Mr Procter Goes To Drax
By Paul Homewood
One of our readers received this circular from his local Tory MEP.
It included news of his visit to Drax:
Highly amused at Mr Procter’s rather naive acceptance of what the spin merchants at Drax had told him, he fired off this letter to the MEP:
Dear Mr Procter,
I have read your newsletter in my capacity as a Sheffield Hallam Conservative member and you say you have learned abut “Drax’s pioneering use of sustainable wood pellets to produce low-carbon energy for businessses and industries”
I hope they explained the full picture. They receive £800m/year in subsidies. The cost of green subsidies is £317 per household in 2014; £584 in 2020; £815 in 2030 and England has one of the highest energy costs in the World. High energy costs causes loss of jobs
The pellets are supplied from forests in the US and transported 3500 miles to the UK. The net result is that this process puts out more CO2 than coal fired plants. Professor Schlesinger and 100 environmental other scientists in the US have said “this does not reduce CO2 emissions and arguably makes matters worse” He lives in North Carolina where the deforestation is taking place.
Out of the top 60 CO2 emissions countries in the world the UK is 54th out of the top 60. We are small fry. China produces 27% and by 2030 will double their emissions. India is 3rd largest and will triple its emissions by 2030. Germany has banned nuclear and expanded its coal fired plants to supply its industry as well as becoming increasingly dependent on Russia for its energy needs.
The decision to stop subsidising the Welsh Tidal Lagoon project show some common sense and commercial reality. I expect the Conservative Party to show commercial common sense in all aspects of Government. In this case we have failed. I would conclude with the GMB statement with which I agree.
“Those advocating a renewables only energy policy cannot just shrug their shoulders on cloudy windless days and when it is dark, and pretend, that windmills and solar can keep the lights on. (The biomass contribution is 5% energy needs) ….a balanced energy mix-which includes nuclear and gas as the only reliable shows in town…is a reality”.
I would recommend the “Not a lot of people know that” website to you for the facts on renewables and the impact it is having in the UK.
Best Wishes
And then got this in reply:
Thank you for your email.
I note your view. Whilst I agree with some of the points you make, the government are clear in their direction of travel with renewables. The energy regulation market is going through change and the closing of power stations is of personal concern.
Thank you for your input into this debate.
In other words, I know it’s all nonsense, but it is the government’s policy, so I’ve got to go along with it!
No doubt, Mr Procter would applaud Matt’s “pioneering” technology if the government told him to!
Comments are closed.
NOT A LOT OF PEOPLE KNOW THAT 
Looks like Proctor got Perry’d.
I wonder if John Proctor knows of the deforestation of Europe, and then the burning of peat.
And then the king put a mark on the tall pines of NA and started the issues with the Colonies.
Now you are burning our forests.
Mr. Proctor, please stop this madness.
Or the deforestation along the coastal plain rivers of the southeastern United States? North Carolina, South Carolina and Georgia might have been regretting the loss of their riverine forests with the recent hurricane water dumps.
Reblogged this on Science is distorted by progressive philosophy.
What a Drongo!
Dave… how very polite you are!
As a Londoner, I’d say that he’s a complete ‘Merchant Banker’.
Well, at least he had the courtesy to say thankyou for the input to the debate, which is more than a lot of politicians would have done.
And maybe the bit about shipping the pellets just might make him stop and ask himself if that really makes sense. Every journey begins with one step!
It will take some time, but the backlash to all this nonsense is coming.
Mr. Procter best face up to the reality that in a few years time he will be grilled by parliament for not responding adequately to reasonable questions posed by not only his constituents, but by his own Conservative supporters.
There are innumerable young, future parliamentary candidates waiting in the wings for the opportunity to make a name for themselves.
As public apathy grows relative to climate change; because energy bills are becoming too expensive, electric cars are being imposed by government, fat cats are making off with renewable subsidies, ten’s of billions a year is wasted by the UK alone on climate fantasy with, of course, no discernible change, young politicians will close in for the kill.
Trump lit the blue touchpaper, it’s just burning down.
I have never figured this one out. The only way I can see where burning wood to replace coal “might” be more carbon neutral is if you were burning dead trees. Since burning wood still generates CO2 and to burn living trees, you are eliminating a carbon sink, it just flat doesn’t sound like the CO2 numbers could ever lean towards wood over coal. Stupid is the only word that comes close to describing this, but intentionally stupid seems to be the way of the carbon fearing flock.
Tom O
My late father in law was a senior UN forester, he worked in the Amazon, Peru, West Africa, Burma, Cuba (knew the Castro brothers well). He would doubtless explain the scientific reasons behind the forestry imperative for sending waste timber to be burned in a power station rather than burned on the ground, but I’m not certain he would make sense of the Drax situation simply because of the volume of timber required.
I will add that, as a highly educated professional he maintained commercial loggers treat their trees in the same responsible way farmers treat their crops; and ‘illegal’ loggers are only answering the needs of people who need to burn wood for fuel because they have no electricity. They are not ‘illegal’ loggers to the community they work in, they are an essential service, it’s the green blob that have branded them thus, judging them from their lofty position of privileged.
I’m certain he would be appalled by the current state of affairs with Drax. He utterly despised the interfering green parasites!
Proper woodland management produces a supply of wood for many uses although a lot of the demand has been replaced by other materials. That tends to leave more for firewood and the growth of woodburners in homes has pushed the price up.
The new Sandwich powerstation is already struggling to find enough wood to burn. it is not possible to grow trees fast enough to feed a powerstation so they will run out eventually. The always was a good reason for what our ancestors did – not something you will be able to say of our current generation.
Dear Mr Proctor, It’s a fraud you fool and you are forcing us to pay your your folly.
Why did you not mention that Drax was forced to build three processing plants in the USA to process timber to wood pellets, at a cost of millions of dollars?
I wonder how many other spineless conservative politicians there are. I think I will check mine out and see the reaction.
cognog2
I have met my local conservative politician, Gareth Johnson MP (Dartford), as has my wife who served in an official capacity with him. Neither of us were impressed, to say the least.
“I wonder how many other spineless conservative politicians there are”
Lots
“I think I will check mine out and see the reaction”
I won’t even bother – I know what the reaction will be…
I get no reaction from my MP, and yes he is a pretend Conservative but with no real everyday knowledge!
Two points. To be fair to Mr Proctor, from his email, it is quite clear that he believes current government energy policy is bollocks. To be fair to his constituents and the wider electorate, it is equally clear that Mr Proctor won’t be raising his head above the parapet anytime soon to openly criticise government energy policy. Perhaps, when the winds change, or don’t even blow at all under a lemgthy blocking high in deep mid-winter when his elderly and poor constituents start freezing to death, he might express his doubts more vocally. But, unless there is a change of policy, I doubt it. Unfortunately, his views are symptomatic of many in our political class who, deep down, know that climate change hysteria is, well, hysteria, but also know that, unless their political masters change the narrative, they are wedded to it. How sad is that? Principles, huh!
Mack
There are plenty of political principles being bandied around right now, for example, the Brexit debate and the anti Semitic policies of the Labour party. So there are a few who do stand up for what’s right. Just a few too few.
On that note, love him or hate him, one has to admire the balls of The Beast of Bolsover, Dennis Skinner.
If you don’t believe in the crap don’t insult people by writing articles about how wonderful it is.
THe word jobsworth springs to mind.
This MP needs re-educating to the real World, but hopefully he is aware of the scam and just following party lines as my own MP Rory Stewart does. When are these sorts of MPs going to stand up and call Perry’s bluff – there is no principle, no independence of thought, no honesty?
Will UK’s MEPs lose their jobs, benefits , free travel ,untaxed income all that foie gras,. Belgian chocolate, etc come next March?. In which case Mr Proctor’s views and opinions will be irrelevant.
I expect that he is busy whispering in appropriate ears that he and his valuable administrative experience in the most influential corridors of power are at the service of the only growing industry in Britain, of which Drax is a prime example.
Two things desperately needed now.
Any public servant or politician loses their pension if they take any employment after leaving the job. Any job and your pension is cancelled forthwith.
Enquiry, and where mistakes were made the cost is recouped by reducing pensions to the basics we enjoy. Let these thieves start losing the massive benefits they are enjoying and see what the future brings.
We need a Citizens committee overseeing this process, no politicians and certainly no lawyers or Civil servants!
Hear Hear!
“Faster! the lights are dimming”
says the Telegraph’s Matt
Alas, its only a 5 w bulb.
Job hunting maybe? Mr. Proctor is angling for a new job, as PR man for Drax, after all, he’ll be unemployed come Mar 29 2019……..
er, ah, won’t he?
It is the plan of the EU (a.k.a the ‘Establishments’ of France and Germany) to expel us for ever, and hope we rot.
It is the plan of May (a.k.a. the ‘Establishment’ of Britain) to take us back in on our bellies.
How these conflicting plans will work out on March 29 is not clear.
“Faster! the lights are dimming”
“Bike powered electricity generators are not sustainable”
https://www.lowtechmagazine.com/2011/05/bike-powered-electricity-generators.html
No-one seems to be including the power required to dry the felled timber. To take green timber at anything up to 60% water down to the <12% required for efficient combustion requires heat and or vacuum depending on the system. In either case it is a significant added cost.
They don’t bother drying the wood in the latest plants. Finland accept over 40% moisture in theirs. Our level is less but well above 12%. So in transporting the wet wood you are simply moving a whole lot of water.
Sounds like an off the shelf reply from a crooked politician’s researcher. Keep an eye on Mr Procter’s future trajectory in the ‘renewables’ industry..
He isn’t the only recent visitor:
http://communicatoremail.com/In/207734400/0/clpy0s2FSxnx0CdqZQjxHAHQ34u8czWRDyi3jRNq5Lq/
According to this report: “Drax contributed around £1.7bn in GDP to the UK economy and supported more than 18,500 jobs here in 2016.” Where’s the £800m fit in, and I wonder if the jobs in the US are the sort that The Dinald would approve of?
Pity the government in power when we have our “South Australia” moment.