The Battle Over Heathrow

Swords are drawn over the British government’s decision to add a third runway at Heathrow airport. While BAA, the airport operator, is praising the move, residents who live near the airport and environmental groups are going to battle over the proposed expansion.

The U.K. branch of the environmental activist group Greenpeace has launched a major campaign to reverse the government’s decision and support of aviation growth. The group, which is one of the exhibitors at UK Aware in April, teamed up with actress Emma Thompson, comedian Alistair McGowan and parliamentary candidate Zac Goldsmith to buy a plot of land in the middle of the proposed third runway site at Heathrow in an effort to try and stop the expansion.

Activists with Greenpeace say that coal-fired power plants are the biggest contributors to global warming, but the growth in aviation as a source of carbon emissions cannot be ignored, especially in the U.K., where the per-person aviation emissions are already higher than in any other country in the world.

Greenpeace says that an expanded Heathrow would overtake the U.K.’s current biggest single source of carbon emissions, the Drax coal-fired power station in Yorkshire, to become the biggest U.K. emitter of greenhouse gases. According to Greenpeace, the U.K. will never be able to meet the emissions reduction targets it has set if it allows the Heathrow expansion to happen.

If you want to learn more about the proposed expansion and what you can do to help stop it, swing by the Greenpeace booth at UK Aware and visit their website at http://www.greenpeace.org.uk.