24 January 2008 - Green MEP for the South East Caroline Lucas has called on energy firm E.ON to abandon its plans to build a coal-fired power station at Kingsnorth in Kent, as climate change campaigners prepare to stage a protest outside the company’s London offices on 25 January.

In a frank letter to the Chief Executive of E.ON, Dr Lucas criticised the company’s proposals for the UK’s first coal-fired power station in almost 30 years, branding them ‘ill conceived, old-fashioned and environmentally disastrous’.

She said: “ Local residents and campaigners in Kent have lodged over 9,000 objections to the proposals by E.ON to construct a new coal facility at Kingsnorth, but following the failure of Medway’s Tory-dominated Council to adequately respond to public concerns, E.ON’s proposals passed through the local advisory stages with ease and now lie in the hands of central government.

“We are at a crucial stage in the battle to control rising atmospheric temperatures and we simply cannot afford to shirk our responsibilities on climate change by continuing to rely on dirty and non-renewable fossil fuels. It is foolhardy at best to even be considering a scheme which will squander so many opportunities to reduce our carbon footprint, especially when Kent is so ideally placed to benefit from wind, tidal and biomass energy generation.

Dr Lucas concluded: “The Government must wake up to the reality that we need more investment in and development of renewable solutions, as well as with significantly more emphasis on efficiency measures. Together, these can deliver real energy security and new employment opportunities.”

ENDS

Notes to Editor

The protest will take place at the E.ON offices at 100 Pall Mall, near Trafalgar Square, and is being organised by LSE students and the group Campaign against Climate Change.  For more information, please call 07903 316331.