§ Lord Hardy of Wathasked Her Majesty's Government:
Whether they will now discourage the use of petrocoke in British power stations.
§ The Minister of State, Department of Trade and Industry (Lord Simon of Highbury)Any power station proposal which requires consent under Section 36 of the Electricity Act 1989 is considered on its merits against the background of concern to address local environmental issues and to ensure consistency with the objective of secure, diverse and sustainable supplies of energy at competitive prices and the meeting of environmental targets. Any operators proposing to change a fuel at a power station must satisfy the requirements of Integrated Pollution Control as operated by the Environment Agency. The first trial burn of petroleum coke at Drax is still under way and we do not know yet what its outcome will be.