Yorkshire Against New CoalArchive for category News
Do It For The Children
Our children can’t challenge the government. We can. It’s their future and we owe it to them.
For the first time in 30 years the government want to start building new coal power stations. By 2015 half of the Ferrybridge power station will need to close. Scottish and Southern Energy are considering replacing this with a new coal power station. Yet, the government has said that to tackle climate change, we must reduce our carbon emissions by 80% by the year 2050.
Einstein once said that the definition of madness was “doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results”. Building new coal power stations will not tackle climate change. Coal is the most carbon intense of all the fossil fuels. If we are to tackle climate change we must tackle emissions from coal.
James Hansen, climate change expert with the American Space agency NASA has said that the “prompt phase-out of coal emissions, is the one critical element in solution of the global warming problem” If we fail to address global warming “we will hand our children a planet … with climate changes out of their control”
The year 2050 is only 40 years away, so the young people of today need our generation to act NOW!
YANC Points The Way In CCS Debate
YANC installing the CCS sign
Carbon capture and storage (CCS) is often touted as the solution to climate change caused by carbon dioxide emissions from coal-fired power stations.
The idea is that we dig up coal, burn it at a power station and then ‘capture’ the resultant carbon dioxide emissions and bury the gas in big holes in the ground; like old north-sea oil wells.
Chris Mackins of YANC said: “We at YANC think we’ve found how to make this work. What is currently proposed is to dig up the coal, which is largely solid carbon, burn it, then capture that carbon and then re-bury it. Does that sound sensible to you or does it sound like some kind of perpetual motion machine?
“Why not just leave the carbon in the ground and find other carbon-free ways of making electricity like wind, wave, tidal and solar power. On top of that add decentralised energy and energy efficiency. A recent article in New Scientist (14.3.09 edition) speculates that we could provide all of Europe’s electricity with renewable technology within 30 years.
“CCS is an ‘emperor’s new clothes’ technology – wanting to bury carbon that is already buried! Why make life complicated? The carbon has already been captured and stored, millions of years ago, by natural processes. Let’s leave coal in the ground. This really is a no-brainer.
YANC installed a sign at the proposed Newton Lane open cast site to make the situation plain. The sign reads: “CARBON CAPTURED & STORED – BY ORDER OF YANC”
“Leeds City council will decide on the Newton Lane open cast very soon. Planning permission needs to be turned down on grounds of tackling climate change. To make progress on climate change – leave coal in the ground.
Coal-Fired Power Stations Are Death Factories – Close Them!
The Guardian has published the following story, click the link to read the full article…
The government is expected to give the go-ahead to the coal-burning Kingsnorth power plant. Here, one of the world’s foremost climate experts launches an excoriating attack on Britain’s long love affair with the most polluting fossil fuel of all
A year ago, I wrote to Gordon Brown asking him to place a moratorium on new coal-fired power plants in Britain. I have asked the same of Angela Merkel, Barack Obama, Kevin Rudd and other leaders. The reason is this – coal is the single greatest threat to civilisation and all life on our planet.
The climate is nearing tipping points. Changes are beginning to appear and there is a potential for explosive changes, effects that would be irreversible, if we do not rapidly slow fossil-fuel emissions over the next few decades. As Arctic sea ice melts, the darker ocean absorbs more sunlight and speeds melting. As the tundra melts, methane, a strong greenhouse gas, is released, causing more warming. As species are exterminated by shifting climate zones, ecosystems can collapse, destroying more species.
Climate Change & Energy: Public Opinion Survey
Climate change clash looms for local MPs as almost three-quarters of residents don’t want new coal power station at Ferrybridge.
A new coal fired power station is planned for Ferrybridge in west Yorkshire despite nearly three-quarters (71%) of nearby people saying that we should develop renewable energy instead of new coal. Several Yorkshire MPs including Ed Miliband, the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change and Yvette Cooper,MP for Ferrybridge have so far refused to oppose the increasingly controversial plans.
The figures are revealed today as the results from a number of public opinion surveys that we carried out across the towns of Knottingley, Pontefract, Castleford, Hemsworth, Normanton and Doncaster. The results from our two reports which are available for download.
Half of the Ferrybridge power station is due for closure by 2015. Its owners, Scottish and Southern Energy are currently considering replacing this with a new but dirty coal power station.
The people have spoken – and they don’t want a coal power station at Ferrybridge. Ed Miliband, Yvette Cooper, Jon Trickett, Ed Balls and Caroline Flint are all clearly out of touch with the opinions of their constituents. More than 80% of people in our survey have said that they are concerned about climate change and 94% say we should produce electricity in ways that don’t damage the climate.
You can download and view the full reports as PDFs:
The results from the surveys taken in Pontefract, Knottingley, Castleford, Hemsworth & Normanton can be downloaded here .
The results of the survey taken in Ed Miliband’s constituency of Doncaster can be downloaded from here.