Big is most certainly not beautiful when it comes to biomass plants, Richard Dixon, director of Friends of the Earth (FoE) Scotland told an audience in Dundee.
The leading environmental campaigner, in the city to address the annual meeting of FoE Tayside, said the proposed Dundee harbour biomass plant was a major concern to the environmental lobby.
“We support small biomass plants in houses where they are used to provide power and heat, but not big biomass plants of the type that is being considered for the port in Dundee,” he said.
“This one is intended to provide electricity, and although Forth Energy say it can also provide heat, no contracts or agreements to do this have actually been signed.
“An electricity-only large biomass is inefficient and we are against it, especially if it is to burn wood from poorer parts of the world that can’t afford to lose their forests for ecological or economic reasons.”
Dr Dixon said air pollution from big biomass plants was another concern, and he awaited with interest the results of the tests that will determine the progress of the Dundee scheme.
He told the gathering in the Methodist Church, Marketgait, that groups like Tayside’s were a tremendous asset to FoE, and he congratulated members for their work.
He fielded a number of questions from the audience covering global warming, climate change, fossil fuels and the need to spread environmental awareness among the young.