ABSTRACT
Im agine the scene. It is one week before C hristm as in 1990. T he D evelopm ent C ontro l O fficer is desperately trying to clear h e r desk before the holidays w hen two large p lann ing applications with ESs are pu t in h e r in-tray: applications for gas-fired pow er stations, one for 1000 MW in East L ondon (Barking Power) an d the o th e r for 600 MW on the Isle o f G rain (AES Medway). A lthough these applications will be processed and d e te rm in ed by the D ep artm en t o f T rade an d Industry, th e re is a n eed for K ent C ounty Council (KCC) to review the applications an d be assured th a t the C ounty C ouncil has no objections to the proposals. T he in form ation on air po llu tion im pacts a t first sight looks incom prehensib le an d seem s to be contradictory . Simple m athem atics suggest th a t if one is two-thirds the size o f the o th e r th en the em issions from the two chim neys should be com parable , the sm aller having two-thirds the em issions o f the larger.
