Islanders are being invited to have their say on plans to install pipelines under the West Wight to transport CO2, as part of a proposed Carbon Capture and Storage system for the Solent region. ExxonMobil is seeking approval to construct an underground pipeline from the Fawley Petrochemical Complex in Hampshire to the only identified offshore CO2 storage site in the English Channel, via the Isle of Wight. Millions of tonnes of carbon dioxide (CO2) could, in the near future, be transported in pipes running from Gurnard to Atherfield and from Porchfield to Compton, supporting efforts to reduce carbon emissions. It’s said that although there are plans for a mainland ‘corridor’, the preliminary preferred option is to utilise both the Isle of Wight North to South corridor and the Isle of Wight North to West corridor. A final corridor will be selected and route information released this Winter ahead of a statutory consultation launching in Spring/Summer 2025. Carbon Capture and Storage (CCS) is the process of capturing CO2 that would otherwise be released into the atmosphere. It is then transported via a pipeline to an underground storage location. Storage locations are typically deep rock formations which can provide the conditions for safe, secure, and permanent storage. 
Locals can now have their say on the plans online at www.solentco2pipeline.co.uk or by emailing responses to [email protected]. In-person events are also being held at East Afton Farmhouse, Tapnell on Tuesday 6th August (10:30-18:30); Victoria Pavilion, Newport on Wednesday 7th August (10:00-17:30); Shalfleet Village Hall on Thursday 22nd August (10:30-17:00); Phoenix Knights (Gurnard Pines), Gurnard on Friday 23rd August (10:30-18:30), Niton Village Hall on Saturday 24th August (10:30-18:30) and Phoenix Knights, Gunard on Tuesday 3rd September (10:30-18:30). Michael Foley, UK Low Carbon Solutions Venture Executive at ExxonMobil, has said:
“The proposed pipeline will be capable of safely transporting millions of tonnes of captured CO2, potentially removing the equivalent of five million cars from the roads each year. “The UK Climate Change Committee acknowledge CCS technology as a game-changer, describing it as a ‘necessity not an option’, and we are proud of the work we are doing to bring it to the Solent, one of the most industrially significant areas in the UK. “Many industrial sectors in the Solent are essential yet challenging to decarbonise, like those at our Fawley Petrochemical Complex which produces a diverse range of essential products, like fuels and rubber products. “This pipeline, and CCS technology, will not only support the regional economy and maintain high-skilled jobs but will also contribute to the government’s goal of achieving net zero by 2050. “We invite local communities and stakeholders to help us shape this project, particularly in choosing the pipeline’s path. We look forward to your input and collaboration in making a positive impact.”
For more information and to comment on the plans, visit www.solentco2pipeline.co.uk.
Meanwhile back in China and India…..
Who is going to pay for this stupidity? I wonder.
So, we’re watching China and India pumping CO2 into the atmosphere, and watching Brazil and Indonesia chopping down rain forests (which absorb CO2) , and all we can come up with is some hideous plan to dig up the island and bury big pipe to carry the stuff to some underwater trench… If this is the best the top of the food chain human race can come up with we are all doomed.
Exactly, we never deforested a nation or industrialised. Why should we suffer because they are!
Somthing else to destabilise the rock structure under our fast eroding island, whilst shoring up and stabilising the bank balances of the elites.
It’s not under the island, has nothing to do with coastal erosion, and they’ve been extracting petrochemicals from Wytch Farm for *decades* so…
Pure,utter Corporate,Marxist B/S.
Ah, the dreaded Corporate Marxists again.
You’d think a Cambridge Don would know better, wouldn’t you?
Make it bigger and it could be like the
Channel tunnel.
Let’s rid the island of the bad Ferry Companies
Quigley should love this. Decarbonisation is his party’s big thing and this is going right through his constituency.
They’ve already made it clear that despite them saying local people will have a bigger say in what plans get approved, it will be ‘ how not if ‘ that the locals will be able to control.
I had never even heard that there is underground areas used already for this usage. So why not? I think the Isle of Wight Planning department, Council and councillors should make it a part of the agreement that this company also has to cover the full costs of moving and repairing the Military Road at the Compton area as part of the agreement! It will be a great way to save the Military Road and not cost the Island residents.
Yes and give a million pounds to every islander too. Why would they fix the Military Road? What nonsense.
Absolutely. Getting Exxon to find stabilising the Military Road as part of the project was my first thought. We need to work with people not just automatically say no and thereby render worthless the bargaining potential or co-operation.
Surely if they want to get from Fawley to south of the Island,.. going round underwater, via the solent etc, would be easier.
no diggin involved,…
if they could lay multiple 280 mile pipes across the english channel (Pluto) with all the time pressures involved, in WW2
I’m sure they could manage to lay a pipe a few 10s of miles around the IOW
& anyway CCS is just an excuse to carry on burning fossil fuels,.. and an excuse for the oil companies to keep drilling for the stuff,.. it’s not a long term solution….
I appreciate that the English Channel is a monumental barrier to some political persuasions, but nowhere is it 280 miles wide.
‘Pluto’ was ‘pipeline under the OCEAN@ !!! It did not go straight across the Channel !!!
Hate to break it to you but oil is actually limitless.It replenishes itself.The extraction points eventually dwindle by default and becomes too costly to extract but don’t buy into this century old whopper that it’s both finite and created by fossils.If anything it’s akin to a balsam,serving as a crustal lubricant but made to appear as a dwindling resource (by those lovely Rockerfeller robber-barons,having somewhat cornered the market) which it most certainly is not.
You’ve been watching too many Tik Toks. What you’re saying is not only laughably untrue also it breaks the laws of physics, specifically energy conservation. You don’t have to be in cahoots with big oil to know this, you just need a basic understanding of scientific principal.
Why don’t we just ask all of the eco zealots, the green voters, the Labour, libdem and Tory voters (whose parties are all massively in favour of this stuff) if they are willing to reduce their own exhalations each day by say 50% to reduce their own emissions of co2 oh and to also stop eating plants that are natural absorbers of their deadly gas enemy – they can then show us heretics who refuse to be sucked into this giant nihilistic scam, the benefits that CO2 reduction will bring us and the results that will be seen locally and instantly –
I am a green voter, I am against this as most are. It’s a con job by the oil companies. It is not a fix. The fix is to phase out burning fossil fuels.
So you’re working hard to convince China and India to do that are you?
You sound like a child whining to it’s parent that “Timmy’s mum lets him do it”
In any case, net zero is as much about the UK being independent of foreign, particularly Russian gas and oil.
I’d have thought an ardent patriot like you would be behind that.
Guess Putin is someone you aren’t interested in “taking back control” from, eh?
Phasing out fossil fuels will take a generation. Any quicker and there will be an economic cost including job losses. Carbon capture is a technology allows us to move towards lower co2 without destroying economic capacity. It is an area where the uk has expertise which can be scaled and exported. Those of you who would like to see more money spent on the NHS or education, try to join the dots.
Balderdash.
The worst offender pollution wise are from ships that burn ‘bunker-fuel’ which is especially toxic to the environment but possibly not in the same wheelhouse as airborne chemtrails and that’s off the charts lately over the island.
If the pipes are as good as Southern Water’s, forget it.
The link to the flashy web site is somewhat vague on how the pipe lines are to be constructed across the Island.
Overground? Trench fill, or underground moling?
Anyways, you can be rest assured that the Shalfleet Parish Council kleptocracy will create more than enough CO2 to fill the pipes up on their own!
And what will be the impact on marine life over time?
Ah. Bet no-one has answered that question
Plant trees, the best natural carbon users…don’t buy into the lies.
I am a green voter, I am against this. It’s a con job by the oil companies. It is not a fix!
What’s problem it’s going to be underground. Seem to remember a very large yellow pipe from mainland to Osbourne,Whippingham,Wootton and beyond several year’s back, alot of digging and traffic etc but now no-one even knows.
”potentially removing the equivalent of five million cars from the roads each year.” there it is, is one of those pesky caveats again, ‘potentially’… maybe we should be looking at ways to actually remove 5 million cars from the road?
Communist! Cars are good for the environment!
Lay the pipe wholely in the sea and go round the Nedles…What is the matter with people ??? The gas pipeline from Russia to Dunmark is all under sea…Nordstream…
Carbon Capture on any useful scale is an unproven technology with very limited effectiveness. Attempts to seduce us into thinking that the problem is solved must be resisted while we focus on the real issue – that we continue to burn too much fossil fuel.
CO2 is a blessing to this Earth, not a demon. Let’s not panic, but carbon capture, and Net-Zero is the exact opposite to what we should be doing!
Well, it makes the beer fizzy …
Wighfibre have got the experience let them build it.
Is it not better to have hidden pipes that cannot be built on. e.g. Wind turbines ?
This is the same area that was lined up for Fracking, are we we certain the gas is not being put here to force the gas/oil out which will be replaced with the carbon? Just a thought
This is the same area they want to frack, are we certain this gas is not being forced down the sinkers to force the oil/gas up the risers? Just a thought!
Are we certain this is not fracking by stealth? This is the same area which they wanted to drill, this gas could be forced underground by sinker pipes to force up the gas/oil back to Fawley. Just a thought!
Levels of co2 (the chemical of life for plants) is at such a low level ,that if it drops much further,then the plants die, and we follow. So ,yeah, go ahead with this nonsense. Turkeys voting for Christmas.
Excellent for a multimillion pound enquiry…may I put my name forward to head this up as my rates are very competitive and I can make myself available for the next decade