{"id":5444,"date":"2015-09-02T17:32:12","date_gmt":"2015-09-02T16:32:12","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/unitelive.org\/?p=5444"},"modified":"2015-09-02T17:32:12","modified_gmt":"2015-09-02T16:32:12","slug":"government-must-act-on-energy","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/?p=5444","title":{"rendered":"Government must act on energy"},"content":{"rendered":"<div id=\"fb-root\"><\/div>\n<p>Unite is calling on the government to investigate the adverse impact of the planned closure of the Eggborough coal-fired power station in West Yorkshire which will bring job losses in the region\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s coal-based energy sector to about 1,000.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>The union is asking the energy secretary \u00e2\u20ac\u201c Amber Rudd \u00e2\u20ac\u201c to consider the loss of electricity to the National Grid of this latest coal-fired power station closure, while warning of power cuts this winter, if the weather is harsh.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>Eggborough is slated to cease generating in March next year, with the loss of about 240 full-time jobs and work for about 200 contracted workers.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>The blow follows the news that Ferrybridge C power station is also set to shut next March, plus the closure of Kellingley Colliery, the last deep pit in England.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p><em><strong>Devastating<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>Unite regional officer Kelvin Mawer said: <em>\u00e2\u20ac\u015bWhat has happened to the coal-based energy sector in West Yorkshire in recent months is devastating to those losing their jobs and a crippling blow to the local economy.\u00e2\u20ac\u0165<\/em><\/p>\n<p><em>\u00c2\u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n<p><em>He added:\u00e2\u20ac\u015bEnergy secretary Amber Rudd should take a long, hard look at the energy needs of the country. Coal is the cheapest form of energy, especially if the carbon tax was lowered. Britain is sitting on a huge reservoir of coal.<\/em><\/p>\n<p><em>\u00c2\u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n<p><em><strong>Power cuts on the cards<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n<p><em>\u00c2\u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n<p><em>\u00e2\u20ac\u015bBy closing Eggborough and Ferrybridge C, you are reducing their contribution to the grid by about eight per cent, enough to power about four million homes. If there is a harsh winter this year, we believe that energy demands will be so stretched, power cuts could be on the cards.\u00e2\u20ac\u0165<\/em><\/p>\n<p><em>\u00c2\u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n<p><em>Unite will meet the Eggborough management next Tuesday (8 September) with the aim of exploring avenues that may keep the power station open. <\/em><\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>Eggborough Power Limited (EPL), said the &#8220;difficult decision&#8221; was\u00c2\u00a0 a result of a combination of market and regulatory conditions, including the failure in its attempts to gain support from government to convert to biomass at the 53-year-old plant.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Unite is calling on the government to investigate the adverse impact of the planned closure of the Eggborough coal-fired power station in West Yorkshire which will bring job losses in the region\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s coal-based energy sector to about 1,000. &nbsp; The union is asking the energy secretary \u00e2\u20ac\u201c Amber Rudd \u00e2\u20ac\u201c to consider the loss of [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":5454,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[1],"tags":[383,122,384],"wps_subtitle":"West Yorkshire jobs blow as power station faces closure","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5444"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=5444"}],"version-history":[{"count":11,"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5444\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":5456,"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5444\/revisions\/5456"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/5454"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=5444"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=5444"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=5444"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}