Orders of the Day — Combustion Plants (Air Pollution)

Part of the debate – in the House of Commons at 12:45 am on 4 July 1988.

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Photo of Mr Colin Moynihan Mr Colin Moynihan , Lewisham East 12:45, 4 July 1988

I beg to move, That this House takes note of European Community Documents Nos. 11642/83, 5124/85 and the proposals described in the un-numbered Explanatory Memorandum from the Department of the Environment of 9th June 1988 and the Supplementary Explanatory Memorandum of 29th June 1988 on the limitation of emissions of pollutants into the air from large combustion plants; and calls upon the Government to support the agreement reached at the meetings of the Council of Environment Ministers on 16th and 28th June 1988 on proposals for a European Community Directive. The motion concerns a major piece of proposed European Community legislation on the environment—the the draft directive on the control of emissions from large combustion plants. This mainly concerns power stations, which are responsible for about 70 per cent. of United Kingdom sulphur emissions and 40 per cent. of nitrogen oxides, but also refineries and certain other large industrial plants.

It would be helpful to hon. Members to explain at the outset that the two deposited documents cited in the motion have been overtaken by events, and that my remarks are primarily addressed to the informal version of the directive which the Department submitted under cover of its explanatory memorandum of 9 June. I should mention that there have been a few changes in the proposals since then: notably, the emission reduction targets for individual states—details of which are set out in annexes 1 and 2 to the Department's supplementary explanatory memorandum of 29 June—revised proposals for monitoring and measuring emissions from new plants and special arrangements for Spain.

I am glad to be able to inform the House that agreement in principle has finally been reached on this directive. As hon. Members will no doubt be aware, the directive represents part of the European Community's response to the problem of acid rain and. in particular, the need to reduce emissions of pollutants which contribute to the problem—sulphur dioxide and nitrogen oxides. The other part of the response is the directive on vehicle emissions, which was agreed in December 1987 and, I am happy to say, is now to be supplemented by a further tightening of the controls on small cars agreed by European Environment Ministers last week.

The large combustion plant proposals were first put forward by the Commission in 1983, ostensibly in response to concern over the major forest damage being experienced in central Europe. Large elements of the directive were based on West German domestic legislation, which had been drawn up in response to this problem. I think that there is general acceptance that the problem of forest damage may call for rather more complex remedies than those being put forward five years ago. Equally, there is growing recognition that sulphur dioxide and nitrogen oxide emissions play a large part in forming acid deposition, which contributes to freshwater damage, notably in Scandinavia, but also in some areas of the United Kingdom and elsewhere.

The draft EC directive in its initial form sought to impose tight standards on new plant, and very substantial overall reductions in each country's total large plant emissions by 1995, based on 1980 figures, of 60 per cent SO2 and 40 per cent. NOx and dust. We and a number of other countries did not consider that the across-the-board approach to emission reductions from existing plant was on a consistent or equitable basis. It suited countries whose emissions had peaked at 1980 levels or those which were investing heavily in nuclear power and would not need to make a major effort to achieve the required emission reductions. However, the formula was a very difficult one for the United Kingdom, bearing in mind that our SO2 emissions had fallen substantially in the decade before 1980 and in view of our heavy reliance on coal-fired power stations. It was also difficult for some of the less well developed states in the Community which are in the process of expanding their capacity to generate electricity.

Negotiations have taken place against a background of growing international concern about acid rain—concern that is fully shared by the Government. Growing evidence that emissions—not only from the United Kingdom but from a number of other countries—were implicated in the acidification of Scandinavian freshwaters prompted the Government to announce significant measures to deal with the problem. In 1984 we announced our aim to reduce emissions of SO2 and NOx by 30 per cent. on 1980 levels by the end of the 1990s.

We have taken significant steps towards achieving those targets. In September 1986 we announced that all new coal-fired power stations would be required to have the technology to control SO2 emissions, and that 6,000 MW of coal-fired generating capacity, the equivalent of three major power stations, would be retrofitted with flue gas desulphurisation equipment. In May 1987 we announced that all 12 major coal-fired stations would have low-NOx burners fitted, and that this technology would be a requirement for new power stations. Those measures will cost over £1 billion.

By any standards, it is a very substantial programme. Very few Community countries—only West Germany, Denmark and the Netherlands—are doing more than we are; most are doing much less. Nevertheless, the original Commission proposals would have required us to do considerably more.

We do not flinch from expensive measures when they are shown to be worth while to protect the environment, nor do we insist on absolute proof before taking remedial action, but we look for reasonable assurances that the action that we decide to take will be cost-effective. Under the original Commission proposals, the United Kingdom would have had to retrofit flue gas desulphurisation equipment to perhaps a further nine power stations at a likely additional cost of more than £2,000 million and within an impracticably short period.

We seriously questioned the extent to which action on that scale would bring worthwhile results ahead of the increasing use of low acid technology, such as fluidised bed combustion, low-NOx burners and coal gas gasification, towards the end of the next decade. Such a programme would bring with it major implications for waste disposal because of the quantities of chemical by-products produced in the scrubbing process—neutralising the acid with an agent such as limestone. The by-products concerned depend on the process used—gypsum, or, where regenerative processes are used to refine the product further, sulphur or sulphuric acid.

Up to a certain level of output, those products are of material value to the building industry or to the chemical industry, but too much and the countryside would be awash with them. Moreover, some of the targets set were just not physically attainable for the United Kingdom, with our high-sulphur indigenous coal, short of a massive switch to the use of imported low-sulphur coal.

The targets for emission reduction from existing plants have been modified under successive presidencies, and the position today is as set out in the annexes to the explanatory memorandum issued by the Department on 29 June. The basic approach is now a three-stage approach to reductions in overall SO2 emissions and two stages for NOx emissions. Different targets are to apply for different member states to reflect their particular circumstances.

The proposals have gone a long way towards recognising the needs and problems of individual member states, while still requiring a substantial overall Communitywide effort to reduce emissions. In the case of the United Kingdom, for example, the SO2 targets that we propose to accept give some credit for the emission reductions achieved before 1980. Those reductions—a 20 per cent. reduction on 1980 levels of large combustion plant emissions by 1993, 40 per cent. by 1998 and 60 per cent. by 2003——