energy - playing poker with the future
WORKERS, MAY 2005 ISSUE
The government is still playing high risk poker with Britain's energy industries. Britain has now ceased to be either an exporter of or self-sufficient in gas as the North Sea oil and gas fields expire.
No decision has been made over new nuclear installations, and meanwhile the old power stations are being decommissioned. Coal is left to die.
Instead, almost as emergency measures, the government is finalising additional import contracts: 20% of Britain's gas will come from Norway via a new 745-mile underwater pipe. Already substantial imports from Algeria will be increased.
The Isle of Grain, site of the ill-fated oil power station in Kent, will now become the central distribution point for liquefied natural gas. Imports will rise from 3.3 million tonnes now to 9.8 million in 2008. Gas will keep its 30% market for power generation, all of which adds up to no energy strategy, no independence or security of supply and a total abdication by government of its responsibilities to Britain.