The main conservation groups in Northern Ireland have come out against a plan to develop gas storage caverns underneath Larne Lough.

They are opposed on environmental grounds and as BBC News NI reports, they believe the potential impact on wildlife and habitats has not been properly assessed.

Infrastrata, Harland and Wolff's new owner, is the firm behind the project.

John Wood, the firm's chief executive, said it had completed a "robust series of surveys and studies", which had been sent to Stormont departments.

The firm believes its Larne Lough storage facility will create "hundreds of jobs" and provide security of power supply for a generation.

The project would see seven large storage caverns hollowed out using solution mining.

The brine solution created would be pumped across land before being discharged into the North Channel near Islandmagee in County Antrim.

The sea at Islandmagee is a protected area, as is Larne Lough which supports important tern colonies.

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