Britain tries to block (EU) green energy laws

[jpak]

http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2008/jul/24/renewableenergy.greenpolitics

Britain is trying to water down tough new European legislation to boost the uptake of renewable energy, despite a pledge by Gordon Brown last month to launch a "green revolution" based on clean technology.

Documents obtained by the Guardian show the UK wants to block attempts to give renewable electricity sources such as wind farms priority access to the national grid. The European official who drafted the legislation accused Britain of "obstructing" EU efforts on renewables and said UK officials wanted to protect traditional energy suppliers and their coal, gas and nuclear power stations.

Claude Turmes, a Luxembourg MEP and architect of the EU renewables directive, said: "This would take us backwards and would weaken the possibilities of connecting renewable energy to the grid. A government that says it wants to promote renewables cannot go for other policies behind the scenes."

The renewables directive is intended to support an EU target to generate 20% of energy from renewable sources by 2020.

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[cedric]

1. Pretty much what I expect

Brown has no understanding of the ecological issues facing us and simply follows the beck and call of big business.