Greenpeace challenges fuel blockaders and argues the case for maintaining current levels of fuel tax
Greenpeace announced that it will challenge fuel blockaders if they attempt to picket oil refineries in November at the end of the sixty day deadline. Greenpeace intends to send teams of people to each blockaded venue to argue the case for maintaining the current level of fuel duty. Greenpeace also launched a call for the Government to establish a Green Fuel Fund from a small percentage of the revenues they receive from oil.
Speaking in the presence of Stephen Byers, the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry, at the Greenpeace Business Conference, Stephen Tindale, Policy Director of Greenpeace UK, said: "The Government have been running away from the real justification for a fuel tax - to stop climate change and improve air quality. Greenpeace is not afraid to make the case for high petrol prices and we will go out to the fuel protests and put it directly to truckers and farmers if they return to the refineries."
One pence per litre of the fuel tax or a third of a penny on oil produced in UK waters would create a £00 million fund which would enable green electricity from wind, wave and solar power to become established industries in the UK and allow hydrogen and biofuels to become widely available as alternatives to oil for transport.
Commenting on the proposal, Peter Melchett, Executive Director of Greenpeace in the UK, said:
"The UK is as dependent on climate-damaging fossil fuels in the year 2000 as it was at the time of the last oil crisis thirty years ago. The Government could turn the fuel protests into an asset if they responded by directing a small fraction of oil revenues towards alternatives like hydrogen fuel cells, biofuels and clean power from the sun, the wind and the waves. This is an historic opportunity to break our addiction to fossil fuels, massively improve the quality of our lives and generate a new high tech industry for Britain."
Notes for Editors:
1. An NOP opinion poll released today (5/10/00) at the Greenpeace Business Conference reveals that the public is willing to pay the current fuel tax so long as a proportion of it is guaranteed to be spent on the environment. A survey by NOP shows that 68% of respondents would be happier paying thecurrent tax if some of it was spent on 'reducing pollution...by investing in public transport and developing green fuels'. The same proportion said thatthey would prefer to pay the current fuel tax with a guaranteed 3 pence going to the environment rather than accept the 3 pence reduction in fuel duty offered by the Conservative Party.
The survey showed that when people are simply asked about the level of fuel tax, a majority (82%) still think that the current fuel duty is too high. The survey also reveals that the public does not believe high fuel prices discourage gas-guzzling behaviour. Only 39% of respondents believed cheaper fuel would lead to people driving more and only 37% believed it would encourage people to buy larger, less fuel efficient cars. However, when asked about the tax and the way revenues are spent, people are prepared to support the use of fuel duties to protect the environment. Full details of the poll are available in a Greenpeace news release
2. New research published by Imperial College researchers on 29th September this year shows that increasing petrol price reduces fuel consumption but rising incomes and falls in other motoring costs are presently increasing the demand for petrol and the amount of traffic on UK roads. The study, carried out by Professor Stephen Glaister and Dr Dan Graham of the department of civil and environmental engineering at Imperial, and published by the Automobile Association, reviews research on the response of motorists to fuel price changes.
The main findings of the report were:
The immediate effect of a 10 per cent increase in the price of fuel, holding everything else constant, will be a 2.5 per cent decline in consumption. As consumers have more time to adjust to price changes the impact of a 10%price change will be much larger - being associated with a decline in the consumption of fuel of 7 per cent, with all other effects held constant. This difference in response to price in the short and long run can be explained by the introduction of more fuel-efficient vehicles, changes in trips made, and greater use of other modes of transport. Increases in fuel price have been accompanied by reductions in other motoring costs, particularly car purchase. Relative to household income the cost of owning and operating a car is now 30 per cent lower than it was in the early 1960s.
Read results of the latest poll
Further information:
Contact:
Greenpeace Press Office on 020 7865 8255 showing public backing for current fuel tax if revenue is spent on the environment
