Lignite Resource Protection and Environmental Safeguards

The Borough is also home to an extensive lignite resource, located to the south west of Crumlin adjacent to Lough Neagh. The extent of the deposit has been established through geological prospecting (with the exception of the Lough bed). The reserve has an estimated 440 million tonnes, split between approximately 250 million tonnes onshore, and the remainder offshore. The Department for the Economy has identified the reserve at Crumlin as a strategically important source of fuel for Northern Ireland to be protected for potential future use. However, the Council considers that this reserve should not be extracted, until such times as full information on the potential environmental impacts associated with extraction of the fuel are known. This is particularly important, given the location of the reserve adjacent to and under the sensitive and internationally designated natural heritage area of Lough Neagh. It is also located close to a number of settlements and therefore the potential impacts arising from its extraction on people living in the area will also need to be fully understood.