Drax will raise carbon emissions as thousands marched in London yesterday demanding action on polluted water.
The Guardian reported earlier today that Drax power station near Selby, North Yorkshire, will keep raising the levels of carbon emissions in the atmosphere until the 2050s despite using carbon capture technology, according to scientific research. An earlier study by Dr Thomas Buchholz of the scientific think tank, Spatial Informatics Group, found that the demand for wood pellets for Drax would lead to reduced forest carbon stocks in managed pine forests in Louisiana and Mississippi which could raise atmospheric emissions for at least 40 years.
An update to the study showed that the power plant’s plan to fit carbon capture and storage (CCS) technology to the plant by the 2030s would reduce this period of rising emissions but they would still be higher than they would otherwise be for decades, during a period that scientists have warned is crucial in addressing the climate crisis. The new study found that the intensive forest management needed to source 7m tonnes of wood pellets from forests in the US to burn as fuel every year would erode the carbon stored in the ecosystems of these pine forests for at least 25 years.
Last month ACE reported that Fossil Free North Yorkshire (FFNY) along with other environmental groups had called on Ed Miliband, Secretary of State for Energy Security and Net Zero, not to agree any extension of subsidies for tree burning power stations at Drax in Selby and Lynemouth in Northumberland.
Meanwhile, yesterday, Sunday 3 November, thousands of blue-clad protesters marched in London telling the government to “stop poisoning Britain’s water” and calling for action on the country’s contaminated coastal waters and rivers. A coalition of more than 130 nature, environmental and water-sport organisations marched to create the country’s biggest ever protest over water.They were led by broadcaster Chris Packham, actor Jim Murray and Giles Bristow, the chief executive of the campaign group Surfers Against Sewage, as they marched from the Albert Embankment in Vauxhall to Parliament Square, with banners reading: “Stop poisoning Britain’s waterways” and “Cut the crap, save our rivers”.
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