Labour leadership – An energetic debate

Wylfa nuclear power station on Anglesey

MONDAY’S WalesHome.org will tackle the thorny issue of Waless’ future energy mix, but the Labour leadership race has got there this weekend. As we reported earlier, Carwyn Jones has begun a week of policy announcements with a focus on energy and climate change. Visiting Wylfa power station on Anglesey he said that it’s “time to get real on climate change” and argued that the threat from global warming has already radically changed the terms of debate on nuclear energy. He therefore affirmed that nuclear power must form part of Wales’ low carbon response to the serious challenges posed by global warming, while making sure that nuclear waste is properly dealt with.

Speaking in Wylfa, Carwyn said: “I believe nuclear power will form part of Wales’ low carbon response to the serious challenges we face in the years to come. If a community in Wales, like Wylfa, has developed skills and expertise in the nuclear sector, providing well-paid scientific and technical jobs, and if that community is supportive of new-build, then our response should be a pragmatic one, while ensuring the sustainable management of nuclear waste in Wales – something that has never before been resolved.

“That is why today, I commit myself to delivering a balanced, diverse, flexible and more secure energy policy for Wales in the future. A policy that kick-starts the debate on what energy mix we will require and also a policy that recognises the very real threat to our planet. Under my leadership, I believe that all such forms of energy – as well as all forms of renewable energy – have an important role to play in meeting Wales’s energy needs in the years ahead.”

Jones supports nuclear power

Also in his policy statement, Carwyn also committed to upholding current pledges and targets set by the Welsh Assembly Government in areas such as aiming for greenhouse gas reductions in excess of 3% each year and attaining 70% recycling by 2025 and zero waste to landfill by 2050.

The key components of Carwyn’s policy statement included:

• making renewables key. Carwyn set the framework when he was Environment Minister and wants to see developments and progress made in the future e.g. biomass, wind, hydro, waste to energy;
• a pragmatic commitment to make nuclear energy a part of Wales’s low carbon response, maintaining the Welsh Assembly Government’s responsibility for off-site nuclear waste disposal;
• increasing the scope for clean coal technology, underground coal gasification and other forms of new technology, including carbon capture and storage;
• Severn tidal power must be harnessed with the least environmental cost;
• developing a comprehensive programme of retro-fitting renewables and insulation to social and private housing, to the boost construction industry as well, building on Heads of the Valleys low carbon programme;
• abolishing fuel poverty by 2018 by fully implementing the Fuel Poverty Charter; and
• building a critical mass of renewable investment designed to attract firms in the renewable sector to locate in Wales, like British Gas with its new Green Skills Technology Centre in Tredegar, which will train thousands in fitting renewables in homes.

Lewis is also speaking on climate change

Also in North Wales today, Huw Lewis’ manifesto chapter on the environment makes the following commitments:

• It is essential that we do more to set out the road map for delivery on climate change. Every strategy and initiative should be accompanied with a set of clear targets and measurable objectives and outcomes
• With clear leadership from government, working in partnership with local authorities, we need to focus more on micro-generation, collective energy purchasing and localised environmental solutions.
• Build on recent changes to planning laws, by undertaking a feasibility study to investigate and consider possible financial incentives for micro and small scale generation including council tax relief.
• Support and encourage energy purchasing co-operatives that allow communities to come together and collectively pool their purchasing power and negotiate affordable deals on energy and smart meters?
• Establish a First Minister led convention to secure a cross-party accord on climate change to help build consensus on the way forward, and set out the road map for delivery on targets over the longer term.

In Huw’s view, contrasted with his opponents, small scale production is a key deliverer and should be supported and enhanced.

Hart: Assembly has sustainable development duty

In her manifesto, Edwina Hart also devotes a considerable section to energy and environmental policy. She says:

• The Assembly has a unique Sustainable Development duty. Both those words are of equal importance. We have to create a more sustainable future – but that future has to include development.
• I am committed to developing further the work of the Climate Change Commission and proud of the leading role which Wales has played, amongst the regions of Europe, in preparing for Copenhagen.
• Wales has the great good fortune of being so well placed for the production of renewable energy – the only real, long-term solution. Wind and waves provide energy sources which Wales has in abundance, and this is the contribution we must make as a nation.
• No-one can responsibly adopt a position of being against every new development in energy. We cannot be against nuclear, against coal, against wind farms, against the Severn Barrage and so on. As First Minister I would want the Assembly Government to redouble our efforts in the renewable energy field, maximising the natural advantages which we have in Wales in shaping our future in this most crucial area.

But Mrs Hart also makes the statement: “As to sources of energy, I have always taken the view that, where nuclear power is concerned, only the highest degree of scepticism is sensible. We must never forget that the safety issues which come with nuclear power are not simply ones for the present generation but for the future.”

Without a doubt, there is a large divide between what Carwyn and Edwina are saying here. Although she tempers her words with “we cannot be against nuclear,” it is clear her stance is far more sceptical than Carwyn’s on the value of this energy production source.

The final word on this difference of opinion should perhaps lie with the One Wales agreement. What does it say about the place of nuclear energy within the mix of energy provision in Wales? Which of the candidates is closer to the One Wales position which they will have to deliver upon should they win? The answer is that on the matter of nuclear power, One Wales is curiously silent.