Biomass company Drax is not 'fit and proper' and should not receive £7 billion in green subsidies, MPs said yesterday.
During a debate on a proposed climate and nature bill, Labor MP Barry Gardiner criticized the wood-burning company.
He accused the company of 'deliberately misrepresenting' the sustainability of the wood pellets it uses to fuel its factory near Selby, North Yorkshire.
It follows a BBC Panorama investigation which claimed the energy company was burning wood from some of the world's most precious forests in Canada – which Drax denies.
Yet the company still receives billions in environmental subsidies from British households because the electricity it produces is classified as renewable.
The company imports the equivalent of 27 million trees a year, which it sends to Britain to burn. Biomass accounts for around 8 percent of Britain's 'green' energy generation, most of which comes from Drax.
Yesterday, MPs used a debate on the Private Member's Bill to voice their concerns about the company and its impact on the environment.
Mr Gardiner told the House of Commons: “We cannot allow the damage to old growth and to primary forests that we know is taking place in Canada.”
The company still receives billions in environmental subsidies from British households because the electricity it produces is classified as renewable. Pictured: Drax power station near Selby, North Yorkshire
Drax imports the equivalent of 27 million trees a year, which it sends to Britain to burn
He added that whistleblower bills filed in the Lords had given extra weight to a regulator's investigation into the company.
Ofgem found that “the sustainability of the raw material was not only misreported, but deliberately misreported,” he said.
“That means that the people involved at Drax are not capable of running the company, and we should not pay them,” he added.
Tory bigwig Sir Roger Gale also told MPs: 'Like the previous government, this government is subsidizing Drax, to the tune of billions of pounds.
'Why? To transport millions of trees, cut down and shipped across the Atlantic at God knows what carbon cost, to be burned in the interest of some kind of future carbon-free fuel – which of course is not the case.
'Why do we allow this and why do we pay for it?'
It came after former BBC director general Lord Birt told colleagues last year that he had seen “deeply disturbing” claims from whistleblowers.
Tory bigwig Sir Roger Gale also told MPs: 'Like the previous government, this government is subsidizing Drax, to the tune of billions of pounds'
'It's disturbing to read. They allege outright dishonesty, cover-ups, under-the-table bribe offers and open threats by some senior Drax executives,” he said.
A spokesperson for Energy Minister Ed Miliband did not respond to requests for comment on whether he shared MPs' concerns and whether he was comfortable with bill payers subsidizing wood burning.
Drax was contacted for comment.
