Meacher refutes Greenpeace claims over incinerator numbers

Mr Meacher takes Greenpeace to task over the number of incinerators to be built and the health effects of in a letter to Greenpeace UK sent last Friday.

He attacks the group over its predictions for the number of incinerators which might be built, writing: “You continue to refer to contracts for dozens of incinerators. I would like you to take on board that the agreements your are referring to are in fact in-principle, historic commitments under the DTI’s non fossil fuel obligation (NFFO) to buy electricity from proposed energy-from-waste projects if they ever get off the ground.”

Mr Meacher added: “These projects would still have to clear the hurdles of planning permission and environmental control permission. It is for local authorities – not Greenpeace – in consultation with local communities to decide how best to manage their waste, and whether an incinerator should be part of the solution.”

Mr Meacher also castigated Greenpeace’s “flawed method” of calculating the health effects of incinerators.
He told Rob Gueterbock of Greenpeace that: “The Department of Health’s expert committee on medical effects of air pollutants has ruled that attribution of effects to individual plants is subject to strong caveats, and should be on the basis of proper studies of how emissions from individual sites disperse.”

Hoever, the minister also had to admit that figures used by Greenpeace and supplied by the Department from consultant Entec contained an error.

But, while the Department has had to admit to the error, it notes that “taking account of revised, figures Greenpeace’s estimate of the health impacts of NOx from incineration is worthless – they are overstated by a factor of 65.”

A view from Greenpeace on the minister’s letter is expected soon.