A 'bridge too far? Ironbridge power station biomass threat

At Ironbridge Power Station the Shrewsbury and Telford groups, supported by Biofuelwatch are opposing plans for a storage shed for imported wood from North America to replace imported coal from Russia.

Details of our group's objections are below. We are also taking our message to the public to ask local residents to object before the planning decision, which is expected on 5 April.

To make your own objection, go to the Biofuelwatch website and sign the petition. To help us get the word out in Telford, contact us.

Image copyright © John Chorley and licensed for reuse under this Creative Commons Licence.

Why we oppose the proposed fuel store.

The fuel store serves E.ON's to intention to fundamentally alter its fuel used to generate electricity from burning coal largely sourced in Russia to virgin wood pellets, likely initially from north America. It is this and all the consequences that arise that cause us genuine concern. We believe through enabling this change of fuel that E.ON would be causing significant international environmental damage and unclear local air quality consequences. Here are more of the main grounds we believe the planning application to be invalid:

• no detailed plan for the mix of coal and wood pellet fuel and likely quantities required
• and no environmental impact statement detailing likely quantities of pollution such as dust, sulphur and nitrogen oxides (NOx) which are known to be harmful to health (World Health Organisation)
• and consequently no direct comparison between current and subsequent pollution
• no clarity as to whether the power station will close by the end of 2015 as legally required or whether E.ON intends to seek further operation of the old inefficient power station through burning wood fuel
• no clarity as to any intention to install secondary NOx mitigation equipment (required in the USA) or flue gas desulphurisation
• given an intention to continue operating with wood fuel indefinitely it is unclear how the vast quantities of fuel can be sustainably sourced without the loss of established forests and with regrowth to absorb carbon emissions in a timely manner without monoculture plantations, at a high environmental and social cost
• the danger of on-site fires as in the recent serious fire at Tilbury and also in the unloading and transport of wood pellet fuel on long freight trains.