biofuelwatch: W4B alert September 2009

Urgent: Please object to large biofuel power station in Bristol

This alert is for residents of the UK only.

If you live in or near Bristol and can help in any way with campaigning against this planned biofuel power station, please email us at info[at]Biofuelwatch.org.uk. Thanks.

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Background

W4B Renewable Energy have just had their application for a biofuel power station in Portland rejected by Weymouth & Portland Council, amidst concerns about the impact of biofuels in general and palm oil in particular on the climate, on forests and other ecosystems and on communities in the global South, as well as concerns over air pollution and public health in nearby areas. This was one of three similar planning applications recently rejected by local authorities.

Now we have found out that W4B has submitted plans for a biofuel power station more than twice the size of the largest one applied for before. They want to build a 50 MW power station at Avonmouth Docks in Bristol, which would burn 90,000 tonnes of vegetable oil, most likely palm oil, every year. More than 22,000 hectares of oil palm plantations would be required to feed this one power station, and even more land if other feedstock was used. W4B have mentioned jatropha as well as palm oil, yet jatropha is not yet commercially available, many plantings are failing, yet thousands of people have already lost their land and livelihood for jatropha plantations to feed Europe’s biofuel market. Peat expert Professor Siegert of Munich University has said about palm oil power stations in Germany: “We were able to prove that the making of these plantations and the burning of the rainforests and peat areas emits many thousands of times as much CO2 as we then are able to prevent by using palm oil. And that is a disastrous balance for the climate.” (tinyurl.com/y9xel3g) Ever more communities in countries like Colombia, Malaysia, Indonesia and Ecuador are losing their land to palm oil companies, with plantation expansion to a large extent driven by Europe’s biofuel policies.

Local residents will be affected by increased levels of nitrogen oxide and small particulates which are linked to respiratory and cardiac disease. Avonmouth in particular already has high levels of pollution.

If possible, please personalise the letter below before emailing it to Bristol City Council Planning Department. It will be sent to development.management(AT)bristol.gov.uk. Please let your friends and family know. Many thanks.

There is further information below the form.

Dear Sir/Madam

subject

Re: Objection to W4B Renewable Energy application for a biofuel power station at Avonmouth Docks, Ref 09/03235/F I wish to object to W4B’s planning application to build a 50 MW biofuel power station at Avonmouth Docks, which would burn 90,000 tonnes of vegetable oil every year. I am deeply concerned about the impact of biofuels such as palm oil on the climate, on rainforests and other ecosystems and on communities in the global South. In Italy and Germany, a large number of biofuel power stations are already operating and virtually all of them run on palm oil which is by far the cheapest vegetable oil. Jatropha oil, also mentioned in the application, is not available commercially so far, yet already many thousands of people in Tanzania, Ghana and India are losing their land, livelihoods and in some cases their forests to jatropha plantations. If the power station were run on palm oil only, it would require over 22,000 hectares of plantations – and even more for any other feedstock. According to the UN, palm oil is the main cause of deforestation in Indonesia and Malaysia. It is responsible for billions of tonnes of carbon emissions, as forests are destroyed and peatlands converted to plantations. In countries like Indonesia, Papua New Guinea and Colombia, growing numbers of indigenous peoples, small farmers and other rural communities are being forced off their land, often through violence. Bristol City Council must consider the climate and wider sustainability impacts of planning decisions and I believe that this means that the development should be rejected. I am also concerned about the impacts of the proposed biofuel power station on air quality and thus on the health of the local population, particularly in Avonmouth but potentially also in Hallen Village and Severn Beach Village. There have long been significant concerns over air pollution and particularly PM10 in Avonmouth. The power station will worsen PM10 levels, as well as those of nitrogen oxide and PM 2.5, and will add to the pollution from two large biomass power stations in the area for which plans are currently being considered by central government. Best regards,
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Further information

If this power station is built:

Local air quality will get worse –Vegetable oil burning emits nitrogen oxides and small particulates linked to respiratory illnesses and heart problems.

It will contribute to climate change. Biofuel production releases more greenhouse gases through land conversion and chemical fertiliser use than the fossil fuels they replace.

It will make world food prices higher as vegetable oil will be used for electricity instead of food.

People in other areas of the world, like South-east Asia and South America could be displaced from their homes to allow the necessary vegetable oil plants to be grown.

It will NOT provide local residents with cheaper electricity.

So far there are no biofuel power stations in the UK although planning permission has been granted to build one in East London. In Germany, people living near their biofuel power stations suffer noise and smell, and at least one power station there has been refused planning permission.