Complaint to Europe on Pembroke power station

18 Mehefin 2010

A new power station being built at Pembroke breaches European environmental law, and its application should be called in by Wales' environment minister.

Friends of the Earth Cymru, supported by Jill Evans MEP, is today (Friday 18 June) submitting [1] a complaint [2] to the European Commission, detailing failures by the UK government to comply with EU law [3]. It is asking the Environment Agency not to grant the company, RWE npower, a permit to operate the station until these deficiencies are remedied.

Friends of the Earth Cymru is also writing to the Welsh Minister for Environment, Sustainability and Housing, Jane Davidson AM, asking her to call-in RWE's application, to determine compliance with EU law.

Gordon James, director of Friends of the Earth Cymru, said:

"Pembrokeshire's greatest asset is its magnificent natural environment and wildlife. This is why the Milford Haven Waterway and adjoining coastal areas have been granted one of the highest forms of legal protection as the Pembrokeshire Marine Special Area of Conservation.

"We're greatly concerned that the water cooling system proposed for the new power station will harm fish and other marine species in the Haven. This technology is not considered the best available in view of the environmental damage it causes. There are better systems used elsewhere, and the Milford Haven Waterway deserves the best possible technology.

"This degradation of Pembrokeshire's unique environment should not be allowed to continue, and we're calling on the relevant authorities to properly implement its legal protection.

"Industry can co-exist with a high quality natural environment - if the best technology is used, and the highest operating standards followed."

Jill Evans MEP said:

"The Cleddau estuary and the Milford Haven waterway are both protected areas and home to an abundance of wildlife. It's vital that EU laws are enforced to protect these valuable sites.

"That is why I want the planning consent for the new Pembroke power station investigated. If it does allow the pumping of warm water into the Cleddau estuary then the EU Habitats Directive has been broken and the UK government must answer for that."

Environmental lawyer Peter Roderick, who has assisted Friends of the Earth Cymru with the complaint, said:

"The main authorities in this matter, the Department of Energy and Climate Change and the Environment Agency, have shown little regard for the protection EU law gives to this beautiful part of Wales. So we are asking the Commission, and the Welsh Assembly Government, to step in before yet more pollution occurs."

NOTES

1. The complaint will be submitted to the European Commission representative in Wales at 10.30 am, Friday 18th June 2010, at the European Commission Office in Wales, 2 Caspian Point, Caspian Way, CF10 4QQ
2. Download the complaint main document:
   The dossier, running to several hundred pages, sets out why FOE Cymru considers EU law is being violated, after several recent developments adversely affecting the Pembrokeshire Marine Special Area of Conservation have been given the go-ahead with scant regard for EU law and with the site being in unfavourable conservation status according to the CCW.
3. In particular, we are pointing out that inadequate assessments have been made about the impacts of the new power station on the site; that the cooling system, which would abstract up to 3,456,000 cubic metres of water per day from the Haven, and return it, bleached, up to 8C warmer, should not be allowed; and that the advice of the government's environmental experts in Wales, the Countryside Council for Wales, that the power station as planned would cause unacceptable harm to the SAC, should have been accepted.

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