London (Platts)--24Mar2010/843 am EDT/1243 GMT

Environmental group Friends of the Earth on Wednesday backed members of parliaments call for reforms to government draft planning policies on major energy infrastructure projects following a warning letter that the group's legal department issued last January.

"MPs have rightly identified significant flaws in the Government's draft planning policies on major energy infrastructure projects and are urging important changes," Friends of the Earth's economics campaigner, Simon Bullock, said in a statement.

"These policy statements will determine whether we get locked into a high-carbon future over the next few decades, or invest in safe, clean and green technologies," Bullock added. A report that the cross-party House of Commons Energy and Climate Change Committee published Tuesday called for parliament to be given a vote on the statements, asking the government to review its projections of future power and gas supplies and slammed the lack of public consultation on the documents.

There was already considerable uncertainty about the planning process because the opposition Conservative party has pledged to make changes to the Labour government's new system if it comes to power in an election expected in May.

In January, FoE's legal department sent a letter to Energy and Climate Change Secretary Ed Miliband back in January warning that planning policies on major energy infrastructure were probably unlawful and could lead to a challenge in the courts.

"These plans must be tougher and clearer and ensure that the way we generate energy in the UK plays a key role in tackling climate change," Bullock said Tuesday.

January's letter also outlined problems with the six energy national policy statements, which were the subject of a public consultation and Parliamentary scrutiny. The policy statements comprise one overarching energy statement and one each on fossil fuels, renewables, gas & oil, electricity transmission networks and nuclear power.

--Darren Stetzel, darren_stetzel@platts.com