Give answers on carbon credits - MP
REDCAR MP Vera Baird has demanded answers from the boss of Corus over allegations the steelmaker planned to make millions of pounds from sold carbon credits if the Teesside plant closed.
The company dismissed the claims, which surfaced last month, as an ‘insult’ and ‘totally without foundation’.
Mrs Baird wrote to Corus CEO Kirby Adams, demanding a written commitment that the company would hold on to TCP’s carbon emission allowances and not sell them on the open market, in order to maintain the Redcar plant's attractiveness to buyers.
Mr Adams replied, quashing the rumours that financial gain was a motivating factor in mothballing the plant - but Mrs Baird says she did not receive any commitment that TCP credits would not be sold.
She said: “I am determined that Corus should put its plans on paper so that local people can be quite certain that the carbon credits will remain with the plant in case any future buyer wants to acquire them.
“They should not be traded, since that is to take the risk that a would-be buyer who has no credits will be put off the deal.”
She has fired off another letter demanding a clear response.
The steelmaker was given a free carbon allowance until 2012 under the EU’s new Emissions Trading Scheme (ETS), which give the company the right to pollute and sell unused credits on the open market. Corus still owns the allowances for 2010, but under EU rules, if the plant closes for more than 50 days, the UK Government can auction them off - with profits going back into Treasury coffers.
LEADING members of the community which stands to be affected by the mothballing of Teesside Cast Products are to give evidence to the North East Regional Committee at Redcar Racecourse tomorrow as part of an enquiry into the Corus crisis. They are: George Dunning and Amanda Skelton of Redcar and Cleveland Council; Middlesbrough Mayor Ray Mallon; John Lowther of Tees Valley Joint Strategy Unit; the TUC’s Kevin Rowan; Michael Leahy, Community; Terry Pye and Alan Calcutt, Unite; Geoff Waterfield, Teesside Multi-Union Committee; Steve Readman, GMB and Alan Clarke, One North East.
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