The European Commission has launched an investigation into the UK government's approval of a £1bn gas-fired power station in Pembrokeshire following complaints by environmental campaigners.

RWE npower's 2GW Pembroke power station opened last month and is thought to be the largest of its type in Europe, capable of powering 3.5 million homes.

But a complaint by Friends of the Earth Cymru to Brussels has resulted in officials this week writing to the Department of Energy and Climate Change (DECC) asking it to clarify the impact of the power plant on surrounding coastal water.

Peter Lilley, a climate change sceptic and oil company director, has been appointed to the House of Commons energy and climate change select committee.

Lilley was one of only three MPs to vote against the Climate Change Act in 2008. He is also vice-chairman and senior independent non-executive director of Tethys Petroleum Ltd, an oil and gas company with operations in Kazakhstan, Tajikistan and Uzbekistan.

The 11-member committee is appointed by the Commons to examine the expenditure, administration and policy of the Department of Energy and Climate Change and its associated public bodies.

It was only a matter of time before somebody broke the fragile social and political consensus surrounding geoengineering, and had a first crack at "experiment Earth".

The news that American businessman Russ George has dumped 100 tonnes of iron sulphate into the Pacific Ocean in an attempt to fertilise algal blooms that absorb carbon dioxide, was received with justified indignation and outrage by campaigners and mainstream scientists. But there have been rumblings (and rumours of shadowy trials) for many years, and the idea of being a "geoengineer" was always going to prove tempting for the likes of George (who is blacklisted at several international ports for previous algae-related misdemeanours).

Geoengineering – the possibility of using large-scale technologies to counteract the effects of climate change – has arrived. The question is, are we ready for it?

It was only a matter of time before somebody broke the fragile social and political consensus surrounding geoengineering, and had a first crack at "experiment Earth".

The news that American businessman Russ George has dumped 100 tonnes of iron sulphate into the Pacific Ocean in an attempt to fertilise algal blooms that absorb carbon dioxide, was received with justified indignation and outrage by campaigners and mainstream scientists. But there have been rumblings (and rumours of shadowy trials) for many years, and the idea of being a "geoengineer" was always going to prove tempting for the likes of George (who is blacklisted at several international ports for previous algae-related misdemeanours).

Geoengineering – the possibility of using large-scale technologies to counteract the effects of climate change – has arrived. The question is, are we ready for it?