Drax power station near Selby in Yorkshire has applied to the Planning Inspectorate for permission to replace its two remaining coal-fired units with much larger ones burning fossil (natural) gas.
Drax is already the biggest biomass burning plant in the world and the largest single emitter of CO2 in the U.K.
Drax claims that this is part of their “strategy to play a vital role in changing the way energy is generated as the UK moves to a low carbon future.”
The reality is that Drax made a net loss last year and switching to burning gas would allow the power station to keep operating once the government’s pledge to phase out ‘unabated coal’ by 2025 comes into force.
If this gas development goes ahead, it will tie the U.K. into the long-term burning of more fossil fuels at a time when we need to drastically reduce our carbon emissions to prevent catastrophic climate change.
It will also enable Drax to continue burning millions of tonnes of wood pellets every year, many of which come from the clear felling of biodiverse forests in the U.S.
If you agree that we should not allow Drax to increase our carbon emissions by burning gas and wood biomass, please help us to stop Drax’s proposed gas development by sending an objection to the Planning Inspectorate.
The deadline for responses is Wednesday the 29th of August at 11.59pm.
For more information about the environmental and climate impact of Drax’s gas plans, please see the Biofuelwatch briefing here. and follow links to make an objection.
Thanks to Cathy Monkey for sharing this news. Reducing CO2 emissions is core to all of the work of Herefordshire Green Network, particularly in our own lives here in Herefordshire – but of course we’re not an island, and strategies like this give us reason to act global ….
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