Group lodges objections to planned coal power plant

Environmentalists warned a new coal-fired power station in Scotland would damage the climate as consultation on the controversial plan closed yesterday.

Applicant Ayrshire Power wants to build the station at Hunterston in Ayrshire. If approved, it would be the first coal-fired power plant to be built since the 1970s.

MSPs have already signalled their opposition. In March, the month the proposal was first submitted, MSPs backed the Green Party in a 66-26 vote urging ministers to reject it.

The proposed plant would use Carbon Capture and Storage (CCS) technology to store carbon dioxide gas underground.

Yesterday Friends of the Earth Scotland handed in its formal objections to the Hunterston planning application.

Duncan McLaren, the group's chief executive, said: "Approval of Hunterston would not only be harmful to the climate, but damage Scotland's international position and leadership on climate change legislation."

FoE said the proposal should primarily be rejected because it would increase emissions of greenhouse gases, and warned that annual emissions from the plant could total as much as 70 per cent of Scotland's 2050 target level.

The development is earmarked for a site between the Clydeport coal handling depot at the Hunterston terminal and Hunterston B nuclear plant.

Project director Muir Miller said: "Our proposals have attracted objections from environmental groups, charities and faith groups. The irony is they are opposing the very technology that can do most to tackle global warming."