Government urged not to cave in over biofuels

12:14pm Friday 21st November 2008

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A NEW multi-million pound industry vital to the rebirth of the region is threatened if the Government caves in to the “biofuels scare”, ministers were told yesterday.

MPs, business leaders and farmers joined forces to issue the warning as they launched an ambitious regional strategy for transport biofuels at the Houses of Parliament.

The strategy will combine the North-East’s traditional strengths in petrochemicals and agriculture to feed an expected expansion in the use of biofuels in petrol and diesel for transport.

Central to the vision is the planned opening, next June, of Europe’s biggest bioethanol plant in the Tees Valley, being built by Ensus, at Wilton, at a cost of £300m.

The plant will convert 1.2m tonnes of wheat a year into ethanol, a high-octane substance that will be blended with petrol to keep 300,000 cars on the road for a year – using a sustainable fuel.

But, in recent months, controversy has raged over the setting aside of land for biofuels, amid claims that it is plunging people into poverty by driving up food prices, while doing little to combat global warming.

A report to the Government in July called for the planned introduction of biofuels – there is a target to provide five per cent of road transport fuel by 2010-11 – to be slowed down.

At yesterday’s reception, speaker after speaker urged the Government to recognise that the use of biofuels did not cause last year’s food price rises – and there was, therefore, no reason to slow down.

Bob Coxon, chairman of North-East Process Industries Cluster, said: “We have clearly shown this is not an issue.

“The industry can sustainably provide biofuels and food. The facts speak for themselves. Wheat and oilseed prices have fallen dramatically, even though the use of biofuels is increasing.”

That message was echoed by John F Seymour, of the North-East Transport Fuels Strategy Board – a farmer in Stokesley, North Yorkshire – who said: “Biofuels will allow growth in crops in which we can actually lead the world, such as high starch wheat and rapeseed.”

Dari Taylor, the Stockton South MP, who hosted the event, said: “The Government has got it seriously wrong.

The wheat will be grown in fallow fields, without damaging the food supply.”

The reception was told that the Ensus plant is already 70 per cent complete and has 1,000 people working on the site. At full capacity, it will supply 35 per cent of the bioethanol required to achieve the five per cent target.

Other key strands of the “biofuels hub” include facilities such as Biofuels Corporation and V Fuels, the building of better supply chains with farmers and foresters and the proximity of Teesport – the UK’s second biggest port.