Controversy over a massive biofuels project in Kenya took another twist last week as the country’s high court put a temporary stop on the plans.

The High Court ruled that environmental and local farming groups could apply for a judicial review of the project, which is being run by the government and the sugar company Mumias. The $370 million project would see 20,000 hectares of the Tana River Delta given over to sugar cane production for ethanol, says Reuters.

Environmentalists have been protesting the development from pretty much the moment plans were announced. The area hosts hundreds of species of birds and several endangered species, says the UK’s Royal Society for the Protection of Birds.

Kenyan prime minister Raila Odinga’s stock response to such concerns is, according to Business Daily Africa, “your daughter must not remain a virgin if you want to have grandchildren”.

Activist and Nobel Peace Prize recipient Wangari Maathai told AFP, “This country [Kenya] has failed to take environment issues seriously and that is very dangerous for posterity. I am sorry that Kenyans are going to regret, in 20 to 30 years to come, why they let their government interfere with the environment, forests and wetlands.”

More

Reuters: Interview with Mumias chief executive.

Nature News feature: Not your father’s biofuels

Great Beyond: Biofuel row at UN food meeting

Great Beyond: Biofuels debates rages on