Bristol based retired GP, Dr. Diana Warner, faces a trial at Leeds Crown Court which could lead to imprisonment. She has been charged with: ‘by wilful obstruction or neglect obstructing an engine or carriage using the railway at Snaith railway station’ [1]. On December 14, 2021, Dr. Warner was live streamed standing by the train line in orange high visibility clothing waving a large flag, making a speech pleading with those in power to take a stand against Drax [2]. The trial is scheduled for 3 days from 24th to 26th February. She has also been charged with aggravated trespass.
Situated in Selby, North Yorkshire, Drax power station is the UKs single largest carbon emitter, and world’s biggest tree burner [13]. Drax has faced widespread criticism due to its heavy reliance on burning wood pellets obtained through clear felling forests. Drax has repeatedly been fined in the United States for damaging the health of poor and Black, Indigenous, and People of Colour (BIPOC) communities who live in the regions affected by deadly pollution coming from its wood pellet producing industrial plants [5, 6].
The recent Government decision to extend subsidies for Drax past 2027 to 2031 is estimated to cost bill payers at least £1.8 billion in new subsidies [7]. This decision came the day after the BBC revealed another year in which Drax had sourced from primary and old-growth forests that the power station had not properly disclosed [8]. The decision was met with widespread anger, with activists occupying the offices of Drax lobbyists 5654 & Company [9], demonstrations across the country [10] and strong condemnation from NGOs, MPs and mainstream media [11].
Dr. Warner has marched, written letters, emailed her MP and even stood as an MP candidate in her efforts to protect children from climate catastrophe and now, after a desperate attempt to get those in power to listen, finds herself facing a jury in Leeds Crown Court. This is not the first time she has faced a jury, as just a week before travelling to Drax in December 2021, Dr Warner was cleared by a jury for disrupting the Docklands Light Railway in Canary Wharf, London’s financial hub, to highlight the climate emergency. [4]
Dr. Diana Warner has said:
“As a doctor, all my life I have worked to help people stay well. In retirement I am doing the same. We know that climate change caused by burning fossil fuels is killing people and threatens our way of life, our civilisation. We know that the Drax power plant is the UK’s highest carbon emitter. While previous high pollution levels within Drax power station itself has harmed those working there, its continued operation is a threat to us all.”
ENDS
Additional quote from Diana Warner
“My mother-in-law moved to Canada, and while visiting her we walked within the virgin forests of British Columbia. The stateliness and power of these forests are unbelievable – it is no surprise that the indigenous peoples understand them to be sacred. I am full of grief to think that remaining virgin forests here have been clear-cut, in the twenty-first century, confirmed and exposed by Panorama journalists this year, and at least some of that wood has gone to the Drax power station.”
Axe Drax
Axe Drax is a UK based grassroots network that actively opposes Drax through disruptive direct action. We campaign for an end to Drax’s subsidies, due to the environmental, societal and planetary impacts of burning trees for energy. We are building a broad based network, working in solidarity with frontline communities to effectively confront the environmentally destructive biomass industry and the social and economic forces driving climate change.
Drax
Drax Power Station, located near Selby in Yorkshire, is the world’s biggest woody biomass power station and the UK’s single largest carbon emitter. Drax sources from around the world, primarily the US, Canada, and the Baltic States. Drax’s wood pellet production sites, predominantly located in environmental justice communities, emit large amounts of pollutants, such as PM10, PM2.5 and VOCs which are linked to respiratory and pulmonary health impacts. Woody biomass is counted as carbon neutral by the UK Government, allowing Drax to receive renewable energy subsidies (CfDs and ROCs).
References
[1] https://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/insulate-britain-activist-diana-warner-skips-court-to-blockade-drax-power-station-l2k50krbb
[2] https://youtu.be/PMZMwl4Uxjc
[3] https://www.theguardian.com/business/nils-pratley-on-finance/2025/feb/10/drax-is-the-subsidy-show-that-goes-on-and-on
[4] https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2021/dec/10/jury-clears-extinction-rebellion-activists-who-targeted-commuters
[5] https://unearthed.greenpeace.org/2022/09/26/drax-accused-environmental-racism-further-pollution-claims-against-wood-pellet-mills-us/
[6] https://www.landclimate.org/gloster/
[8] https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/cdxnpzzjed1o
[9] https://www.prweek.co.uk/article/1905879/protesters-occupy-pr-agency-drax-deal
[10] https://www.thecanary.co/trending/2025/02/14/drax-protest/
[11] https://www.theguardian.com/business/2024/jan/18/ministers-propose-extra-drax-subsidy-burn-trees-electricity-biomass[12] https://news.sky.com/story/climate-change-draxs-renewable-energy-plant-is-uks-biggest-co2-emitter-analysis-claims-12428130