Petcoke, The Public and Power: The Case of Drax

Abstract

In mid-1997 National Power, a major British electricity generator, received permission from the national environmental regulator, the Environment Agency, to test-burn petroleum coke blended with local coal at their Drax power station in North Yorkshire. Late in 1997 these tests were completed successfully, from the perspective of Drax, and the application for the full-scale burn of the blended fuel is expected to be made in 1998. The imported by-product of oil refining is considerably cheaper than local coal, but allegedly richer in several environmental pollutants. In spite of flourishing green rhetoric, New Labour has not reversed the dominance of commercial over all other considerations in UK electricity generation, which in turn left NP with little choice but to reduce fuel costs and utilise its expensive FGD facilities. This paper analyses documents, interviews and questionnaires with participants in the controversy and discusses findings with reference to various decision making theories, asking who is 'really' to blame for unpopular energy policy decisions.