Eleven priority species protected under the law in Northern Ireland are found within 100 metres of the point Harland & Wolff want to discharge a hypersaline solution into the sea to create gas caverns under Larne Lough.
Under the plans, seven underground caverns, each the size of a skyscraper, would be carved out of salt layers under the lough by a method known as solution mining.
The resulting hypersaline salt and chemical solution created by the excavation process would then be discharged into the sea in a protected marine area near Islandmagee creating a 'dead zone' where no marine life could survive.
