River Aire east of Castleford; Ferrybridge C, Eggborough and Drax. Drax takes its cooling water from the Ouse, but both Ferrybridge and Eggborough draw their water from the Aire. Both of these plants stopped generating in 2016, with Eggborough being a stand-by for capacity problems until March 2017. A hydroelectric power station was installed on the Brotherton Weir at Knottingley in November 2017. The £7.5 million project is expected to deliver 500 kilowatts per year and be operational for 100 years. Due to the Aire flowing through the former industrial landscape of West Yorkshire, it had a reputation as being heavily polluted.
Richard Drax served. He was promoted captain on 10 March 1986. He relinquished his British Army commission on 9 September 1987, thereby retiring after nine years' service as a Coldstreamer. Drax worked at York's "Evening Press" as a reporter in 1991, before joining BBC South where he appeared on both radio and television media, including the daily television news programme "South Today". Selected as a Conservative prospective parliamentary candidate in July 2006, at the general election in May 2010 Drax defeated the incumbent Labour Member of Parliament for South Dorset, Jim Knight, "later" Baron Knight of Weymouth. Drax retained his seat in