March 17, 2011
Scotland

Anti-windfarm campaigner hits out at Salmond

By Tim Pauling, The Press and Journal, www.pressandjournal.co.uk 17 March 2011

Scotland’s iconic landscape is being covered in windfarms to satisfy the first minister’s ego, according to an anti-windfarm campaigner.

Pat Wells, convener of Stop Highland Wind Farms, yesterday accused Alex Salmond of betraying his supporters by failing to protect rural areas.

She made the accusation at a demonstration outside the Scottish Parliament attended by about 250 campaigners from around the country including Caithness, Inverness and Perthshire.

Protesters marched thro-ugh Edinburgh to oppose proposals to allow electricity firms to explore siting 200 turbines on Forestry Commission land. Mrs Wells, of Tomatin, who is also convener of Strathdearn Against Windfarm Developments, said people were fighting against the proliferation of turbines across Scotland.

She said: “Before the last election Alex Salmond undertook to protect Scotland’s better landscapes and reduce the subsidy to onshore wind developers and he has done neither. He has really betrayed those who supported him.

“We are just seeing more and more industrialisation of our countryside, really, for the benefit of one man’s ego, greedy landowners and foreign windfarm developers.”

The demonstration was organised by Denise Davis, of White House, Ardblair, who handed over 200 letters addressed to Mr Salmond.

Ms Davis, who is leading the Druim Ba – Say No campaign, said the government’s decision to look at leasing forestry land was the “final straw”. “We just feel our landscape, our quality of life and our livelihoods are being destroyed,” she said.

Retired maintenance electrician James Currie, 78, of Hanover Gardens, Scone, said in his professional opinion wind technology did not work. “I am not happy with the landscape being covered with pylons and wires for windfarms. When you drive around Scotland they are everywhere. They are desecrating parts of rural Perthshire. It is pure sacrilege.”

A Scottish Government spokeswoman said: “While we value the contribution well-sited windfarms can make, the Scottish Government is committed to protecting Scotland’s landscape and natural beauty and agree that windfarms should not be built without careful consideration of their potential impact on the environment before any decision is made on whether they should be given the go-ahead.”

URL to article:  https://www.wind-watch.org/news/2011/03/17/anti-windfarm-campaigner-hits-out-at-salmond/