EA: No more coal power before CCS

The British Government has been told by the chairman of the Environment Agency (EA) that no new coal-fired power stations should be built in the UK until carbon emissions are able to be captured and stored.

Until research into the viability of carbon capture and storage (CCS) on a commercial scale is complete, the EA Chairman Lord Chris Smith has warned that burning coal to produce electricity would be too damaging to the environment.

Lord Smith believes that rather than allowing coal-fired power plants to be built now, with the promise that CCS will be installed when research is complete, the government should deny planning permission and pump extra funding into CCS research.

If Smith’s advice is heeded, E.ON’s two proposed new 800MW power plants at Kingsnorth would be put on hold until adequate CCS technology becomes available.

Meanwhile, MP’s in the government’s Environmental Audit Committee (EAC) have recommended that the government threatens to shut down existing coal power plants unless they install CCS.

The EAC believes that if coal power plants are allowed to continue without CCS regulation, then the UK will struggle to meet its commitments to reducing carbon emissions.

Prime Minister Gordon Brown recently announced that the CO2 reduction target for 2050 should be increased from 60% to 80%.

The comments of Smith and the EAC come in the same week that Business Minister John Hutton announced that Britain must continue to use coal if it is to remain economically competitive and ensure its energy security.

CCS involves capturing the carbon emissions produced when fossil fuels are burned, then storing them underground indefinitely in a secure facility.