28mago 14.54 BST
UK could be buying more wood pellets from US for Drax biomass
power station, Trump's agriculture secretary signals
8) elena orton
Helena Horton is a Guardian environment reporter.
The UK could buy more wood pellets from the US for the Drax biomass
โpower station in north Yorkshire, Brooke Rollins, US agriculture secretary,
has suggested.
Speaking to reporters in London, Rollins said she had convinced energy
Secretary Ed Miliband to take more of the
These are used to power the Drax power station - even though
environmental experts have claimed is unsustainable because burning wood
emits carbon and the pellets used to power it are shipped across the ocean.
![The Drax plant accounts for around 6% of the UKโs electricity supply but it
had its subsidies halved last year, and it was directed by government to only
use sustainable wood. Last year, Drax was forced to pay ยฃ25m to the energy
regulator Ofgem after it was found to have submitted inaccurate data on the
sourcing of its wood pellets. There have been reports some of the pellets
used in the power station have been from rare forests.
Rollins said:
44 We are 100% confident that [the wood pellets] does meet your sustainability
requirements here in this country yesterday. That was one of the key things that
Ispoke to [Miliband and energy minister Michael Shanks] about. And they
agreed.
Idonโt want to get ahead of them, but in that meeting they felt fully assured
that what we are doing in America does meet your sustainability requirements.
In fact, we could potentially be opening up more markets for our wood pellets
into the UK, as other countries that youโre importing here into this country are
clearly not meeting those marks.](https://cdn.bsky.app/img/feed_thumbnail/plain/did:plc:5eyzxq6litcyeva7et2xs6yt/bafkreiabtejijzi73rjtkfxwcp7br2vesfqigmi4cgxlr2ojpk4eayz3ni)
The Drax plant accounts for around 6% of the UKโs electricity supply but it
had its subsidies halved last year, and it was directed by government to only
use sustainable wood. Last year, Drax was forced to pay ยฃ25m to the energy
regulator Ofgem after it was found to have submitted inaccurate data on the
sourcing of its wood pellets. There have been reports some of the pellets
used in the power station have been from rare forests.
Rollins said:
44 We are 100% confident that [the wood pellets] does meet your sustainability
requirements here in this country yesterday. That was one of the key things that
Ispoke to [Miliband and energy minister Michael Shanks] about. And they
agreed.
Idonโt want to get ahead of them, but in that meeting they felt fully assured
that what we are doing in America does meet your sustainability requirements.
In fact, we could potentially be opening up more markets for our wood pellets
into the UK, as other countries that youโre importing here into this country are
clearly not meeting those marks.
This skeleton of a trade deal with Gilead is already looking to harm the Environment for profit. Bet Fash Boy Starmer doesn't have a problem with that, fuck the world his children will be inheriting, their wealth will somehow shield them from it he thinks.
I [โฆ]
[Original post on mastodon.social]
