Extinction Rebellion York protest against Drax BECCS scheme

As previously reported by the Press, Extinction Rebellion York (XR York) were set to hold a protest against Drax power station in Parliament Street at 1.30pm today (August 31).

The protest saw members of the group act out a satirical situation, with a character called "Professor Greenwash" posing as a Drax employee.

XR York said they chose to protest in York "because there's no public outside the power station".

"We could go there and get a few good media pictures but what we really want to do is show people in the community what's going on," one protestor added.

XR York gathered in Parliament Street today (Image: Harry Booth)

Professor Greenwash's performance was centred around a call and response with the gathering crowd, in which he put forward claims about Drax’s BECCS (biomass energy with carbon capture and storage) scheme.

BECCS is a system where carbon is absorbed by plants grown as biofuels and then captured when they are burned for energy.

It refers to the burning of woodchips imported from North America, with the carbon emissions removed and buried under the North Sea.

Drax power station currently has four biomass generating units and produces around four per cent of the country’s power and nine per cent of its "renewable" electricity.

Speaking at the protest, XR York's Laura Autumn-Cox said: "What Drax do is they burn trees, and they burn these trees from ancient forests in Canada and the US, they then ship these trees over and use them for energy.

Drax power station, Selby (Image: Newsquest)

"As they're turning these trees into pellets, the toxic fumes are leaking out into the communities where they're made, which are often low income communities."

She added: "At the moment, Drax receives nearly £2 million a day in Government subsidies.

"Obviously, the decision over those subsidies were made under Rishi Sunak's Government.

"Now he's gone, we've got a new Government and we have a chance to ask the energy secretary Ed Miliband to not only get that money back but put it into renewable energies like wind and solar."

Responding to XR York's claims, a Drax spokesperson said: "Peaceful protest is a fundamental part of any democratic society, and we welcome further efforts to raise awareness of the devastating impact of climate change.

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"However, as Drax has played a pivotal role in the effort decarbonise the UK energy system, we feel that Extinction Rebellion’s protest is misguided.

"Drax converted its Yorkshire power station from using coal, to sustainable biomass, and became the country’s biggest renewable power generator by output, playing an important role in energy security and helping the UK to decarbonise at a faster rate than any other country.  

"We now plan to combine our bioenergy with carbon capture and storage (BECCS), to remove millions of tonnes of carbon dioxide from the atmosphere whilst producing renewable power.

"BECCS is a critical climate saving technology according to leading international authorities on climate change."

"We're in York because there's no public outside the power station, we could go there and get a few good media pictures but what we really want to do is show people in the community what's going on. It's about footfall and visibility really."