Here we are in the middle of one of the most significant weeks for the natural world and I’ve been absent from the blogwaves.
The Severn barrage disappeared at the beginning of the week, but already news of a privately-funded proposal is emerging. The barrage is dead, long live the barrage seems to be the endless groundhog-day refrain. But some stunning predications are shaking out of the paperwork behind last Monday’s announcement – my favourite (odd way of looking at, I know) is that a massive barrage constructed from Cardiff to Weston would cause spring tides to rise by 10cm on the Irish coast. Seriously – is anyone going to privately finance their way out of that scale of impact? You can find that bit on pages 36 and 37 here if you need the long read.
Then came the Comprehensive Spending Review – I’m going to leave it to others to comment on that (here’s a link to Mark Avery’s blog) but I will add my voice to the thanks to all of you who signed our Letter to the Future – we made a difference.
One detail that is already having an impact is the trimming of money available to fit demonstration Carbon Capture and Storage (CCS) technology onto coal fired power stations. CCS holds promise but must be tested at the appropriate scale and it should be fitted to an existing station (so that the testing actually reduces carbon emissions). At Kingsnorth in the Thames estuary, we joined the campaign to head of new power station capacity that would, with or without CCS, have led to further ramping up of our carbon emissions. So we the news today that plans to develop Kingsnorth have finally been scrapped is welcome.
This means that Scotland’s Longannet powerstation is that last remaining candidate in the first CCS demonstration competition. Longannet is a retrofit on an existing plant so there will be a welcome net reduction in emissions as a result. The £1bn set aside in the CSR is enough for one demonstration plant, but there is commitment to three more, it remains to be seen how these will be funded.
So where does this leave Hunterston? We are convinced that the right way forward is to retrofit CCS on existing plant (and Longannet fits the bill). It would be madness if scarce additional demonstration funds were found that they would be squandered on a new plant that would spew out yet more greenhouse gas emissions and destroy part of a Site of Special Scientific Interest in the process.
It would be great to hear that Hunterson will follow Kingsnorth with an announcement that it won’t be going ahead – but in the mean time, the campaign continues. Our colleagues in Scotland have launched an appeal to help fund the pending legal challenge – you can find out more and perhaps give a donation here.