Egger UK Ltd
Anick Grange Road
Hexham
Northumberland
NE46 4JS
Some facts...
:: There has been a chipboard factory on the Anick Road site in Sandhoe parish since the 1950s.
:: The factory is prominently visible when approaching Hexham town from the east.
:: The current chimneys produce output 24 hours a day, every day.
:: The plume is visible from the surrounding countryside
:: A Google search on the keywords "formaldehyde" and "asthma" returns over 498,000 references
:: Egger is alleged to have not entirely complied with a previous Section 108 planning agreement on tree planting
:: The existing road infrastructure is poor for the current volume of traffic generated by the site.
:: The plant generates a significant amount of noise which is quite intrusive to local residents.
:: The new development includes the construction of a new 53 metre high chimney with a pollution abatement system, but no evidence of a change to the plume of emission.
:: The higher chimney distributes emissions over a larger area.
:: Egger are not thought to be claiming any significant increase in employment as a result of this proposal.
Egger - minutes of meeting |
| Posted by Administrator (admin) on Aug 18 2007 at 2:45 pm |
Present
Malcolm Wicks MP – Minister for Energy, Department for Trade and Industry
John Havard – Deputy Director (Gas Markets), Department for Trade and Industry
Paddy Tipping MP – Chairman, All Party Parliamentary Group for the Wood Panel Industry
Martyn Jones MP – Treasurer, All Party Parliamentary Group for the Wood Panel Industry
Alastair Kerr - Director General, Wood Panel Industries Federation
Stephen Roebuck - Group Environment Director, Norbord Ltd
Simon Dotlinger - Production & Technical Director, Egger UK Ltd
John Patterson - Timber Buyer, Egger Forestry Ltd
Gavin Adkins - Director Kronospan Forestry Ltd
Stuart Goodall - Head of Policy, Confederation of Forest Industries
Jonathan Sayeed – Ranelagh International Ltd
Anna Wolffe – Ranelagh International Ltd
Paddy Tipping introduced members of the delegation and explained there were two issues which were to be raised – the recent increase in gas prices and the subsequent effect on the Wood Panel Industry and the decision to include co-firing in the Energy Review.
John Havard, in the absence of the Minister, led the discussion on the increase in gas prices. Alastair Kerr, representing the Wood Panel Industry, gave some background on the industry, explaining that it manufactured on a large scale and was an energy intensive industry. As a result, the volatility in the gas market over the last few months gave rise to great concern.
Gavin Adkins explained that over the winter period 2005/2006 the increase in gas prices had doubled his energy costs which made his situation uncompetitive. He stated that there needed to be a semblance of stability in the market by this winter. One way of doing this was for Rough Storage to be up and running again, and asked Mr Havard if firm dates for this had been given by Centrica. Mr Harvard stated that no firm date had been give but gave his re-assurance that Centrica and the DTI were moving as speedily as they could on this matter.
Simon Dotlinger agreed with Gavin Adkins’ points, stating that UK gas prices were greater that on mainland Europe, making his UK plant uncompetitive. If the situation did not stabilise, it might be untenable to continue the UK operation.
Steve Roebuck stated that his company had taken the decision to shut one of its two manufacturing lines - because of the high gas prices. Production and associated jobs would mean a 40% reduction of his workforce. He stated a need for liberalisation of the gas market.
In response to these points, John Havard stated that he was aware of the importance of rough storage and was working hard with Centrica to ensure it was available again soon. He stated that the explosion on 16th February had made the market tight, but there was a significant amount of gas in rough storage. He was unable to comment on the specific date that rough storage would be operational again.
Mr Havard stated that he was disappointed that the new gas import infrastructure was under-used. In the first half of the winter the utilisation of the Belgium / UK gas interconnector was low (30m against 48m). There were numerous reasons to explain the low use, one of them being intervention by the Spanish Government which increased prices. Additionally the lead time for purchasing gas was another problem which was being tackled by Ofgem by a series of workshops. Ofgem has complained to the European Commission regarding Spanish actions and an investigation is under way.
LNG – the DTI hopes to have a framework in place for better utilisation.
****************
Malcolm Wicks MP, Minister for Energy at the DTI joined the meeting at this stage.
Alastair Kerr gave the Minister a brief outline of the Wood Panel Industry. It covers 8 manufacturing sites in the UK, owned by 4 separate companies. It supplies 2/3 of the UK’s wood panel consumption, has a turnover of £650m and employs 7,000 people. It is a capital, energy intensive, commodity driven business, working towards its climate change levy targets. Gas is a major component of the industry’s energy requirements and therefore volatility in the market is a major concern.
The Minister stated that he was aware that British Industry was suffering as a result of the recent increases in gas prices and that the differential between UK and EU prices is a big issue. The liberalisation of the gas market is a key objective of the British Government, and the 2 relevant EU Commissioners are broadly in favour.
The discussion moved on to the second topic – the inclusion of co-firing in the Energy Review.
Alastair Kerr stated that should co-firing be increased, the impact on the Wood Panel Industry would be enormous. It has the potential to consume huge quantities of material at any one time which would distort the markets. The wood panel industry is not opposed to co-firing per se and indeed recognises the contribution that it could make towards reducing CO2 emissions, but co-firing should be confined to energy crops.
Amongst the various options that will be considered for changing the co-firing rules, the three critical ones are:
a) Amending the Cap arrangements (currently 10% of power being supplied from co
firing and progressively reducing to 5% in 2011 to 0 in 2016.
b) The ski slope proposal put forward by Drax Power Ltd whereby co-fired ROC’s in excess of the Cap can be redeemed without impacting on the value of non co-fired ROCs.
c) Clarifying or amending the definitions of an energy crop.
Stuart Goodall stated that many people might be surprised that he had concerns but his industry was not in favour of the extension of co-firing. The development of the renewable energy market is an exciting one and there is material available which can benefit the sector, but the Forest Industry would like to see the material being invested in the heat market – they believe that this provides the best option for the Government. 30% of the product can be used for the power market, whereas 80-85% can be invested in the heat market. The Forest Industry wants a long-term sustainable market and the wood energy market is able to provide that. The material is cost-effective as wood chip is the most suitable material for the heat market. The role of Government, as the industry sees it, is to encourage the development of the heat market, which is not the current position as policy presently concentrates on electricity.
Co-firers, such as DRAX, can be up and running very speedily, which might make them attractive but it only a short-term option. The heat market would need longer to establish itself, but gives a long-term solution.
The Minister made some suggestions:
· That the Wood Panel Industry submits evidence to the review as soon as possible
· A meeting is set up with Roy Collins and Alex King (Renewable Obligations Team at the Department)
· The Wood Panel Industry provides the Minister with a location list of their plants and he will endeavour to fit in a visit when he is near one of them.
The Minister understood and had some sympathy for the point that the consumption of wood material essential to WPIF by other industries was being incentivised by co-firing, was concerned that the ROC mechanism encouraged that to happen, regretted that energy crops had not grown as hoped for and confirmed the Government’s support for the ‘waste hierarchy’.
The meeting was adjourned at 12.30pm
http://www.ranelagh.info/wpif/docs/27%20April%2006.doc
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