Thousands voice objections to Solent pipeline plans
ExxonMobil's looking to use it to store captured carbon dioxide from its Fawley oil refinery
A petition to stop ExxonMobil’s Solent CO2 Pipeline Project coming to the Isle of Wight has gathered nearly 3,000 signatures
Little Atherfield resident Christopher Davis’s plea on Change.org warns the project would leave a “massive scar” across the Island.
ExxonMobil is seeking permission to install an underground pipeline to transport captured C02 from its Fawley Manufacturing Complex, and possibly the wider Solent area.
The American multinational oil and gas corporation says the CO2 would be taken to a deep rock formation in the English Channel for safe storage.
After unveiling its plans on July 18th, the corporation is currently seeking views for its Pipeline Corridor Consultation which proposes three possible routes, two of which travel beneath the Isle of Wight.
The Isle of Wight North to South corridor is 26km long and stretches south from Lepe under the Solent seabed.
After passing to the west of Gurnard, it continues south to Little Atherfield.
The 24km Isle of Wight North to West corridor follows the same route from Lepe under the Solent seabed before heading south west towards Dunsbury near Brook.
Mr Davis’s petition claims the pipeline will “devastate” Isle of Wight National Landscape (the new name for the Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty), Sites of Special Scientific Interest and natural habitats, including those of “endangered red squirrels”.
Though it describes carbon capture as “laudable”, the project is said to be beyond a “price worth paying”.
Both Richard Quigley, Labour MP for Isle of Wight West, and Cllr Nick Stuart, who represents Brighstone, Calbourne and Shalfleet for the Isle of Wight Council, have criticised the project.
They have accused the plans of being an attempt at “greenwashing” – a word used to describe an organisation’s efforts to convince the public of its environmentally friendly credentials.
The pair also echoed Mr Davis’s fears over the project’s impact on the Island’s landscape.
The incoming government has a general election manifesto commitment to carbon capture and storage (CCS) technology with £1 billion investment pledged for carbon capture deployment.
In 2019, the UK’s Climate Change Committee described CCS as a “necessity, not an option” for the UK’s transition to net zero.
CCS is not without its critics, however, with Greenpeace claiming the technology is currently unproven in reducing emissions from fossil fuel use and industry at an affordable cost.
Exxonmobil have been approached for comment.