Residents in the Wirral near Liverpool are raising serious concerns about a planned 120-mile carbon dioxide pipeline that would pass close to their homes. The Peak Cluster pipeline would carry three million tonnes of CO2 a year from cement and lime production in central England to the coast.
The pipeline would head up the coast to Morecambe Bay, where the carbon dioxide would be pumped into an old gas field at least a mile beneath the seabed. Scientists say this carbon capture and storage technology will lock up the greenhouse gas for tens of thousands of years.
Fears were heightened after a similar CO2 pipeline burst in Mississippi four years ago, creating an eerie scene described as something from a zombie apocalypse. 45 people were taken to hospital and 200 were evacuated after the high-pressure rupture.
The government has classified the pipeline as a nationally significant infrastructure project, bypassing local council planning. Peak Cluster says lessons have been learned from Mississippi, but protests on the Wirral are growing.