ENVIRONMENT chiefs will next week hear the halfway results from trials being carried out at Drax Power Station of a controversial "fuel from hell".

An 18-month trial looking at the environmental effects of burning petroleum coke - a by-product of the American petrochemical industry - began last June.

On Thursday, councillors will receive a nine-month update on the petcoke trials at a Selby District Council environment board meeting.

Green campaigners have dubbed petcoke the "fuel from hell". It contains the heavy metal nickel, which is carcinogenic, and the irritant vanadium. It also has a high sulphur content, which causes acid rain.

Simon Parkinson, who wrote the report which the environment board will consider next week, said: "There's nothing in the report that should give us cause for concern at this point. All the indications at the moment are that the trial's proceeding as everyone would have hoped - but there's a significant amount of monitoring yet to be done."

But Coun Steve Shaw-Wright, who sits on the environment board, said: "I don't think we should be burning the stuff in the first place. The initial problems we were pointed to concerned the long-term effects on the environment and, more importantly, the people living around there. These wouldn't show up in an 18-month trial."

Coun Shaw-Wright said he did not believe the fuel was used in America where it was produced and added "we have coal on our doorstep".

A spokesman for Drax Power Station said: "Throughout the period of the trial, which began in June 2005, we've been liaising closely with Selby District Council, North Yorkshire County Council, National Health Service trusts, and the Environment Agency. The trial has gone extremely well, with no adverse environmental impact. No extension of the 18-month trial has been requested"

The Environment Agency said it was working with the council's environmental health department on the petcoke trials.