MPs warn government against "risky" carbon capture investment at Teesside
Plus: Linthorpe Road cycle lane latest, TVCA chief departure latest
It’s another edition of The Teesside Lead, this one’s the 30th.
Wearing my other hat as a freelancer, I spoke to Cat Neill this week. She walked a mile in Darlington on Friday, which doesn’t seem like much, but it was on the one-year anniversary of the day she was hit by a car and suffered catastrophic injuries.
She was walking to the site of the crash to raise money for Day One Trauma Support, a charity which helped her during her recovery from the nine (NINE!) surgeries she had to save her leg, and to help her overcome the trauma of the incident.
You can listen to her talking to Amy Oakden on BBC Radio Tees here, or chip in to her fundraising efforts at this link.
On another personal note, I’m putting on a night in Newcastle with the authors Alex Niven and Peter Mitchell which might tickle your cultural tastes. The Lort Burn Specials will see Alex in conversation with author Helen Charman about her book ‘Mother State: A Political History of Motherhood’, as well as poetry from local poets, including the legendary Tom Pickard, and live music, too!
I’ll be hosting it at the Alphabetti Theatre on Saturday 1st March, tickets are cheap and available at this link.
Today’s edition sees the latest criticism and doubt thrown the way of one of the key projects at Teesworks, as MPs warn the government about “risky” investment into “unproven technologies”. The Linthorpe Road cycle lane saga appears to have come to a close, and it looks like there may be answers to a huge question which TVCA refused to answer before Christmas.
I’m easy to reach if you want to get in touch… teesside@thelead.uk or via BlueSky.
I’ll be back on Wednesday
Leigh
MPs have criticised the government on its carbon capture strategy, saying there is a “high degree of uncertainty” whether the “risky” investment of £21.7bn in the “unproven technologies” would provide value for money for taxpayers.
The government signed agreements worth billions in December to support the development of a gas-fired power station with carbon capture on the site of the former Redcar steelworks site, on the Teesworks estate.
The cross-party Public Accounts Committee said the rationale behind the huge investment in the Teesside project could be “undermined” by upstream emissions of methane in the supply chain for liquified natural gas (LNG).
LNG is natural gas which is transformed into a liquid state by cooling it to -161oC (-259F). It reduces it to 1/600th of it’s volume as a gas, and to half the weight of water. Natural gas or LNG is usually comprised of up to 95% methane.
The MPs pointed to research which shows much more methane was released in the liquification process, and in transporting LNG, than had previously been recognised.
The committee’s report on Carbon Capture Usage and Storage (CCUS) says “some recent scientific evidence suggests that producing liquid natural gas (which will be used to run several CCUS projects, such as Net Zero Teesside) leaks more methane, a potent greenhouse gas, into the atmosphere than previously thought.
“As CCUS will not reduce these ‘upstream’ emissions, this could undermine the rationale for pursuing certain projects.”
Net Zero Teesside is a joint venture between bp and Equinor to build the gas-fired power station at Teesworks, while the Northern Endurance Partnership is a joint venture between the two with Total to build the infrastructure to store carbon that’s captured on Teesside in reservoirs beneath the North Sea.
It’s hoped Net Zero Teesside will support 2,000 construction jobs and will be operational by 2028.
Hartlepool MP Jonathan Brash told me this week, “the time for timidity, for delay, for being followers on a world stage is over under this Labour government.”
He said: “As a country we should reflect on our history and heritage when it comes to innovation and industry. We led the world and we did it by being the first to invest in cutting edge technology, showing the courage to take a risk and in so doing deliver for the country.
“The next industrial revolution is here and Britain can lead it by investing in new industries and technologies in our post-industrial heartlands like Teesside that will bring jobs and growth for generations to come. Our region can be the beating heart of the British economy once more.”
Earlier in the week, Equinor announced it was halving its investment into renewable energy while increasing oil and gas extraction. The committee’s report also raised concerns about the government telling it that it no longer considers its target of capturing 20-30 mtpa of CO2 by 2030 as achievable. The government will announce a new target for CCUS in its Carbon Budget Delivery Plan, which is due in the spring.
Middlesbrough South and East Cleveland MP Luke Myer is chair of the All-Party Parliamentary Group for CCUS. He told The Teesside Lead: For too long, Britain has lagged behind the world in industrial advancement. CCUS is a well-established technology with nearly three decades of successful demonstration at dozens of commercially operating facilities around the world.
“We should not wait for others to overtake us; it is time that Britain - and Teesside - gets ahead and delivers the jobs, investment and clean industry that we need.”
The committee’s report makes six recommendations for the Department of Energy Security and Net Zero (DESNZ), including setting a new target for how much carbon it aims to capture, “as a matter of urgency.”
The highly-critical report also said the Treasury “should assess whether the full CCUS programme will be affordable for taxpayers and consumers,” while another says DESNZ should introduce mechanisms on future CCUS projects “to make sure taxpayers and consumers benefit financially from the success of the projects they have supported financially.”
In a statement, a DESNZ spokesperson said: "Carbon capture, usage and storage is vital to boost our energy independence, and the Climate Change Committee describes it as a 'necessity not an option' for reaching our climate goals.
"There is no route to protecting jobs in our industrial heartlands and securing the future of heavy industry in the UK without it.
“This funding will see our industries remain competitive in the global economy, kickstart growth and lead the world in a ground-breaking clean energy technology.”
Committee chair, Sir Geoffrey Clifton-Brown MP said: “All early progress will be underwritten by taxpayers, who currently do not stand to benefit if these projects are successful.
“Any private sector funding for such a project would expect to see significant returns when it becomes a success. We were surprised that the Government had not even considered this aspect.
“Most concerningly,” he said, “last year’s downgrading of ambitions for CCUS has left a glaring shortfall in the path to net zero.
“While our Committee was left unconvinced that CCUS is the silver bullet Government is apparently betting on, we hope the recommendations in our report will help support the programme to become the success Government and the public need it to be.”
He added: “Government is gambling on carbon capture technology becoming foundational to achieving net zero. In this context, it is welcome to see Government learning lessons from past failures to grow these programmes by working with clusters of projects that can support each other.
“This £21.7bn policy is going to have a very significant effect on consumers and industry’s electricity bills. Whether this is acceptable remains to be seen.”
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Work to remove Linthorpe Road cycle lane approved
You can breathe a sigh of relief, as the most tedious argument in Teesside politics seems to have finally drawn to a conclusion this week.
The cycle lane on Middlesbrough’s Linthorpe Road will be removed, after councillors approved the proposals to remove it after legal guarantees on funding from Tees Valley Combined Authority (TVCA) were received.
It was originally installed at a cost of £1.7m a couple of years ago by independent mayor Andy Preston, using money allocated for active travel from TVCA. But it turned out to be hugely unpopular.
Both Labour’s mayor of Middlesbrough, Chris Cooke, and Conservative Tees Valley mayor Ben Houchen campaigned with the removal of the cycle lane as one of their election pledges. By July this year, with both men on the same page, the political will was there and it was only a matter of time before the works to re-instate the road would begin.
However, a political spat was started as Houchen accused Cooke of reneging on his election promise, despite funding being made available by TVCA.
It turned out Middlesbrough Council was waiting for official agreements around the funding to be in place before it approved the work. It was a row over nothing, but Lord Houchen was able to score political points by whipping it up.
It’s thought the removal of the cycle lane will cost around £3m, which includes repaying the £1.7m used to build it to the central government. This is because that £1.7m was given to TVCA on the condition it would be used to promote active travel. As the cycle lane is being removed, that condition is no longer met, and the funds are to be returned.
Julie Gilhespie departure mystery solved?
Reading between the lines of a report in this week’s Private Eye magazine, it appears one of the unanswered questions surrounding the departure of Tees Valley Combined Authority chief executive Julie Gilhespie has been answered.
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