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Mr. Ainger: Will the Under-Secretary give way?
Mr. Richards: I shall not give way because the hon. Gentleman has had a good bite at the cherry already.
I cannot see how angling would be policed. One Opposition Member said that the fish would not necessarily end up on dinner plates, but in most cases they would end up on the dinner plates of the angler's family or friends.
Mr. Ainger:
I am somewhat puzzled. The Minister said that the order was precautionary and intended to protect the consumer, so why has he only just introduced it?If that was the real issue, the order would have been imposed as soon as the vessel hit the rocks and started leaking oil in such large quantities. It does not make any sense to introduce the order for the rivers that feed into the area almost a week after the original order that covers a huge area. If the order was precautionary, it would have been introduced sooner.
Mr. Richards:
The hon. Gentleman has mugged up on oil, but not on angling. He should know that migratory fish are difficult to find in February, so it was not possible for samples of oily migratory fish to be found in the middle of February. They took rather more time to find. The hon. Member looks astonished. Perhaps he should mug up on angling.
One Opposition Member--I forget which one--referred to the district fisheries inspector. The district fisheries inspector is an official of the Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food, so MAFF has a locus in the matter. My right hon. Friend, obviously, takes advice from MAFF.
Another Opposition Member said that the Department had not consulted the industry, and cited the sea fisheries committee. The committee wanted information to answer queries from fishermen, because it is not the committee's role to represent the fishing industry. The Department has from an early stage copied information to it on a regular basis and continues to do so. I can tell the right hon. Member for Llanelli that loss of profit is a matter for compensation, but insurers will consider claims on that ground after hardship claims.
In the short term, we will continue to monitor carefully hydrocarbon and PAH in fish, crustacea and shellfish.As levels become safe--something that we shall
determine in close consultation with the Department of Health and the directorate of fisheries research--we shall progressively lift the ban. There are no safe limits for hydrocarbons in fish and shellfish.
As with the 1993 Braer incident, samples of fish and shellfish from commercial harvesting areas were collected during the early stages of the spill, and they will be analysed to establish background values. Those data will form the basis of establishing safe concentrations, to protect consumers of fish and shellfish from affected areas. In the medium and longer term, we will explore with the industry and its representative bodies how we can ensure that the trade and consumers appreciate the quality of Welsh fish.
I want the seas of west Wales open for fishing again as soon as possible, and I want consumers of Welsh fish near and far to be confident, when that fish returns to the market, that it is clean, healthy and appetising. In short,I want to do the best that we can for the local fishing industry. I know from the comments that have been made this evening that all hon. Members here share that aim.I commend the order to the House.
Question put and agreed to.
Resolved,
Mr. Hugh Bayley (York):
I rise to present a petition on behalf of my constituent, Mr. William Dixon Smith, supported by letters from Mr. and Mrs. Witt andMr. Lodge, who are also constituents of mine.
The petition concerns a proposal to build housing association homes on land formerly used as a horticultural nursery adjacent to West Bank park in York. The petition is lengthy, but I know that it will be printed in full as an appendix to the Votes and Proceedings and that I am supposed only to read the prayer, which is as follows:
The petition is signed by my constituent, William Dixon Smith.
To lie upon the Table.
Castle Cement, Clitheroe (Cemfuel)
Motion made, and Question proposed, That this House do now adjourn.--[Mr. Wells.]
Mr. Gordon Prentice (Pendle):
I welcome the opportunity to raise the important issue of the burning of Cemfuel by Castle Cement at its works in Clitheroe.I have invited the hon. Member for Ribble Valley(Mr. Evans) and my hon. Friend the Member for Denton and Reddish (Mr. Bennett), who chairs the Environment Select Committee, to speak in the debate, with your permission, Mr. Deputy Speaker, as it is right that they should.
We have the benefit, of course, of the Government's strategy document, "Making Waste Work", but unfortunately in this debate we do not have the benefit of the Government's considered response to the Environment Select Committee's report on the burning of secondary liquid fuels in cement kilns, which was published about 10 months ago, on 7 June 1995. Perhaps I should explain my interests, as Clitheroe is not in my constituency; it is in Ribble Valley, which lies alongside Pendle, and the two constituencies are separated by the vast bulk of Pendle hill. But, of course, smoke and dust, like the wind and the rain, do not respect lines on maps. I have an interest, as the Member of Parliament next door, for environmental reasons. Indeed, on 10 January this year, Pendle's services committee, in my local authority, considered a report on the issue, so people's concerns about the burning of Cemfuel extend well beyond Ribble Valley.
The Library of the House tells me that the exact composition of Cemfuel--the generic name is secondary liquid fuel--is commercially confidential. However, it is chiefly based on distillation residues from the solvent recovery business, Solrec, blended with solid and liquid waste from the paint, plastics, chemical and car industries, with old solvents that are no longer in use. It can contain metals such as mercury and thallium and chlorine compounds, which may generate dioxins when burnt, although there is a limit, I am told, on the metal content that can go into cement kilns.
It is clear that we are talking about a real witches' brew in Cemfuel. I have no idea what else may or may not be in it, but I have a list of the substances that are present in the recycled liquid fuel that is burnt at Blue Circle's Weardale works. They include methanol, which is found in windscreen cleaners; acetone, a varnish remover; propyl acetate, commonly found in adhesives; nitrobenzines, dyestuffs; dichloroethane, in anti-knock petrol; styrene, in plastics, and so on. It is a terrible cocktail of ingredients. The issue that is at the centre of this is whether all that can be burnt safely.
Secondary liquid fuels are used by the cement industry because they are cheap. Instead of paying for coal or coke, the producers of hazardous waste pay the cement industry to take their waste away for burning. That makes tremendous economic sense for the cement industry, which tells me that it is struggling very hard to fend off competition from other countries in the European Union--from the Greeks, for example, who apparently have a highly developed cement industry--and from all corners of the globe. That infuriates the companies that
run and operate purpose-built incinerators. They have told me that the burning of hazardous waste in cement kilns is banned in Denmark, Finland and, in effect, the Netherlands. Castle Cement is partly owned by the Swedes, and in Sweden, mercury, thallium, bromine, iodine and fluorine are all banned from combustion in cement kilns. But not here, apparently. The Minister will want to come back on that point.
In this country, secondary liquid fuels are burnt at Cambridge by Rugby Cement, and at Ketton in Leicester and at Clitheroe by Castle Cement. Other plants are giving it a trial. What is happening in the nation's cement kilns will be the first real test of the new Environment Agency, which opens for business on 1 April.
That the Food Protection (Emergency Prohibitions) (Oil and Chemical Pollution of Fish and Plants) Order 1996 (S.I., 1996,No. 448), dated 28th February 1996, a copy of which was laid before this House on 29th February, be approved.
9.7 pm
Wherefore your Petitioner prays that your honourable House will earnestly recommend that York City Council reflect upon its decision to ignore the entreaties of so great a number of good citizens, and resolve to allow the future of West Bank Park to be decided according to the findings of a Public Enquiry.
9.8 pm
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