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Search forFears as biofuel plant gets go-ahead
07:00 - 07-May-2008
East Riding Council has given the go-ahead to the £200m biofuel development at the BP Chemicals site in Saltend, near Hull.
The plant will turn about a million tons of wheat a year into bioethanol, which can be blended with existing vehicle fuels, and create about 80 jobs.
But Friends of the Earth (FoE) says the plant will take a vast amount of wheat out of the human food chain at a time of growing food shortages.
Hull FoE co-ordinator Sue Jolliffe said: “Wheat prices are sky high, pushing up the price of food staples, such as bread.
“The plant will compete for wheat destined for export markets, so a knock-on effect will be a hole in the food chain in other parts of the world.
“There is also not enough scientific evidence to prove that ethanol reduces CO2 emissions and helps combat global warming.”
Mrs Jolliffe, of Kingsway, Cottingham, said the Government was under pressure to postpone the bioethanol programme.
“It is not economically viable to build the plant when wheat prices are so high, and it is likely to become a huge white elephant,” she said.
The plant is being developed by Vivergo Fuels Limited, a venture between BP, British Sugar owner Associated British Foods, and chemicals firm DuPont.
It will help BP meet its commitments under Government regulations to produce five per cent of its fuels from green sources by 2010.
Goole farmer Ian Backhouse, chairman of the National Farmers' Union's national combinable crops board, said the plant would give them another outlet for wheat.
“It will not only step up green fuel production, but the by-product from the wheat is a high-protein animal feed,” he said.
Nobody from Vivergo was available for comment.
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The BP Chemicals site in Saltend, near Hull
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They are big things to put out at sea and would affect a lot of people’s livelihood
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