Greens win vote against coal power

Posted on March 19, 2010




Last night’s vote against the new coal-fired power station which “Ayrshire Energy” (a euphemism for Peel Holdings) are promoting at Hunterston was an important victory. For much of the day it was unclear what the Labour Party or the SNP backbenchers would do (Ministers being unable to vote on a live planning application). But in the end we not only won the vote on a Green amendment (to a Labour motion on climate change, ably put forward by Sarah Boyack) we also secured an absolute majority in Parliament.

What does this mean? Ministers will argue that it can’t prejudice their planning decision, and in strict legal terms they would be correct. But the political weight is clearly now against this project.

It’s doubtful that Peel really have the cash to develop. But even if they do, there’s no support for the scheme. I invite them to withdraw, and save everyone the time and money.

Though the project currently has “national development” status, having been included in the National Planning Framework, a judicial review was already likely. This could be a test case. Parliament has agreed the NPF, but has now explicitly rejected a specific element of it. Can that really confer any meaningful legal status? Of course not, if the democratic will means anything.

Is new coal dead? I’d like to say yes – the clear position is that carbon capture and storage is in real doubt as an option – both the capture and storage elements have their problems, and nobody has a clear solution yet. I fully support more research – I want to know if CCS can be made to work. But I don’t know the answer yet. Nobody does. And without that answer it is utterly irresponsible to approve new coal-burning capacity.

Parliament today agreed, and I think that bodes well.

6 Comments

  1. Excellent work! I’m staggered by the backwardness of the premise of this whole thing – bury it in a big hole in ground.
    Here’s hoping that Scottish Ministers abide by the decision of Parliament.

    Comment by Caroline Scott — March 19, 2010 @ 9:47 am

  2. [...] Hunterston coal power station – and from cross-party back-benchers for supporting him. Patrick writes about it himself, so I won’t repeat what he [...]

    Pingback by Are we seeing the end of coal? | Bright Green — March 19, 2010 @ 10:23 am

  3. Heard about this last night and still can’t get over it – fantastic news!

    A tribute to Patrick, Sarah and all those who have been campaigning against this development – particularly CONCH ( http://www.nonewcoal.org.uk/node/94 ) and other grassroots anti-coal groups.

    But let us not forget that there were certain NGOs (FoES in particular) who ran a ‘no new coal without CCS campaign’ that made it very difficult for those of us fighting against ALL coal plants to get our voices heard. I just hope they learn from this.

    Nevertheless, a stunning victory and a reminder of what we can achieve if we refuse to accept second-rate solutions to climate change.

    Comment by Keith Baker — March 19, 2010 @ 11:05 am

  4. Patrick

    Well done; not only is there no proof that it worked but if it did would it be sustainable?

    There are better solutions coming up sadly enough developed by those (countries) that think ahead…

    Comment by Christian A. Wittke — March 19, 2010 @ 11:34 am

  5. [...] for a coal-fired power station at Hunterston in North Ayrshire. Labour and the Liberal Demorcrats backed a Green motion against the development which was announced on Monday. The developers of the plant have agrued that [...]

    Pingback by Scottish Parliament Rejects Hunterston Plans « Green Electricity – Blog — March 19, 2010 @ 1:44 pm

  6. I don’t know about the latest research but the whole idea that CCS is feasable in the first place beggars belief.

    Heating water to produce electricity is highly inneficient no matter the fuel used to then compound that by sequestration of some of that carbon produced, which in itself will produce more carbon as more energy will be needed to bury it. When will people stop and think before proposing such silly ideas.

    Comment by cynicalHighlander — March 19, 2010 @ 5:40 pm