"If the UK is in any way serious about its part in the global effort to tackle climate change, and truly wants to see an international agreement in two years time, then the government will not approve these plants without a full and open debate," he said.
"The last thing we want is more emissions. Official support for new stations burning coal, the most carbon intensive of all fossil fuels, is shameful."
He called for a public inquiry that would bring together the voices of environmentalists but also organisations working in developing countries.
Mr Pendleton said it was particularly disturbing that the Secretary of State maintained that Britain could still meet proposed carbon emission cuts despite the building of a new generation of coal-fired power plants.
"It is becoming increasingly clear that a significant proportion of the emission cuts being debated in the Clime Change Bill will be achieved through the use of overseas credits, or 'off sets', purchased from poorer nations," he said.
"This is a ludicrous state of affairs. Countries such as the UK which have been major polluters for centuries must not only cut their own emissions by at least 80 per cent, but help finance clean development in poorer countries."
He warned that any new coal-powered station would "fatally undermine" the UK Government's public stance that significant carbon cuts worldwide are urgently needed, making other countries, particularly emerging economies, reluctant to take action themselves.
Energy company E.ON, which wants to replace the present, ageing power station at Kingsnorth, maintains that the new station will be 'carbon capture ready'.
"But no one knows when that technology will be ready," said Mr Pendleton. "New coal-fired power stations are not acceptable until a way has been found of capturing the carbon emissions they will produce and safely storing them underground."
