Electronic surveillance

GCHQ spy centre falls foul of law – over environmental permit

The UK government’s internet surveillance centre, GCHQ, may be aware of many things, but the need for an environmental permit for its backup power generators is not among them. The site’s generators do not have the necessary paperwork and so are being run unlawfully, it has been revealed.

GCHQ – Government Communications Headquarters – in Cheltenham is the secret services’ listening station and in 2013 Edward Snowden revealed to the Guardian the vast amount of data it harvests from fibre-optic internet cables. As a result, GCHQ’s data centre is one of the largest in the UK.

Big data centres require a robust back-up electricity system in case of power cuts. These are provided by an array of diesel generators that emit exhaust fumes when in use. For some years, those above a certain small size require permits from the Environment Agency, under the Industrial Emissions Directive (IED), which regulates air pollution.

However, trade publication The Ends Report discovered that GCHQ has failed to obtain such a permit. The Environment Agency (EA) confirmed this to the Guardian and said it was investigating the matter.