BRITAIN will fail to meet targets set by the European Community for
reducing air pollution unless the government fits more antipollution equipment
to power stations and takes energy conservation more seriously. This warning
comes in a report* commissioned by Greenpeace, the environmental pressure
The authors, from the consultancy Earth Resources Research, calculate
that by 1993, levels of sulphur dioxide pollution from power stations in
Britain will match those of 1980. But they expect overall emissions of sulphur
dioxide to fall by 10 per cent by 1993. The government predicts a fall of22
To comply with EEC regulations, Britain should reduce by 1993 its emissions
of sulphur dioxide and nitrogen oxides by 20 per cent, using the level of
air pollution in 1980 as a baseline.
The report challenges three elements of the government’s strategy for
meeting the regulations. The government expects organisations such as the
Central Electricity Generating Board (CEGB) to equip new coal-fired stations
with gas scrubbers and to fit existing stations with equipment for filtering
out sulphur dioxide. Power stations account for nearly 90 per cent of the
sulphur dioxide that Britain discharges into the air.
The government also assumes that the oil industry will contract. This
should affect the levels of sulphur dioxide pumped out by refineries. Thirdly,
the Department of the Environment expects the level of industrial air pollution
to fall as factories close or upgrade their technology to tighten control
The authors of the report argue that emissions from refineries will
not fall as much as the government expects because the oil industry itself
will not decline as rapidly as once expected. Also, the consultancy doubts
whether air pollution produced by industry will fall as quickly as the government
A separate analysis produced for the European Commission by a taskforce
in Brussels lends weight to the uncertainty about meeting targets. The analysis,
which attempts to evaluate the impact of the single European market on the
environment, predicts that a by-product of the extra economic activity will
be a 14-per-cent increase in pollution.
Earth Resources Research also points out that the CEGB’s programme for
attaching filters to new and existing power stations is already behind schedule,
and that the impending privatisation of the industry will add to the confusion.
Three years ago, the board announced plans to spend more than Pounds
sterling 2 billion fitting flue-gas desulphurisation equipment to the larger
coal-fired power stations. To date, only one-third of the programme has
been agreed. This involves the 4000-megawatt Drax station in north Yorkshire,
Europe’s largest coal-fired power plant.
Britain will come under increasing pressure from the EC over the next
few years unless its air pollution programme is approved quickly. In addition
to the 20-per-cent cut by 1993, Britain has agreed to cut emissions of sulphur
dioxide by 40 per cent and 60 per cent by 1998 and 2003 respectively.
Two generating companies are to replace the CEGB next year after privatisation,
but they have not decided how to reapportion responsibility for the programme
Privatisation will also change the mix of power plant that will generate
the country’s electricity. Originally, the board planned to build four new
nuclear and three coal-fired power stations.
The new plants would replace ageing nuclear and power plant and meet
an anticipated growth in demand for electricity. The nuclear programme,
however, has been halved over the past nine months, while proposals for
three new large coal-fired stations, all to be fitted with desulphurisation
equipment, have been cancelled.
*Response to the DOE consultation paper in the implementation of the
large combustion plants directive, available from Greenpeace.