FIDDLERS Ferry has hit back at an environment group's claims that it's one of the biggest polluting 'Carbon Dinosaurs' in the country.

A spokesman for power station owners, American Electric Power (AEP), dismissed Friends of the Earth's claim as a 'scare tactic'.

FoE says it is the country's fourth biggest power station most responsible for climate change.

Deni Newman, of Halton FoE, said: "There is a sense of 'it's already dirty and smelly, so something else doesn't matter'.

"We say people's health does matter, and unless this attitude changes at every political level then we believe future generations will be blighted by some of the worst environmental and social injustices in the UK since Victorian times."

The UK's 16 coal UK power stations were ranked according to how much energy they produced compared to their carbon emissions.

FoE want more gas-fired stations, as they produces fewer carbon emissions.

An AEP spokesperson phoned the World from America this week and said: "These scare tactics are really not productive towards long term solutions.

"If Friends of the Earth put their money towards long term solutions, I think everybody would be better served by that.

"If FoE were really concerned they would be talking nuclear power - which is zero emissions."

He said gas fired stations could lead to shortfalls in gas supplies - as in America - and that a change in the balance of power sources could upset the 'economic security of the country'.

He added new power station technology could possibly lead to reductions in carbon emissions in the long term.