Will Bristol be killing the rainforests for power?

Dear all,

W4B Renewable Energy have just had their application for a biofuel power station in Portland rejected by Weymouth & Portland Council, amidst concerns about the impact of biofuels in general and palm oil in particular on the climate, on forests and other ecosystems and on communities in the global South, as well as concerns over air pollution and public health in nearby areas.

This was one of three similar planning applications recently rejected by local authorities. Now we have found out that W4B has submitted plans for a biofuel power station more than twice the size of the largest one applied for before.

They want to build a 50 MW power station at Avonmouth Docks in Bristol,which would burn 90,000 tonnes of vegetable oil, most likely palm oil,every year. More than 22,000 hectares of oil palm plantations would be required to feed this one power station, and even more land if other feedstock was used.

W4B have mentioned jatropha as well as palm oil, yetjatropha is not yet commercially available, many plantings are failing,yet thousands of people have already lost their land and livelihood forjatropha plantations to feed Europe’s biofuel market. Peat expert Professor Siegert of Munich University has said about palm oil power stations in Germany: “We were able to prove that the making of these plantations and the burning of the rainforests and peat areas emits many thousands of times as much CO2 as we then are able to prevent by using palm oil.

And that is a disastrous balance for the climate.”(tinyurl.com/y9xel3g) Ever more communities in countries like Colombia, Malaysia, Indonesia and Ecuador are losing their land to palm oil companies, with plantation expansion to a large extent driven by Europe’s biofuel policies. Local residents will be affected by increased levels of nitrogen oxide and small particulates which are linked to respiratory and cardiac disease.Avonmouth in particular already has high levels of pollution. Please go to www.biofuelwatch.org.uk/w4bsep2009.php to object to W4B's application and let others know about this alert.

IF YOU LIVE IN OUR NEAR BRISTOL AND CAN HELP IN ANY WAY WITH CAMPAIGNINGAGAINST THIS PROPOSAL, PLEASE CONTACT US - THANKS.

Also, if you live in or near London, please come along to demonstration outside the Department for Energy and Climate Change inLondon on 12th October, 6.30 pm against the subsidies for biofuels. Formore information, see www.campaigncc.org/biofuels . Without 'greenenergy' subsidies, biofuel power stations like the one planned in Bristol would not be viable. Many thanks. Best regards, The Biofuelwatch Team

Dr Derek Wall to fight Windsor constituency for the Green Party at General Election

The Green Party have selected Dr Derek Wall to fight the Windsor constituency in the General Election.

Dr Wall, aged 44, lives in Cranbourne. He teaches economics at Duff Miller College in Kensington and Goldsmith College, University of London. He has three sons, Vincent 15, Larry 12 and Peter 8 who go to local state schools.

He was Green Party Principal Speaker between 2006 and 2008, the post closest to that of leader. He is currently completing two new books on green politics and is a columnist with the Morning Star newspaper. He went to his first party meeting in September 1979 and joined the Ecology Party, as the Green Party used to be called, in 1980

Dr Wall fought the Windsor constituency at the last General Election and is a former Winkfield Parish Councillor.

The Green Party beat Labour in the Borough in June's European Elections, where Dr Wall was also a candidate.

Dr Wall said 'I am proud to have been selected by Green Party members to fight the Windsor constituency. Green politics is the politics of environmental protection and social justice. I am also proud of all the campaigning the goes on locally in the constituency to protect the local environment and local services from the battle to keep the fire station in Windsor to opposition to the Tescos at Datchet and the campaign against the great wall in Winkfield.'

Dr Wall works closely with the indigenous leader Hugo Blanco in Peru and with Peruvian communities battling to save the Amazon rainforest from destruction.

'The Green Party believes in fighting for a future for the next generation and resisting cuts in public services that will impoverish us now. Tackling climate change together with calling for a strong British economy that is not dependent on financial services but based on real job creation are my main priorities.'