Please help make EA to do the right thing.

Z Horse

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Please help us to challenge the position recently taken by the UK Environment Agency that all used cooking oil, and indeed any second use material which can be developed as a way of making renewable energy from non-fossil materials must be subject to Waste Management Regulations. The effect of this will make the creation of bio-fuels in the UK non-viable for all except the very largest centralised operations. It will mean that local groups and voluntary organisations will be unable to make bio-fuels to meet local needs, and it will mean that even home manufacture of bio-fuel will require licences costing several thousands of pounds. The Environment Agency even claim that the use of bio-fuels made from used fats is subject to regulation as a means of waste disposal. It effectively jeopardises any serious investment in the bio-fuels industry in the UK. This level of regulation is not reported from any of our Bio-power operators overseas.

To support us, please get your MP to sign Early Day Motion 1689.

Everyone who supports our work in the development of real alternatives to fossil fuels, and also who wishes to promote renewable energy in the UK is asked to help us with this campaign.

This is a real opportunity for you to do something positive that will have a real and immediate effect upon a sustainable future. Following the confrontation we have experienced by the Environment Agency to our work to develop and promote better bio-fuels in the UK, through Paul Keech MP for Hereford, we have now presented an Early Day Motion asking the government to take immediate action to require the EA to withdraw its present enforcement action against our members, and work towards a very much lower level of regulation that is risk based, proportionate and serves a specific purpose in terms of environmental protection.

We ask every reader to write to their MP, asking them to sign this EDM. This is a commonly used parliamentary tool to register the strength of public opinion on a specific issue. The more MPs who sign this EDM the greater it will draw the attention of ministers. It will also draw the attention of the press to the issues we raise.
 
and there i was thinking it was about computer games.. :ph34r:
 
Do you want me to sabotage them from the inside??? (heh j/k)

Hmmm it's not something I know much about - I'm just reading the EA's consultation paper now - it's quite surprising that they are making it subject to waste management regs, actually, it's not, it probably comes down to ££'s...
 
Go forth and sabotage heva... us down here in the south west can lend you more burning pitchforks than you can ever imagine and maybe even a sign for effect...

seriously though i reckon we should have some sort of petition or summit, its a good opportunity for us to make a different coz we are all in different towns and we could all start writing up petitions and writting to a bunch of mps... the dont listen to one but they definately listen to 100... - worth a go??
 
its not surprising at all.......this being the governement body that is happy to let large process indusrtries operate under self-regulating policies!!! (i.e. we don't care what you do and what you release to air/water/ground so long as you tell us!!)

the same rules apply for many other recycling processes...wanna make an earthship....apply for a waste management licence then....

notice that they are the environment agency (not the environment "protection" agency). sometimes my employers piss me off...(but note how i'm not surprised)
 
Hmmm. This is quite disturbing news. Someone previously considered as using the oil as a raw material in a secondary process is now classified as a waste carrier and must pay for a Waste Management Licence (which costs around £135, is that right?). I agree, it's not the right approach, they ought to highlight it as a sustainable fuel.

Well, regardless of the change in classification, which is just silly, I do think they are right to impose a bit of a prying eye into the credentials of yer downscale, "I'd rather make me own fuel than pay all that tax" type of person. I'm sure that most people who produce for themselves do it safely and efficiently, but I guess the Agency are worried that completely unregulated people could be using dodgy techniques and spilling oil/storing it badly etc., however good their intentions might be.

£135 per year doesn't seem that much to me, if you can get 20p per litre off your vehicle fuel, I guess the figure of thousands of pounds you mention takes into account the cost of a licence to produce bio-diesel, which I could not find on the EA website. What is this figure?

When I worked for the EA (1999-2002) I attended a seminar on "Sustainable Transport", by the guy who organises the car fleet within the organisation. There was much talk of CNG and LPG type vehicles being introduced into the "fleet" but he laughed at the suggestion of considering Bio-Diesel as an option, as well as hydrogen fuel cells. Sad it is, that the EA's current thinking on bio fuels has not developed from this.

Yeah, Heva, and Biggins, bring'em down, they're evil!
 
its £135 for three years..

and they did introduce lpg cars into the fleet car scheme but these have been removed after issues with the cars stalling making them potentially danegrous to drive (i.e. stalling at busy junctions etc etc...) dunno how muchtruth there is in this as i know nuffink about cars but thats the line they've taken


its essentially another way for the governemnt to tax ppl liek everything else.....
 
from the consultation paper: The Agency is also a large user of fuels and has been seeking suitable supplies of biodiesel as part of our national green procurement programme.
 
I dont know much about this. what i do know comes from a friend of mine wrote a business plan for the conversion of used cooking oil into LPG, on a smallish scale its looked extremely profitable......... thats if you have a few hundered thousand squid to purchase the necessary plant and equipment...... anyone willing to make a donation?

I dont see the problem in the process being subject to waste management regulations as big users of cooking oil such as mcdonalds and co will pay you to collect and dispose of their used oil. any company that collects such refuse should be subject to the regs as it should be dealt with properly. however, i think that there should be tax incentives to compensate the companies who are converting it into lpg, not only for the "good" that they are doing, but for the financial burden of the regulations.

wot do ya recon?
 
not sure about it but isnt part of the problem that the majority of it is just normal diesel that is cut with biodiesel?
 
boinktastik said:
I dont know much about this. what i do know comes from a friend of mine wrote a business plan for the conversion of used cooking oil into LPG, on a smallish scale its looked extremely profitable......... thats if you have a few hundered thousand squid to purchase the necessary plant and equipment...... anyone willing to make a donation?

You can set up a small garden shed operation using old oil drums, bits of piping from brewkits and other recycled tat.

however, i think that there should be tax incentives to compensate the companies who are converting it into lpg, not only for the "good" that they are doing, but for the financial burden of the regulations.

wot do ya recon?

Quite right! People producing these fuels, if they are doing it efficiently, are part of the solution, not part of the problem. Give them credit for that.
 
I've just had reply from my MP saying:

Dear *****

There is not an EDM 1689 so far in this parliament - is this an EDM from a previous year?

Regards

John Leech

------------------------------------------------


So what's the score?
 
From: http://www.publications.parliament.uk/pa/cm200304/cmwib/wb041016/edms.htm

Early Day Motions tabled between
11 - 14 October 2004



Early Day Motion is a colloquial term for a notice given by a Member for which no date has been fixed for debate. This section records the date, number, primary sponsor and title of EDMs tabled in the last week.

For information about the text and signatories see 'Notices of Motions' section of the Vote Bundle, the EDM Database at http://www.parliament.uk or contact the House of Commons Information Office (Tel: 020 7219 4272) who will advise.

For Information on Early Day Motions see HCIO Factsheet P3 (http://www.parliament.uk/factsheets)
Date
EDM
Primary Sponsor
Title
11.10.04
1686
Christine Russell
CHILDREN TODAY CHARITABLE TRUST
11.10.04
1688
Matthew Taylor
OBJECTIVE ONE FUNDING IN CORNWALL
11.10.04
1687
Teddy Taylor
SIXTIETH ANNIVERSARY OF THE BATTLE OF ARNHEM
11.10.04
1689
Paul Keetch
BIO-POWER FUELS
------------------------------------------------------------------

Well thanks for that, it was tabled last year! :Sad:
 
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