UK: New nuclear row as green groups pull out

Greenpeace, Friends of the Earth and WWF describe consultation as sham

Britain’s leading environmental groups are poised to formally withdraw from a government consultation today that will determine whether ministers will be able to push ahead with plans to build a new generation of nuclear power stations.
The coalition which was asked to provide evidence to inform the debate believes the government has failed to fairly reflect the arguments for presentations that will be given to more than 1,100 members of the public that are due to start tomorrow.

The process was forced upon the government by the high court, which ruled in February that a previous consultation was “seriously flawed” and “manifestly inadequate and unfair”. At least six groups, including Greenpeace, Friends of the Earth, WWF and Green Alliance, claim the government is distorting the evidence and say they are considering whether to take the case to court again.

The accusations are damaging because the government is bound by its own guidelines to keep an open mind on new nuclear power stations until after the “fullest public consultation”. If the government is forced into a third consultation it could delay major energy decisions being made for at least a year.

Concern about the direction of the consultation has been growing within the environmental groups, which were invited by ministers to provide their own arguments. They have now drawn up a document which details their anxiety. Some of their concerns may be outlined to ministers today.

The document accuses the government of “conducting a public relations stitch-up designed to deliver a preordained policy on new nuclear power” and “rushing” a consultation process that its advisers say should take at least nine months.

Guardian