Charlotte Leslie has expressed serious concerns that companies wanting to build new biofuel power stations can earn tens of millions of pounds each year in government subsidies, despite the doubtful environmental credentials of the fuel.

If the proposed biofuel power station in Avonmouth, within the Bristol North West constituency, is granted planning permission, it is estimated that it will burn 90,000 tons of palm oil per annum, requiring 22,000 hectares of new plantations to be cleared from tropical forests.

This would earn subsidies in the form of Renewables Obligation Certificates (ROCs) worth tens of millions of pounds a year.

But Charlotte says that there is a simple fallacy in the argument for these subsidies: from the research available, it appears that palm oil and jatropha oils are renewable – but they are not sustainable.

The greenhouse gases produced by planting, growing, processing, shipping and burning palm oil far exceed those produced by burning petroleum.

In a letter to Environment Secretary Chris Huhne, Charlotte says that “Bristol has a growing reputation for taking environmental issues seriously” and she informs him of her findings and fears.

She says: “According to research by environmental groups, this one power station (in Avonmouth) would double the imports of palm oil used for energy by the UK. But crucially, this proposal would not be viable financially without ROC subsidies costing tens of millions of pounds a year to the government and tax-payers.

“As I understand, these subsidies are available because of the erroneous assumption that burning tropical biofuels reduces greenhouse gases.”

Charlotte asks the Environment Secretary whether the question of applying ROCs to biofuels might be reviewed with some urgency in the light of new science, and whether she could arrange a meeting with him to discuss these very significant issues.