Lawyers and environmental campaigners are urging the government to back new EU rules limiting industrial pollution.
A vote on adopting revised rules for Best Available Techniques for large combustion plants (LCP BREF) is due to take place at a meeting of the Industrial Emissions Directive (IED) Article 75 Committee, which advises the European Commission on guidance, rules and reporting under the IED.
The meeting, at the end of April, will consider new standards for LCPs powered by fuels including coal, gas, biomass and diesel. These standards are reflected in the permits of LCPs, ensuring that operators are legally obliged to meet the BREF standards, including limits on toxic pollutants such as nitrogen oxides, sulphur dioxide and particulate matter.
In a letter to environment secretary Andrea Leadsom, campaigners including ClientEarth, Greenpeace, E3G and the European Environmental Bureau point out that the current standards are out of date because they fail to consider technological improvements to plants since they were established in 2006. The letter says that new standards should have been adopted in August 2014, but had been delayed by extended negotiations.
If adopted at the end of the month, the revised LCP BREF would come into effect in 2021. But the campaigners fear that the UK government has lobbied against the new standards, claiming they are too tough on industry.
The NGOs claimed the UK had resisted changes despite securing a derogation allowing its coal plants to avoid costly investments if they operate for fewer than 1,500 hours a year, and been given flexibility on the timing of reviewing permits.
If the UK votes against the updated standards, it is likely the legally binding pollution limits would not come into effect due to the way the votes are weighted, the NGOs warned.
ClientEarth chief executive James Thornton said: ‘After years of negotiating, it’s absolutely vital that Andrea Leadsom supports these new rules. It would be inexcusable not to: pollution does not respect borders and we need strong, modern industrial standards, based on tried and tested technology, to protect our health and the health of our European neighbours.’
A spokesperson for the environment department (Defra) said: 'The government is participating as usual in the ongoing review process for the Large Combustion Plant Best Available Technique Reference Document (LCP BREF) to ensure that the standards placed on industry deliver benefits to human health and the environment balanced against the costs of implementation. We are currently examining the proposed LCP BREF ahead of the vote later this month.'
The department is due to publish a revised national air quality strategy this month, after the High Court ruled that its previous draft was not sufficiently ambitious. Some had expected it to be published today. A spokesperson for Defra said that the strategy scheduled to be published by the 24 April deadline.
Meanwhile, in a separate letter, ClientEarth pressured the minister for business, energy and industrial strategy Nick Hurd to publish the emissions reduction plan, which has been repeatedly delayed. The plan would outline the government’s strategy for meeting the next phase of emissions reductions under the Climate Change Act. It was originally due to be published in December 2016, but the government pushed this back, first to February 2017 and then the first quarter of the year. Now it has simply stated that publication will be ‘as early on in 2017 as possible’.
The fifth carbon budget, which commits the government to cutting CO2 by 57% from 1990 levels between 2028 and 2032, was adopted by the government in July 2016. The Climate Change Act mandates the government to publish its strategy ‘as soon as reasonably practicable’ after the budget is set.
ClientEarth urged Hurd to publish the strategy within the next 21 days or explain why it would be further delayed. The organisation said it would consider legal action if the government failed to respond. A spokesperson for ClientEarth said: ‘Litigation is a last resort but we may feel compelled to do that.’
