Energy War Against the Poor

In 2020, environmental awareness is at its peak, with organisations like Extinction Rebellion and activists like Greta Thunberg bringing environmental concerns to the public interest. The recent David Attenborough documentary on Netflix, A Life on Our Planet, has brought awareness into many of our homes with a British TV icon to tell us what we're doing to hurt our planet.

What if the threat of permanent environmental damage was put on your doorstep? In Cardiff East, a proposal for a new waste incinerator has been threatening an impoverished community for over a year as the war on the environment by economic interests is continuously waged.

CF3, the post code for this community, has been threatened by Môr Hafren Bio Power, an

energy company which has proposed the construction of an incinerator to burn domestic and commercial waste to produce electricity. Despite significant opposition from the community which will be most affected, it appears that the project is continuing ahead. Residents have until the 27th November to submit their opposition to the construction of

the incinerator.

Cardiff East is a portion of Cardiff which is often unexplored by students in its universities, given the area lacks the kind of entertainment or hospitality that students are used to and its distance from campuses. In this part of Cardiff, there are some of the most deprived parts of Wales, most notably the Trowbridge ward. Trowbridge rates in the highest 10% of deprivation in Wales regarding health, education and employment. Trowbridge is also home to many Irish Traveller and Gypsy families, with a large settlement named Shirenewton located beside the Wentloog Business Park. This park is where the incinerator is proposed

to be built.

Why is this relevant to Môr Hafren's development in Trowbridge specifically? As an area of low education, low employment and low income, Trowbridge is an area ripe for exploitation by commercial interests.

It appears that Môr Hafren were relying on the lack of education and perceived lack of interest in the impoverished community within the Trowbridge ward to quietly begin the planning process for the construction of this incinerator. However, they have been met with significant public outcry from the local community of Trowbridge, the rest of Cardiff and beyond. The protest page on Facebook, which was made as a response to the

underhanded discovery of the proposal, boasts over 3,000 members. According to information from Môr Hafren, "local political stakeholders who were contacted during statutory consultation all opposed the proposed development, as did the nearest residential neighbour." This is further evidence of the opposition that the development is facing from the community, so why is this project continuing to go ahead?

According to the International Energy Agency, the global investment into energy was billions of dollars last year, with power being the largest sector. This means that investing into energy, as demands increase year on year, Môr Hafren is trying to cash in on a huge market - through the exploitation of the impoverished and powerless.

The human cost of this is beyond the socioeconomic one - the health of not only the

local community of CF3 is at risk, but the health of everyone in Cardiff as a whole. Data from the WHO shows that "air pollution kills an estimated seven million people worldwide every year".

A month ago, there were more protests over the Viridor incinerator in Splott - an area likely more familiar to students of Cardiff. As a company, Viridor has recently been involved in a scandal where they have broken air pollution laws in Croydon. Waste incineration plants are frequently given free passes by the Environmental Agency, as outlined in the article. This is without the allure of the costs benefiting plants like Môr Hafren, who can potentially sell their energy back to the National Grid for profit. What is to stop them from exceeding air pollution limits to generate greater profit margins?

With the proximity of so many incineration plants covering a large portion of the southeast

of Wales (including the incinerator located in Barry Docks), it is becoming apparent that these companies have no interest in slowing down their war on the environment. They are passive to the human and environmental expense and show no care or compassion for the

impoverished communities they exploit. Without protest and backlash, companies like Môr

Hafren and Viridor will continue to take advantage of the powerless to benefit themselves and wider commercial interest. It is up to us as citizens to condemn the actions of these companies, and to protect the powerless people they attempt to abuse. Readers can help

by submitting objections here as well as visiting the Residents against the CF3 incinerator

Facebook page for more information.