Energy row set to widen split over dash-for-gas strategy
How can a straightforward policy on energy and wind farms be achieved when the coalition is so fractured? To me hard on the heels of revelations about the ongoing disputes between Hayes and Davy this parallel row provides very depressing evidence that rural England will continue to suffer from a “stop-start” approach to pilons, windmills, shale gas, etc. This article tells us
The government split over George Osborne’s dash-for-gas power strategy is set to reopen after an MP at the heart of the debate promised to table an amendment to the Energy Bill in order to make electricity generation almost entirely green by 2030.
Launching a blistering attack on the Chancellor and his pro-gas allies, Tim Yeo, a former Conservative environment minister who now chairs the cross-party Energy and Climate Change Select Committee, said he will table an amendment to the bill to reinstate the legally binding 2030 decarbonisation target.
The target was initially included in the Bill and had the support of Ed Davey, the Liberal Democrat Energy Secretary. However, it was dropped at the last minute after pressure from Mr Osborne, who feared that it would deter investment in new gas generators, the central power source in his energy vision, which produce fewer emissions than coal and oil-fired stations but more than low-carbon sources such as wind and nuclear.