We're at the Tory Party conference keeping an eye on environmental announcments and developments. Here's what @TheENDSReport@simonpickstone and @Conor_ENDS have learned so far #CPC19
Thread (1/10)
(3/10) Environment secretary Theresa Villiers has said she wants to "take control of environmental regulations" after Brexit endsreport.com/article/166112…
(4/10) Green groups are alarmed at the idea. @CraigBennett3 said the government is "definitely talking about lowering standards after Brexit… when they are talking about [cutting] red tape, they actually mean cutting environmental protections" endsreport.com/article/166113…
(5/10) There's government resistance to setting legally binding targets in the Environment Bill. @ZacGoldsmith told a fringe event that the coming weeks may see “pushback from some elements of government” endsreport.com/article/166110…
(6/10) A no-deal Brexit's, no big deal. @michaelgove suggested that crashing out of the EU without a deal could bring benefits for the UK’s life sciences sector, while @MPGeorgeEustice suggested the farmers could weather the storm endsreport.com/article/166111…
(7/10) The Tories have pledged £1bn on tackling climate change, to be spent mainly on electric vehicles and batteries. Another £200m will go towards developing a nuclear fusion power station. Cheap at the price! endsreport.com/article/166098…
(8/10) They'll also plant a million trees. A tad short of the @theCCCuk recommendation of 1.5bn new trees.
(9/10) The Tories are split over fracking policy (as Cuadrilla pretty much throws in the towel) endsreport.com/article/166098…
Big news!
We've been writing about PFAS pollution a lot and now one of them - PFOA - has been categorised as a carcinogen. It's been found in drinking water and PFAS are everywhere
‘Forever chemical’ in English tap water samples carcinogenic 1/6 theguardian.com/environment/20…
They've been found in drinking water sources across England and @leanahosea and I have found PFOA in tap water for @WATERSHED_i 2/ ‘Forever chemicals’ found in drinking water sources across England theguardian.com/environment/20…
We also tested effluent from a chemicals factory site which had extremely high levels of PFOA in it. 3/
Lots of chest thumping about government slapping enormous (up to £250m) civil penalties on water companies for sewage pollution! It sounds shockingly like a good idea, but could it ever happen? And might it actually make things worse?
A few wee thoughts... 1/
At first glance, Ranil Jayawardena’s pledge to increase to the cap on civil penalties for water company pollution 1,000-fold, from £250k to £250m, appeared to be a big win for the environment. 2/
But the Environment Agency has already said it can't afford to fulfil its duties, it has pulled back from inspecting pollution incidents, it has fewer frontline officers, it's monitoring less, it's downgrading incidents, and it likes water firms to self-regulate... 3/
Are the wheels coming off the Environment Agency?
A thread 1/8
At the end of last year, Environment Agency chief executive Sir James Bevan has sent a strongly worded message to staff warning them against speaking to the media. 2/8 endsreport.com/article/173532…
Whistleblowers promptly told ENDS that the agency has decided to ignore lower impact pollution incidents and leaked materials. 3/8 endsreport.com/article/173678…
SEWAGE POLLUTION: The water sector is an “industry that seems frankly out of control”, which operates systems “designed to obfuscate and confuse” and regulators are “failing the public at every level” @CommonsEAC heard this wk. More choice quotes... (1/6) endsreport.com/article/171383…
Prof Peter Hammond says water firms illegally polluting rivers "at least 10 times more" than the EA is identifying and prosecuting. 2/
Mogden sewage works in west London, the only treatment works with a volume-meter, spilled half a billion litres of raw sewage in 2015, an amount which swelled to 3.5bn litres last year. 3/
Hurrah! Boris has announced new nature targets to help dodge the imminent ecological crisis!
Wait.
That's because we completely bombed on the last set of goals, which we had a DECADE to meet and now wildlife is clinging on by the skin of its teeth
Let's take a closer look: 1/10
Boris said 30% of the UK’s land will be protected by 2030.
In England 26% is already protected by law as national parks or AONBs, so it's really only a 4 percentage point increase here. 2/10
Even then, such designations count for little, according to some, because the existing protections have not stopped widespread habitat and species decline. National parks have been described as 'barren landscapes'. 3/10 endsreport.com/article/169481…