The company Real Ventures proposes an industrial biomass plant on the Isle of Wight to be sited at the bottom of Stag Lane on the Medina Estuary. This proposal, which has not yet sought planning permission, will be based on the scoping report available at: http://www.realventures.co.uk/downloads/Reality%20Scoping%20Report.pdf

The biomass plant intends to import wood pellets from distant sources, possibly the Baltic countries or Canada. This is unsustainable. It is not a good use of precious resources and does not consider the ecological impact of the source sites.

The world has moved on. Since biomass was first considered a possible solution to greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions much has been learned about its consequences.

Industrial biomass is not sustainable. Originally proposed for wood waste, it now clears vast forests. Replacement forests are monoculture and destroy the local ecology. The shipping of wood pellets increases costs and CO2 emissions (the assessment tool Real Ventures have used does not include the CO2 emitted by transport from outside the UK, and is therefore unreliable). The dredging of the Medina River, the building of the plant, and the burning of the wood fuel will all generate GHGs.

This is not a good solution.

This campaign is not against local production biomass, nor the general use of wood fuel. It is against industrial scale plant that will require massive imports (so degrading the ecology of the source area), shipped long distances and where it is likely to produce harmful pollutants.

LEARN MORE: A great place to start to learn more is the BiofuelWatch UK briefing on the proposed plant, available here: http://www.biofuelwatch.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/Isle-of-Wight-biomass-briefing3.pdf

We the undersigned ask that the Isle of Wight Council acknowledge that there is strong local opposition to the construction and operation of the industrial-sized biomass plant, namely the Reality Project at Stage Lane, Newport. We call upon the Council to open an inclusive, Island-wide consultation on these proposals, over and above the normal planning application consultation.