January 17, 2007
U.K.
U.K.
Wind farms should not be allowed to destroy the best landscapes in the North while the Government refuses to curb gas-guzzling four-wheel drive vehicles, Oldham’s Lib-Dem Euro-MP claimed last night.
Chris Davies said he was not convinced that the controversial wind farms were an essential step to combating climate change.
He said: “There is no point putting renewable electricity into a system that leaks like a sieve.
“Better use of energy is by far the most important first step we must take, replacing wasteful power stations with combined heat and power plants and introducing an intensive programme of energy conservation measures to match the best in Europe.”
Many of the open vistas of the UK’s hills and moorland could disappear if schemes in the pipeline prove to be the precursor of many hundreds to come, Mr Davies warned.
The Liberal Democrat spokesman on climate change said: “Wind energy has a role to play.
“But if precious landscapes are to be lost the public must be convinced that our hills and moorland are not simply being exploited to support the latest get-rich-quick scheme from powerful property developers.”
Mr Davies said that there were places in the south Pennines where construction of hundreds of wind generators could take place without arousing huge opposition.
He argued that it would be hard to criticise the intrusion of wind farms along the M62 corridor where the landscape is already cut through by a six-lane motorway.
Mr Davies said: “Losing a precious landscape should be a last option not the first.
“To halt the menace of global warming this is a sacrifice I would be prepared to make.
“But it is not an acceptable price to pay while nothing is being done to curb the emissions from monstrous four-wheel drives – fashion accessories being driven by London yuppies – and while the Government pays mere lip service to the concept of energy saving.
“It is not acceptable while a host of barriers still stands in the way of developing the full range of renewable options.”
URL to article: https://www.wind-watch.org/news/2007/01/17/wind-power-is-an-overblown-idea-says-euro-mp/