The company Blue NG has applied for planning permission to build the UK's first vegetable oil power plant in the UK, in Beckton, Newham. They plan a total of eight such plants overall. They specifically refer to burning palm oil, as well as rapeseed oil and jatropha oil in that plant. See below for details of forthcoming protests against those plans.
Biofuelwatch and the London Food not Fuel group are campaigning against plans for the UK's first vegetable oil power plant. The company Blue NG has applied to Newham LBC for planning permission to build a large CHP plant which could only run on vegetable oil. It would use 56,000 litres per day. They intend to submit seven further similar planning applications throughout the UK.
In Germany, there are 1,800 such CHP plants, and the great majority of them run on palm oil, because this is by far the cheapest. Blue NG specifically refer to plans to use palm oil as well as rapeseed oil and jatropha oil in their planning applicaton. Rapeseed oil would be highly problematic, too, because the EU is already a net importer of rapeseed oil, given that 66% of what is produced here is turned into biodiesel. Using rapeseed oil for heat and power will just result in more vegetable oil, inlcuding palm oil being imported. Furthermore, according to a recent study by nobel laureate Paul Crutzen, burning rapeseed oil is associated with up to 70% more greenhouse gas emissions than burning fossil fuel diesel, because of the high emisssions of nitrous oxide linked to fertiliser use. Plus, it's a disaster for our biodiversity. And jatropha, not yet commercially avaialable, is linked to a major land grab, the displacement of communities and of food production across many countries, including India, Tanzania, Mozambique and Ethiopia.
There is great concern that planning approval in Beckton could pave the way for large-scale vegetable oil and in particular palm oil burning in CHP in the UK. For background about the likely impacts of the plant, see www.biofuelwatch.org.uk/files/thames_gateway_biodiesel_project.pdf.
If it goes ahead, it would have very serious impacts on deforestation and thus climate change, on communities in the South, but also on residents in the Beckton area, since vegetable oil burning is associated with high emissions of PM 2.5 and NOx, which pose a serious risk to public health.
There will be a banner protest outside the Newhham Town Hall, East Ham on Wednesday, 4th June at 6.30 pm, just before the Council's final consultation meeting. This also coincides (almost) with the Food and Climate Change Day of Action on 3rd June.
A stall, leafletting, banner protest and collecting signatures for a petition will be organised on Saturday, 31st May.
For information on how you can help campaign against those plans see www.biofuelwatch.org.uk or email
info@biofuelwatch.org.
In Germany, there are 1,800 such CHP plants, and the great majority of them run on palm oil, because this is by far the cheapest. Blue NG specifically refer to plans to use palm oil as well as rapeseed oil and jatropha oil in their planning applicaton. Rapeseed oil would be highly problematic, too, because the EU is already a net importer of rapeseed oil, given that 66% of what is produced here is turned into biodiesel. Using rapeseed oil for heat and power will just result in more vegetable oil, inlcuding palm oil being imported. Furthermore, according to a recent study by nobel laureate Paul Crutzen, burning rapeseed oil is associated with up to 70% more greenhouse gas emissions than burning fossil fuel diesel, because of the high emisssions of nitrous oxide linked to fertiliser use. Plus, it's a disaster for our biodiversity. And jatropha, not yet commercially avaialable, is linked to a major land grab, the displacement of communities and of food production across many countries, including India, Tanzania, Mozambique and Ethiopia.
There is great concern that planning approval in Beckton could pave the way for large-scale vegetable oil and in particular palm oil burning in CHP in the UK. For background about the likely impacts of the plant, see www.biofuelwatch.org.uk/files/thames_gateway_biodiesel_project.pdf.
If it goes ahead, it would have very serious impacts on deforestation and thus climate change, on communities in the South, but also on residents in the Beckton area, since vegetable oil burning is associated with high emissions of PM 2.5 and NOx, which pose a serious risk to public health.
There will be a banner protest outside the Newhham Town Hall, East Ham on Wednesday, 4th June at 6.30 pm, just before the Council's final consultation meeting. This also coincides (almost) with the Food and Climate Change Day of Action on 3rd June.
A stall, leafletting, banner protest and collecting signatures for a petition will be organised on Saturday, 31st May.
For information on how you can help campaign against those plans see www.biofuelwatch.org.uk or email
info@biofuelwatch.org. 
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Hide the following 6 comments
Spot the Astroturfer
27.05.2008 19:02
Astroturf - for the oil companies.
Eat less meat - use the food that would have been destined for animal feed to make biofuel, simple.
No additional de-forrestation, no food taken away from human markets, in fact by eating less meat there could be enough for extra human food as well as biofuel.
Astro
Have less kids 1 is enough,adopt!!!!!
28.05.2008 10:19
Gaia
Oh please forgive me my sins $DIETY!!
28.05.2008 13:11
No, the problem is that we sinful proles / dirty humans haven't given up enough of our disgusting pleasures. Everything would be fine if we just lived on the absolute minimum necessary for survival and renounced our sinful egos that lead us to have children etc..
Your whole critique is straight out of the middle ages. Why don't you go join a monastery?
anonymous
'Anti bio-fuel' is oil compaines astroturf
28.05.2008 17:18
No need to go and live in a monastry, but don't be taken in by anti-biofuel-ers.
With oil prices sky high, do you really think that the oil companies want us to start using a renuable source of diesel ?
Yes, biofuel can be made without affecting human food production - so the argument that bio-fuel=hunger/price rises does not have to be the case.
such an obvious astroturfing campaign.
Astro
astro
29.05.2008 00:31
Onlyme
Oil companies invest in biofuels
29.05.2008 11:07
Anon