Government Failure On Kingsnorth

12.00.00am UTC (GMT +0000) Mon 4th Feb 2008

Government Seems To Be Letting EON Get Away With Doing The Minimum

The government appear to be poised to agree to EON building a new coal fired powers station, without the facility for carbon capture. Leaked emails which were given to a national newspaper revealed that the secretary of state, John Hutton, will approve the proposals without requiring EON to commit to including carbon capture at the development.

Cllr Geoff Juby, Leader of the Medway Liberal Democrat group, commented "I am very concerned that the government seems to be letting EON get away with doing the minimum amount to reduce the impact of the new power station on the environment. How can they ignore people's concerns about this issue when we all know that climate change is a real problem and could have a devastating impact."

Cllr Maureen Ruparel, Medway Liberal Democrat group, said "This is disgraceful, how can the Secretary of state decide to ignore the people of Medway's concerns about the effect this new coal fired power station will have on the local environment. I feel this just goes to show that EON never had a firm commitment to putting carbon capture in place at the new power station. The public here have not had a proper opportunity to learn discuss this proposal, or make their feelings heard properly, because the planning committee had their hands tied by legislation and financial considerations "

Notes:

• Carbon capture could reduce carbon emissions from the plant by as much as 90%

• The decision by the Secretary of State John Hutton to approve the Kingsnorth development is likely to be made in May.

• The emails were disclosed to The Guardian newspaper and an article published on 1st February on the Guardian Unlimited website: http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2008/feb/01/fossilfuels.carbonemissions

For more information regarding this article, please contact:

Cllr Geoff Juby, Group Leader Medway Liberal Democrat Group on 01634 576675,

Cllr Maureen Ruparel, Medway Liberal Democrat Group on 01634 303498

or

Angela Kawa, Political Assistant, Medway Liberal Democrat Group on 01634 333635 or email: angela.kawa@medway.gov.uk