Right to fight the windfarms
News & Star, www.newsandstar.co.uk 6 June 2011
Following the quid pro quo rule, Cumbria’s exemption from further wind turbine intrusion makes perfect sense.
Having agreed to host new nuclear power stations, the county has done enough for alternative energy, Penrith and the Border MP Rory Stewart asserted at the weekend. Only fair our countryside should be spared more scarring by wind farms.
But he’ll know as well as any who has had to find tens of thousands of pounds and almost as many hours to fight rich, grant-aided turbine companies, there’s very little to call fair about wind farm struggles.
His argument is that so much of rural Cumbria relies on stunning landscape for tourism income, natural beauty and economy should be fiercely protected.
That will resonate not only with those who visit but with all who live here, fearing they’ll be next to be threatened with turbines on their doorsteps, by huge corporations awash with cash and muscle.
His critics will no doubt accuse him of working to safeguard the self interest of his constituents – actually what an MP should be doing – and riding a mood of nimbyism.
But there are more than back yards at stake in the increasingly rapid growth of unproven, unreliable, unwelcome wind energy – wider political, David and Goliath issues, for a start.
And anyway, if we don’t fight to protect our own back yards, who will?
URL to article: https://www.wind-watch.org/news/2011/06/07/right-to-fight-the-windfarms/