Representation by Jacqueline Smith
- Date submitted
- 5 August 2022
- Submitted by
- Members of the public/businesses
I have serious concerns about how cost-effective this project will be, both in cash terms and from an ecological point of view. Capturing and compressing CO2 takes a lot of energy – 28% of all the energy produced by each unit, according to Drax but possibly even more – so there’s a high risk of the resultant shortfall in electricity production being met from increased fossil gas being burned elsewhere, leading to yet more CO2 emissions. The project will have significant impacts on local communities and wildlife as Drax’s own planning documents show that the development will take at least 4 years to build with constant noise and increased traffic. The development will also lead to the degradation and destruction of important habitats near the site where rare and protected species have been found, including water voles, otters, great crested newts and many species of threatened birds. It will also risk additional pollution and possible harm to human health as Drax plans to use chemicals called amines to separate or ‘scrub’ the CO2 from the other flue gases. These chemicals release by-products, including nitrosamines and nitramines, which are probable carcinogens that can cause cancer. In short, given that the fuel will be obtained by felling old-growth forests in Canada and shipped to the UK using fossil-fuel powered tankers, and the resulting power will be hugely inefficient and potentially massively polluting, this is a not really a low-carbon green project at all - it's an attempt to greenwash a massively damaging organisation.