ENVIRONMENTAL campaigners have vowed to fight plans to burn petcoke at a Selby power station.

Breach Marine Protection fiercely opposed a three-month petcoke test burn at Drax power station four years ago.

Spokeswoman Toni Gabbey said the group would launch another campaign if permission for a further 18-month burn at the power station was given.

But it is waiting to see if environment bosses will give the green light to the new application.

She said: "Power station bosses claim that sulphur dioxide will be removed from emissions.

"But they gloss over the fact that the majority of cancer causing particles cannot be removed from Drax emissions.

"Any sort of environmental abuse is going to have an impact on the water and consequently marine mammals."

The group has threatened to mount demonstrations outside Environment Agency buildings and the power station itself.

Mrs Gabbey said she planned to meet with Selby MP John Grogan and Goole MP Ian Cawsey, as well as civic leaders, to decide on a strategy to combat the proposal.

The Goole-based group also plans to produce an updated information pack on the potential impact of petcoke on the environment.

Mrs Gabbey said it was important that the public was kept informed and her group was demanding full public consultation about any decision.

The green campaigning group made headlines when it opposed plans by the then power station owners, National Power, to burn petcoke in 1997.

New owners AES said the fuel was half the price of coal and would secure the long-term future of the site.

Petroleum coke contains four times as much sulphur as local coal and also contains vanadium, known to cause respiratory illnesses, cadmium, arsenic and chromium.

High levels of cancer-causing PAH, polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons, are also found in the fuel, a by-product of the petroleum industry.

Updated: 15:17 Thursday, January 24, 2002