by Jenni Horn
MP Bob Marshall-Andrews (above) will take the campaign against a new coal-fired power station to Westminster next week.
The Labour MP for Medway will present a petition, with more than 1,600 signatures opposing the new plant at Kingsnorth, to climate change and energy secretary Ed Miliband.
The petition was set up by local campaign group Kingsnorth Climate Action Medway.
Justin Geiss, from the group, said: “I’m really appalled by the idea that we might end up with a huge new polluting Kingsnorth coal power station. E.ON’s claims that a new power station will be cleaner are misleading, as they encourage people to underestimate the scale of the issue. A new plant at Kingsnorth would emit enormous amounts of climate changing carbon emissions - over 6 million tonnes per year. That’s the same as the whole country of Tanzania emits in a year.”
“E.ON talk about carbon capture and storage technology (CCS) as if it held the answer to the problem of carbon emissions, but this technology has not proven itself to be viable on a large scale.”
Mr Marshall-Andrews will present the petition to Mr Miliband on Wednesday .