisherman Association, and the National Trust. These objections raised significant and credible concerns in respect of the environmental impacts of the project as well as the climate change implications of the scheme.

In particular, the Court of Appeal drew attention to the submission by the Government’s statutory advisor on environmental matters, the Council of Nature Conservation and Countryside who objected to the proposal and drew attention to the incompatibility of the project with climate change commitments.

It is deeply disappointing that Minister Muir appears to wish to overturn this judgment, one that received the highest level of democratic scrutiny and consideration in an open and transparent manner, and one which would curtail this fossil fuel project which is contrary to binding climate change policy and targets.

It is extremely important to preserve this win.

What can I do?

• If you can, please donate to help us raise funds for our legal representation  - if this case doesn’t go ahead we will still have fees that we will need to pay. 

This is such an important case. We need to uphold the decision of the Court of Appeal to safeguard our precious environment

• Please share this link with all your friends and networks and ask them to donate.

We will keep this page and our social media updated with any news. 

Thank you for supporting us, our community, our marine life, our coastline and protecting us all from dirty fossil fuels.

From, No Gas Caverns community and Friends of the Earth Northern Ireland.