Archived press release

MP energy vote set to create dash for gas

18 July 2011

The Government is ready to fast-track applications for new gas-fired and nuclear power stations that will create a "dash for gas" and lock the UK into decades of radioactive waste, warns Friends of the Earth as MPs prepare to vote on planning guidance for major energy projects on Monday (18 July 2011).

The green campaigning charity says that unless MPs shun the guidance - known as National Policy Statements - in Monday's vote, new gas-fired power stations, nuclear reactors and incinerators planned for UK sites will be given the green light.

The energy NPS explicitly forbids decision-makers from taking concerns about carbon emissions into account in planning applications for power stations. This is despite warnings from MPs that the energy NPS rules risk a dash for gas, when - as the Government's own green advisor points out - the Coalition has still not set out how it intends to meet its target for cutting UK emissions by 80 per cent by 2050.

Local communities will be left powerless to stop power stations being approved on the grounds of increased carbon emissions.

Friends of the Earth's energy campaigner Simon Bullock said:

"Ministers are hell-bent on fast-tracking polluting new power stations, regardless of the consequences for the planet and local people.

"Current energy policy will create a dash for gas that completely undermines efforts to beat climate change - as well as locking us into years of radioactive waste at a huge cost to our economy.

"Renewable energy and energy efficiency offer the only hope of stabilising people's fuel bills in the long run.

"The Government must urgently overhaul our broken energy system and unleash the potential of the clean, green energy from our sun, wind and waves - putting power back into the hands of people."

ENDS

Notes to editors

1. Friends of the Earth argues that the energy NPS fails to take into account:
•    warnings from the Energy and Climate Change Select Committee on the risk of a dash for gas;
•    the Government's commitment to meeting the fourth carbon target, as recommended by the Committee on Climate Change;
•    the need for the Government to set out plans to meet its target for cutting greenhouse gas emissions by 80 per cent by 2050.

2. The energy NPS says that the urgent need for nuclear power stations must override concerns of flood risks at nuclear sites, and that there is unlimited need for new gas, even though the Government's own figures show that there are already enough new gas power stations with planning permission to meet the UK's needs. Whilst forbidding decision makers to consider climate safety impacts, the rules deem dust and insect infestation to be "important" considerations.

3. A huge incinerator proposed for Merthyr Tydfil in Wales will be one of the first projects to go ahead, despite objections from over 10,500 local people. The NPSs class incineration as a form of renewable energy - even though incinerators cause more carbon emissions per unit of energy than a gas-fired power station. Local campaigners opposing the incinerator will be in London on Monday 18 July and are available for interview - to arrange please contact Marie Reynolds at Friends of the Earth press office on 020 7566 1649.

4. Friends of the Earth has been calling on MPs to amend the NPSs so that:
•    they are compatible with the UK's climate change goals and carbon budgets
•    they revise the need argument to prevent a dash for gas
•    they stop classing incineration as renewable energy
However, the Government is currently not allowing MPs to make any changes to the NPSs.

5. See a Friends of the Earth briefing on the NPSs

6. Friends of the Earth says the Government's white paper on Electricity Market Reform doesn't go far enough to free the UK from its reliance on increasingly expensive forms of energy

7. Analysis by Friends of the Earth shows that people would be better off in 2020 after the price of green energy has fallen but that of oil has risen

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Published by Friends of the Earth Trust