Ho, ho, ho – Santa invades E.On

With 7 new coal fired power stations planned across the UK, Santa Claus’s naughty list is longer than ever. So Santa and a group of jolly helpers started early this year at E.On’s Head Office. Unfortunately there were no presents in store! Only lumps of horrid coal for all their naughtiness. Here’s what happened…

Ravenstruther action leads to jury trial in Lanark

This Direct Action is catching on! At 6am on Monday 15 December, 22 campaigners from yet another new anti-coal group, Coal Action Scotland, together with local residents, blockaded the entrance to the Scottish Coal-operated Ravenstruther coal rail terminal, near Lanark.  Coal Action Scotland is a part of the Coal Action Network that connects many of the groups campaigning and taking action against the coal industry across the UK. 

Who were those guys?

Here’s a south of the border mystery, but none the less interesting for that. According to The Times, Kingsnorth coal power plant in Kent was partially shut down for four hours last Friday night after ‘persons unknown’ scaled an electric fence, entered a secure area and switched off one of four turbines supplying London and the South East. They then made  a successful escape, pausing only to leave a series of messages opposing new coal power stations strewn across the turbine hall. It may have been a lone operator - the Guardian refers to ‘green Banksy’.

Apparently 500MW of generating capacity was lost to the national grid for about four hours after turbine Unit Two was shut down – 2 per cent of total UK consumption at the time, and enough to power a city the size of Bristol.

SANC meets Culross residents

In the shadow of Longannet - SANC pay a visit to Culross

On a chilly Saturday (29 November, to be exact), SANC went to meet the residents of Culross, a lovely village near to Longannet power station in Fife. In 4 hours we managed to survey 59 people – Culross is quite small and does not have a bustling shopping centre so we were delighted with 59! In summary, 86% were concerned about climate change; 59% knew coal was the dirtiest of the fossil fuels; 59% did not think that life of Longannet should be extended as is; and 81% preferred renewables over nuclear. The results weren’t a huge surprise – the main purpose was to make contact with those living near to Longannet. We hope to conduct similar surveys in other towns as it is a good way to meet people and understand their concerns.

Comeback Coal?

Are you confused by Government policy on climate change? Well, you’re not alone. Last night’s BBC Panorama programme looked at opencast coal mining, which is now favoured by the Labour Government after successful lobbying by UK Coal and others. Sadly, Scotland only received a mention. If you miss the programme on iPlayer, see the related BBC News story. The Government hangs its hopes on making coal clean by carbon capture and storage (CCS), which SANC has serious concerns about. Yet the best we can hope for is 12 CCS plants operating across the EU by 2015. This is too little, too late and is yet another reminder that while the Government talks about reducing fossil fuel consumption, the reality is quite the opposite.

Plans for new coal at Hunterston

Energy in Scotland is a bit of a conundrum. We have lots of renewables and the SNP-led Government is against nuclear power, so surely Scotland is THE place to showcase what a clean, low-energy future can look like? Sadly not, as on 20 November, plans were announced for a new conventional coal-fired power station next to Hunterston B, a nuclear power station in Ayrshire which is scheduled for shutdown in 2011. Is this really the best we can do?

New coal map of the UK

The public spirited folks at PIRC (Public Interest Research Centre) have just released an interactive Google Map of all existing and planned coal sites in the UK, including power stations and opencast mines. It’s interactive, zoomable, and full of information about the sizes of the mines and power stations being planned. Worryingly, there are more than a few.

Coalfinger – a new Greenpeace 007 spoof

Came across this on the Greenpeace UK web site the other day. Taking advantage of the press buzz around the release of ‘Quantum of Solace’, Greenpeace has released ‘Coalfinger’, an animated James Bond spoof about the climate-wrecking dangers posed by a new generation of coal-based power plants. Sounds worthy but in fact is very funny, with great voiceovers from Peep Show’s David Mitchell as the Bond-like agent Graverson Green, and the ever wonderful Brian Blessed as his arch-nemesis, the eccentric billionaire Coalfinger.

Treat us to renewables, don’t trick the climate with coal

SANC outside the HQ of Scottish Power

Scotland Against New Coal’s public launch took place this morning at Atlantic Quay in Glasgow, where we played a Halloween game of ‘trick or treat’ at the headquarters of Scottish Power and handed out leaflets to members of the public and staff. Our message? No new coal of course. Scottish Power is currently considering upgrading Longannet Power Station in Fife. At a time when the need to cut carbon emissions is paramount to prevent catastrophic climate change, such a decision would lock Scotland into a damaging, carbon-dependent economy for another generation.

New coal: why we don’t need it

As we close old coal-fired and nuclear power stations in the next decade we will lose
capacity currently providing around a quarter of our electricity output. But Gordon Brown recently committed to targets which will require us to generate about 40% of our electricity from renewables alone by 2020, and the UK also has fairly ambitious energy efficiency targets.

According to Europe’s leading independent energy experts, Poyry, if the UK hits these existing renewables and efficiency targets, there will be no ‘energy gap.’ We can keep the lights on and cut emissions, and in the long run bring down fuel bills too – all without new coal-fired plants.