Thread by @raycasey2003

Hi everyone

Welcome to my #BoondoggleBen thread.

Today's theme is an exploration of #BenHouchen's cynical, repetitive stunts regarding future Infrastructure projects which will never exist.

So, before I go further, a brief recap of his MO....

#ToriesOut312

....As follows:

A press release/photo op dutifully carried verbatim by his local client media @TheNorthernEcho and @TeessideLive

A huge "cash boost" which can never be fact-checked, verified or audited

A word-salad of bullsh!t bingo buzz phrases such as....

#BoondoggleBen

#BentBen's word salad:

*⃣Job Creation*⃣High Wage jobs*⃣Highly Skilled Jobs*⃣Good Quality Jobs*⃣CleanEnergy*⃣
NetZero*⃣Hydrogen*⃣Low Carbon
*⃣Carbon Capture*⃣World Leading*⃣World Beating*⃣Innovation*⃣Shovel Ready*⃣

#BoondoggleBen

Firstly, I'm going to list 6 EFW projects that #BentBen has announced. All of these schemes rely on a feedstock of domestic waste.

However, as I've already covered in my #ToxicTeesside and #BensBoondoggle tweets, this feedstock is already spoken for

#BoondoggleBen

A reminder that #BentBen has already committed to burn the waste of the entire North East of England at the incinerator known euphemistically as the Tees Valley Energy Recovery Project

And Suez will continue to burn Merseyside's waste at Wilton near Redcar

#BoondoggleBen

In July 2020 #BenBen's Hartlepool crony, Denise McGuckin announced a £230m "Energy Centre" which would power 600,000 homes😬

But Denise is already leading the TVERF project, so she knows there's no feedstock available for this.

It's a #BoondoggleBen

itv.com/news/tyne-tees…

In September 2020, Middlesbrough Port announced the "Waste Knot" project to convert waste into pellets, including #Greenwashing guff about exporting the pellets by rail

But there's no feedstock available to make the pellets, so this is a #BoondoggleBen

portofmiddlesbrough.com/news/teesside-…

In Aug 2022 #BentBen's crony Denise McGuckin was at it again, announcing a "Green Energy Storage Scheme"

But there's no green energy to store. There's a moratorium on onshore wind, and offshore output is allocated to the National Grid

#BoondoggleBen

hartlepoolmail.co.uk/news/people/ha…

In December 2022 #BentBen and a company called Nova Pangaea announced the NOVAMAX project to make bioethanol for Sustainable Aviation Fuel (SAF)

No feedstock source was mentioned, SAF is a blatant con by the Fossil Fuel lobby and it's a #BoondoggleBen

novapangaea.com/2022/12/05/nov…

On the same day as the NOVAMAX project, #BentBen announced another similar one over in Billingham. This is the Lighthouse Green Fuels Project by Saudi outfit Alfanar, producing SAF from waste

But there's no feedstock available and it's a
#BoondoggleBen

business-live.co.uk/manufacturing/…

The irony of the Saudi "Lighthouse" project is that it's supposed to be built on the EXACTLY THE SAME SITE as the ill-fated £800m Air Products' EfW project - the biggest #BoondoggleBen of them all

thechemicalengineer.com/news/air-produ…

In February 2023 #BenBen and his #TeessideFreeport crony Chris Musgrave announced the Circular Fuels Project at Dorman Point near Redcar, making DME (me neither) from household waste.

But there's no feedstock available, so it's a classic
#BoondoggleBen

teesworks.co.uk/news/cgi-revea…

In October 2018 #BentBen announced the £40m Middlesbrough District Energy Network scheme

Nothing has been heard of this since, although Ben did pocket a £218k taxpayer grant from Michael Gove to fund his re-election campaign

#BoondoggleBen #BrexitSlug

teesvalley-ca.gov.uk/news/mayor-lau…

In September 2021 #BentBen pocketed another £175k from Michael Gove to fund the ludicrous "Teesworks Greener Freeport" project.

It's a small boondoggle in the scheme of things but it's still a #BoondoggleBen

gov.uk/government/new…

In February 2020 #BentBen announced his pièce de résistance Boondoggle, the £3bn Teesside Net Zero project. I've already debunked this nonsense in my #BensBoondoggles tweets, but just to re-cap:

It relies on a network of pipelines moving CO2 from about 20 sites in #Teesside....

....to a compressor station in Redcar. (The exact number of sites is difficult to ascertain because #BentBen invents fake "carbon capture" projects on a whim). The CO2 is then pipelined to an offshore rig 145km out at sea, sunk 1000 metres to an aquifer....

#BoondoggleBen

....then piped through the aquifer.

The amount of energy required to move all of this CO2 is staggering. Also, CO2 corrodes pipelines, so the maintenance costs would be considerable.

This project will never be financially viable, and is the biggest #BoondoggleBen of them all

In October 2021 #BentBen announced the "Protium" green hydrogen project at Wilton in #TeessideFreeport

As per my earlier tweet, there'll be no green energy available in #Teesside for another 10 years due to Sunak's 180° swivel on Net Zero

#BoondoggleBen

protium.green/news/protium-t…

In September 2022, #BenBen's crony Mary Lanigan issued a press release about a future Redcar Energy Centre.

To this day, nobody has been able to decipher what this gibberish was about

#BoondoggleBen

lowcarbon.com/news-feed/redc…

In December 2022 #BentBen announced the "Teesside Airport Net Zero Plan" a word-salad of nebulous aspirations including that most famous Fossil Fuel Fiction of them all - Sustainable Aviation Fuel - and some guff about hydrogen vehicles

#BoondoggleBen

bdaily.co.uk/articles/2022/…