Shell, gas production, carbon taxes and greenhouse gases...And who pays

national | environment | opinion/analysis Wednesday October 18, 2006 13:25 by hedgehog

In light of our kyoto obligations, the penalties we will incur for exceeding our quota for carbon emissions and our government's policy of letting the polluters off the hook by making the taxpayer shoulder the burden as a stealth tax, Where do industries like Shell fit in to the picture and can we hold them accountable for methane and carbon emissions from their gas production and refinement activities?

As you know, we are subject to Kyoto protocols and limits on CO2 emissions.
If we exceed our allocated limits, we are taxed on the excess.
We will most likely greatly exceed our agreed allocation and will have to pay carbon taxes on the excess.
The government have chosen to hide this from view and it will be paid by the taxpayer rather than the polluters, essentially another stealth tax.

See this article for more
http://www.indymedia.ie/article/77273

Assuming shell succeed in their endeavours in Erris, there is a point I haven't heard raised regarding their projected CO2 emissions.

Are there any reliable estimates as to the amount of CO2 that will be emitted by this or a comparable gas platform and its associated refining process?

Assuming production levels projected by shell, what is the likely per annum cost to the irish taxpayer of the excess CO2 and greenhouse gases generated by the corrib field platform and the associated gas cleaning and refining process (wherever it is done!)?
I imagine it would be substantial.

It is my understanding that methane, as a greenhouse gas, can be about 21 times more potent than CO2 and there would likely be methane leakage as a result of the corrib enterprise. Is this covered by Kyoto?. If so, will we be penalised for it. if not why not. It seems illogical to exclude other more potent greenhouse gases such as methane.

there is some information here but I am uncertain as to its pedigree
http://www.eia.doe.gov/pub/oil_gas/natural_gas/analysis...2.pdf

gas related info here
http://www.eia.doe.gov/oil_gas/natural_gas/info_glance/....html

general energy related stuff
http://www.eia.doe.gov/

wikipedia article on greenhouse gases
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Greenhouse_gas

Earth system research laboratory
http://www.cmdl.noaa.gov/aggi/

Our political representatives have, for whatever reasons, negotiated a terrible deal on behalf of the irish public for our resources. I believe the carbon/methane emissions from extracting and refining the gas will result in further hidden costs to the taxpayer. We need to quantify these costs properly to fully understand the implications of this deal.

The projected environmental cleanup and terms for this is another related area that needs to be quantified and shells record in this area is not good. Such passing off of expenses from companies to the public is referred to as "externalising".
Also, the road improvements and other infrastructure costs to facilitate shell and the cost of the proposed pipeline from Erris to our gas fired power stations should all be taken into account in assessing this project.
And if we are purchasing the gas at market rate with no security of supply, is there really any benefit to building this very expensive pipeline at all?

I would like to stimulate some much needed discussion on these topics. Let the party begin :)