Environmentalists are calling on the government to put a halt to the building of a new biofuel power plant in Beckton amid claims that biofuels contribute more to climate change than previously thought.

Blue-NG, a joint venture between National Grid Blue Power and 20C Ltd, have applied to Newham Council to build a 19.5 MWe Combined Heat and intelligent Power (CHiP) plant in Beckton, East London. If given the go-ahead the plant will burn up to 20,000 tonnes of Biofuel per year, producing energy sufficient to meet the electricity needs of 50,000 homes in the UK. The company have plans for a further seven similar plants.

However, both local and national environmental groups have raised arms over the plans, arguing that the proposed plant will have an averse effect on the local area, add to UK carbon emissions and perpetuate the displacement of people in the global south through changes in land use.

A campaign on eco-website foodnotfuel.org.uk complains that if the plant is built "local air quality will get worse" and states that the nitrogen oxides and small particles released through the burning of vegetable oil are "linked to respiratory illnesses and heart problems".

Members of Friends of the Earth UK are also out in force against the proposed new plants in a bid to encourage the Government to rethink its biofuels policy.

The British Government have recently increased the amount of biofuels in UK petrol and diesel from 2.5% to 3.3%, in a practice that Friends of the Earth Director Andy Atkins equates to "trying to cut down on beer by lacing your pints with vodka". Since April 15 2008, the Renewable Transport Fuels Obligation (RTFO) has required suppliers of petrol and diesel to add a certain percentage of biofuel to their products in an effort to curb emissions. However, a report released on April 15 this year, carried out by environmental consultants Scott Wilson for Friends of the Earth, claims that biofuels may have doubled the amount of CO2 they replaced since the introduction of the new regulations.

The report, unlike government calculations on the carbon footprint of biofuels, takes into consideration the potential destruction of forest in the countries supplying the British biofuel industry; US, Argentina and Brazil. Chopping down one hectare of Amazonian rainforest can release as much as 1000 tonnes of carbon dioxide, and it is this practice, resultant of the problem of land-use changes that are associated with the biofuels industry, that environmental groups are most concerned about.

Atkins insists that "Until Ministers can do their sums properly and prove that growing crops for fuel actually cuts carbon, the Government should stop biofuels being added to petrol and diesel".

The decision on the Blue-NG plant in Beckton is to be made on May 1st.

Visit http://www.biofuelwatch.org.uk/blueng_2009apr_live.php to object to the building of this plant. -Please note that this alert is for people living in the UK only. If you do not live in the UK, please do not take part in the alert.