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Petition delivered opposing Avonmouth Biofuel Power Station

Robert Palgrave | 23.10.2010 11:22

Hallen village's near unanimous opposition taken to London
Secretary of State at DCLG, Eric Pickles MP, is about to consider the fate of the planned biofuel power station at Avonmouth. Refused planning permission by Bristol City Council in February, and then the subject of a censored planning inquiry in August, the power station will be the largest so far in the UK, burning thousands of tonnes of imported palm oil and possibly jatropha oil.

Hallen villagers delivered their petition opposing the power station to Eric Pickles office in London on Friday 22nd October in London. Nearly every resident – 265 out of 140 households - had signed.


Hallen is about a mile from W4B’s proposed development in Avonmouth and will bear the brunt of the tonnes of air pollution it will create every day from burning 90,000 tonnes of imported palm oil or jatropha oil a year.

Bristol City Council refused planning permission in February for the 49MW power station because councillors believe imported biofuels are not sustainable and have no place in a city aspiring to be a Green Capital. W4B’s subsequent appeal is now to be decided by Eric Pickles, some time before the end of December.

Biofuels like palm oil and jatropha are under intense scrutiny worldwide because of the devastating impacts that growing plants for fuel in tropical areas have on local environments and livelihoods. Studies have concluded that the overall impact of burning liquid biofuels on global climate can be worse than the fossil fuels they are designed to replace.

In the appeal inquiry in August, the Inspector ruled that only local impacts should be considered by the planning system, and refused to hear evidence about the effects of producing biofuels like palm oil and jatropha in Asia and Africa.

Hallen is supported in their opposition to the biofuel power station by their local county councillor Sheila Cook, by Almondsbury Parish Council, and by MP Jack Lopresti.

Sue Black, Hallen Village Committee said:

“The residents of Hallen are fed up with the encroachment of industry towards and into their village over the years. There is almost unanimous opposition to the proposed biofuel power station, not only for local factors such as proximity and air pollution, but also Hallen residents are concerned about environmental problems overseas caused by the growing of palm and jatropha trees. How can bringing the palm oil thousands of miles to burn here be sustainable?"

Robert Palgrave of Biofuelwatch added:

“Far from reducing greenhouse gas emissions, the UK’s bioenergy policy threatens to accelerate global warming by destroying tropical and sub-tropical forests and peatlands, which are amongst the world’s most important carbon sinks.

If we want to have any hope of avoiding the worst impacts of climate change then we need drastic cuts in energy use - not oil crops grown in vast monocultures to produce so-called green electricity.”

Mike Birkin, Bristol Friends of the Earth said:

“Bristol councillors rightly took a wider view of W4B’s proposal to burn imported biofuels at Avonmouth and said “No”. Eric Pickles now has a chance to show that the Government means what it says when it promises greater control for local communities, by refusing W4B’s appeal”

Notes:

The company behind the Avonmouth scheme, W4B, have stated they will burn palm oil shipped from Indonesia at the outset, and then switch to Jatropha from India or Africa at a later date. There are numerous concerns over the use of these crops. Already demand for palm oil in food and cosmetics has lead to widespread deforestation in places like Indonesia, where people have been dispossessed of their land, and animals like orangutans are on the brink of extinction. Any additional demand for palm oil is likely to spell the end of the remaining forests in this region and would be a disaster for those who depend on them.

Groups such as Action Aid and Friends of the Earth have reported that demand for Jatropha (a poisonous non-edible seed crop) for biofuel is already further impoverishing poor communities in India and Africa and leading to food shortages.

W4B’s power station will burn 90,000 tonnes of fuel a year. This is nearly as much as all the palm oil currently going into transport biodiesel in the UK. Annual subsidies could amount to £36million.

Hallen will experience air pollution from the Avonmouth power station 24 hours a day, adding to the pollution from the planned Helius Energy biomass power station and the Cyclomax incinerator also in Avonmouth.



Robert Palgrave
- Original article on IMC Bristol: http://bristol.indymedia.org/article/696230