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THE Scottish Greens have revealed the extent of environmental damage done during flaring at a Fife gas plant ahead of a third successive week of protests at the site today.
Flaring operations during October at the Mossmorran plant are estimated to have released up to 13,800 tonnes of CO2, according to figures provided to the party by the Scottish Environment Protection Agency (SEPA).
SEPA’s estimates represent the carbon equivalent of some 9,140 return flights between Glasgow and New York, which would take nearly 14,000 trees 100 years to offset.
The latest flaring incident lasted three days, from October 4 to 6, and was the fourth period of elevated flaring at the plant so far this year.
Scottish Greens MSP Mark Ruskell described the climate impact of the flaring as “catastrophic” and renewed calls for a transition plan for the plant.
He said: “Flaring is distressing and highly disruptive for local residents every time this fossil-fuel relic suffers a breakdown, but these figures also now show the catastrophic long-term impacts this is having on our environment.
“Scotland has a legally binding target to achieve net-zero emissions by 2045, so it’s baffling to find out this much carbon is regularly being burned off into our atmosphere with very little consequence for the operators.”
The calls come ahead of a protest from local campaigners and climate activists outside the plant, which will be held for the third successive week.
Mr Ruskell added: “The operations of this plant fundamentally rely on the burning of huge quantities of fossil fuels, and we urgently need a plan to decarbonise it, or transition away from fossil-fuel industries altogether in Scotland.”