The future of the controversial Hunterston coal fired power plant is in severe doubt after a Green-sponsored amendment saw the Scottish Parliament yesterday vote against the plan going ahead.
Although the vote is non-binding, the move, combined with a recent landmark court judgement restricting the costs campaigners opposed to the power station will be liable for in a court action against the development, is seen by many observers as adding another obstacle to the progress of the plan.
Patrick Harvie MSP said:
“Parliament has today made the most crucial decision about Scotland's future since the passage of the Climate Change Act last year. This plant has been dogged by controversy from the start, and Ministers now face a possible judicial review if they try and force it through.
“Let's not waste everyone's time - I invite Peel Energy to accept the will of Parliament and withdraw their application. This project is going nowhere, and if they proceed they will be wasting taxpayers' time and money as well as their own. The game is up for new coal plants in Scotland.”
Labour said that before Carbon Capture Storage technology could be shown to work, building a new coal powered station would be irresponsible.
Labour Energy spokesperson Lewis Macdonald said:
“Carbon capture and storage (CCS) offer huge potential for reducing harmful emissions in future, but the technology has still to be proven at scale.
“Labour's Energy and Climate Change Secretary Ed Miliband last week gave the go-ahead to take forward to the next stage the project to demonstrate that CCS can work on a large scale, both technically and commercially, at Longannet.
“Approving a new coal-fired power station before CCS is shown to work at scale could mean millions of tonnes of unabated new carbon emissions from Hunterston. That is why we voted against this proposal in the Scottish Parliament today.”
