Hundreds of environmentalists have gathered at the Drax facility, near Selby, North Yorkshire, to protest the level of pollution caused by the coal-fired plant. Drax is the largest power station in the UK and also the largest single producer of CO2 emission in Britain.
According to local media reports, the largely peaceful demonstration has only been marred by a few minor incidents. Protestors who encroached onto the power station’s land have been arrested.
Commenting on the more extreme element in the protestors’ ranks, Mr Porter said: The protesters seem prepared to take chances with their safety and that of the people who work at Drax. They are also happy to put electricity supply at risk. That is daft, dangerous and misguided. They have already made their point and I hope that common sense will prevail.
Drax, representing about 7% of our electricity production, is very important to Britain’s power supplies. It helps to provide diversity in Britain’s fuel mix, reducing the risks arising from dependence on, for example, gas. It pioneered flue gas desulphurisation to combat acid rain emissions and more recently it developed co-firing where carbon-reducing biomass is burned to displace some of the coal.
Closing down Drax would cause a lot of distress and inconvenience but it would do nothing to bring about change in the way that we make our electricity. That is already well under way, but, it will be achieved over a period of years, not days, Mr Porter concluded.
