Grannies cycle Grangemouth to St Fergus in pipeline protest

The Herald Scotland

18-05-2025

The women say there are serious risks associated with the project, which will use a decades-old pipeline to transport the carbon dioxide gas.
Bridget Cooper, one of the North Sea Knitters, said: 'I have always been uncomfortable with the plan to make a new gas fired power station somehow tick green boxes by attaching the really dodgy and unproven carbon capture to it.
'But I was shocked when I learnt that part of that plan was pushing CO2 from Grangemouth to Peterhead through an old pipeline.'
Carbon dioxide generated at industrial sites across Scotland will be transported via pipeline to the St Fergus energy terminal, several miles north of Peterhead.
It will then be stored deep below the North Sea in a bid to reduce emissions.
The women cycled through a number of coastal towns. (Image: Friends of the Earth Scotland)Cooper added: 'We wondered if people living along the pipeline knew about this plan and if they knew that leaks from a CO2 pipeline in the US had hospitalised people.
'So we thought, let's travel the pipeline and let people know. Walking was not possible with my old arthritic knees, so biking it had to be.
'I really loved chatting with people and giving them some basic information as we pedalled along.'
The group of 'craftivists' left Grangemouth on May 3.
Travelling along the route of the pipeline over the next five days, the group passed through Stirling, Perth, Forfar, Stonehaven, Aberdeen and Peterhead, before reaching their final destination in St Fergus.
According to the 'pipeline pilgrims', their activism was spurred into motion after reading about the rupture of a carbon dioxide pipeline in Mississippi.
In 2020, 40 people were sent to hospital with CO2 poisoning and hundreds were evacuated from their homes after 31,000 barrels of the liquefied natural gas was released into the air.
Energy companies are keen to construct a new gas plant in Peterhead. (Image: Friends of the East Scotland) Friends of the Earth Scotland oil and gas activism officer Freya Aitchison praised the efforts of the activists.
She said: 'It's great that the Knitters have been getting out there and talking to the people who will be impacted by these plans.
'Communities must be meaningfully consulted about what a carbon pollution pipeline could mean and the risks to which they will be exposed.
'Carbon capture is a greenwashing excuse that the fossil fuel industry uses to fool
politicians into supporting more drilling and burning.
'These companies have put us all at risk from climate breakdown and now they want to run a dangerous pipeline through the heart of Scottish communities up the east coast.'
The Knitters previously staged a 'knit in' in oil company offices and the Court of Session, interrupted the SSE's AGM, and met with the First Minister.
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Protesting outside the Scottish Parliament last autumn, Knitter Chris Aldred told The North Edinburgh News: "Knitting symbolises the hope that we can pass on, not just our skills, but a thriving future for all that come after us.
'The Scottish Government says that climate is a priority but it must turn these words into concrete action to cut pollution now and into the future.
'This means using its power to firmly reject new fossil fuels, standing up to the oil industry and prioritising the needs of workers through the transition.'
Friends of the Earth Scotland have long criticised plans by SSE to build a new gas burning energy plant outside Peterhead.
The plant, which would produce 910 MW of electricity, would be built alongside the existing power plant; which was Scotland's largest polluter between 2018 and 2020, as well as 2022, when it emitted 1.35 million tonnes of CO2.
A diagram of how carbon capture works. (Image: Derek McArthur) A carbon capture facility on the site is expected to be built by energy giant Equinor.
The new plant could open as early as 2027, and would be operational until at least 2059. Last autumn, more than 13,000 people signed a petition opposing the proposed build.
Previous attempts at developing carbon capture facilities in the region, in 2007 and 2016, were unsuccessful.
On their website, SSE Thermal has praised the project, writing: "The Peterhead site in Aberdeenshire is ideally placed for carbon capture technology, with access to essential CO2 transport and storage infrastructure.
"The Acorn CO2 Storage Site, which will be used by the Scottish Cluster to safely store CO2, is located about 100km offshore in rock formations deep below the North Sea."