Public attend East Boldre consultation on ExxonMobil’s proposed Solent CO₂ Pipeline Project scheme which would see New Forest dug up for underground pipe

PLANS for a 20-mile pipeline under the New Forest were given a mixed reception when it arrived for the first of a series of local public consultations.

As reported by the A&T, oil giant ExxonMobil has unveiled three proposed routes for carbon capture scheme Solent CO2 Pipeline Project, pumping the refinery’s captured carbon dioxide under the seabed off the Isle of Wight.

The 20-mile ‘mainland’ route cuts through the national park, while the others are 16 and 15 miles long respectively, running south from Fawley under the seabed and across the island.

The firm has launched a dozen public consultations, with the first of five in the Forest held at Boldre War Memorial Hall.

Lawrence Barnett, who lives in Boldre, said after visiting the display: “This is a comprehensive presentation and there is lots to take home and read. I agree that carbon emissions have to end, and this scheme seems to achieve that.”

Angela Norman, from Lymington, agreed: “I think it is important for people to come to these consultations, reducing carbon emissions is something we should all be interested in.

“After looking at the information and talking to the people from Exxon I feel sort of in favour of what is being proposed. I think the route which causes the least impact to the Forest should be the one adopted.”

Pippa Stevenson, from Hordle, was not so keen: “I think it is terrible. I have real concerns with it. What is the future with this? What else could be stored there? How long will this go on for?”

She added: “It feels to me more like a business model, like Exxon are going to be offering this out to other companies, so what else will be being pumped there and how much?

“How many pipelines will we end up with? I do not like the route of two of the pipelines, either, which cut through Hordle and Everton, going very close to the church and school.”

Simon King said he felt Exxon should be publishing the amount of carbon emissions which will be saved by the project, along with the other information on display.

He said: You’d have thought that as a carbon capture and storage project, the company would be keen to publish the emissions that will be saved by the project as part of extolling its virtues. Unfortunately, that is far from the reality.

“The reason became apparent at the consultation when the company representative explained there would be no local consultation at all on the merits of the scheme, and hence no need to publish any information relating to the lifecycle greenhouse gas emissions or their assumptions about how the carbon captured will be generated.

“The company representative did accept that the majority of the carbon to be captured and stored through the scheme was likely to come from ‘blue’ hydrogen production, that is hydrogen produced from natural gas with carbon capture. Given that it is now well understood that blue hydrogen is neither clean, nor low carbon, this almost certainly makes the scheme incompatible with a true definition of net zero by 2050.”

Ralf Rashbrook, Solent Venture Manager for Exxon, told the A&T: “All the feedback we get from the public will be fed back to a team of about a couple of hundred people who are working on the project.

“We are learning new things from people, who have local knowledge that is not publicly available that they have been able to tell us about which has been very useful.

“We have people at the consultations to answer any questions and talk through concerns people may have.”

Mr Rashbrook said the scheme “might not necessarily” have the “huge” impact on the New Forest that people are concerned about adding: “We have three potential options, and we want to minimise the impact on communities and the environment as much as possible.

He said: “We still have a long way to go before we get to an outcome, several years at least.”

In its brochure on the scheme, Exxon said that the UK’s climate change committee had described carbon capture as “necessity, not an option” for the UK’s transition to net zero.

The company says the pipeline project is the “linchpin for establishing CCS technology in southern England”.

Macdonald Elmers Court hosted another public consultation on Friday. Others set for the Forest are:

• The Bridge Community Centre in Sea Road, Milford, from 10.30am to 6.30pm, on Friday 30th August

• Jubilee Hall in The Square, Fawley, from 10.30am to 6.30pm, on Thursday 5th September

A consultation planned for Calshot Activity Centre on 4th September has been cancelled at the request of the venue, according to Exxon.

A document and response form is also at solentco2pipeline.co.uk and responses can be emailed to info@solentco2pipeline.co.uk or mailed to 1180 Eskdale Road, Winnersh, Wokingham RG41 5TU.