Crunch Time for Scotland's Rock Archive

9.40.12pm GMT Sat 20th Feb 2010

Edinburgh South Liberal Democrats Mike Pringle MSP and Parliamentary Candidate Fred Mackintosh have added their voice to widespread industry and academic opposition to the proposed transfer of the UK's national archive of offshore geological cores from Gilmerton in south Edinburgh to Keyworth near Nottingham. Mike Pringle MSP has simultaneously written to the National Audit Office regarding its investigation into the planned move, exposing several apparent flaws in the business case put forward by the British Geological Survey.

Following a visit to the British Geological Survey's Core Store on Friday 19 February at the invitation of John Underhill, Professor of Seismic and Sequence Stratigraphy at the University of Edinburgh, local Liberal Democrat Candidate Fred Mackintosh said, "The proposal by the British Geological Survey to move over 175,000 fragile geological samples 288 miles from Edinburgh to Nottinghamshire is nonsensical. They maintain that the core store in Edinburgh is as a "former used car showroom" not fit for purpose, but from what I saw today nothing could be further from the truth. The building has been a dedicated core storage facility since 1982, has had no Health and Safety incidents in that time and has over three decades of spare capacity is available."

Edinburgh South Liberal Democrat MSP Mike Pringle said, "The British Geological Survey has important questions to answer regarding the business case for the closure.

"One key issue is whether these cores can be properly protected in any move they are extremely fragile and appear to have been stored without any provision for a future move. The costs of transporting the cores is also prohibitively high - more than £4 million according to the leading specialist transport company. A move could put the very existence of the archive at risk."

Professor John Underhill, University Professor of Seismic and Sequence Stratigraphy at the University of Edinburgh said, "Moving the cores risks irreparable damage to the national rock archive. I am extremely concerned at the impact the proposed closure would have on students, industry users and geologists looking to assess the North Sea's carbon storage potential across Scotland.

"Several Scottish Universities have established themselves as world leaders in the complex geoscience of hydrocarbon cores but if the store moves there is a serious risk that expertise will be lost."