Local objections may hit CO2 storage

The lack of communication between companies which want to invest in the underground storage of CO2 and people living close to the earmarked storage sites may put a halt to the plans, the Financieele Dagblad reports on Monday.


For example, councils in Barendrecht, Ridderkerk and Albrandswaard have come out against plans to store 300,000 tonnes of CO2 in two empty gas fields, one of which lies under a residential area of 7,600 homes, the paper says.
The government sees underground storage as a good way of coping with excess CO2 and has set aside millions of euros to fund experiments. The Barendrecht area, east of Rotterdam, has been earmarked for storing CO2 from Shell’s Pernis refinery.
‘The government and Shell have underestimated the public,’ Nyenrode University professor Taco van Someren told the paper. ‘They always say ‘we are going to do this because it is good for the environment and it will not affect you’,’ he said. ‘But no-one falls for that.’
A formal environmental report into the storage plans is due mid-April.

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