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Wind farm fight
Credit: The Scotsman | 22 November 2014 | www.scotsman.com ~~
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Translate: FROM English | TO English
The National Trust for Scotland is to be congratulated for its courage in backing the John Muir Trust (JMT) in its legal fight against Stronelairg wind farm.
Similar is due to the RSPB which recently denounced Scottish ministers’ consent for offshore wind development off the east coast of Scotland as heralding “the world’s deadliest wind farm”.
It is also at long last exhorting its members to object to onshore wind farms which will decimate crucial avian habitats in the Flow Country.
Our largest conservation charities have been cowed by green political correctness for too long.
They have been afraid to make any robust criticisms of the wind industry, which is running rough-shod over our unique natural land, sea and sky-scapes, and they have been afraid to challenge a government that has been at best naive in its dealings with these profiteers.
The JMT’s legal action came about because Scottish ministers ignored the strong advice of Scottish Natural Heritage (SNH)about Stronelairg.
SNH has been so hobbled by funding cuts, and by political pressure to cosy up to developers that many at the sharp end of Scottish conservation believe it is no longer fit for purpose.
As Scotland’s biggest conservation charity, the significance of the National Trust’s intervention cannot be over-stated.
It raises hard questions for Friends of the Earth and WWF who have been the wind industry’s most loyal cheerleaders. What exactly are they saving the planet from?
The medicine – wind energy – not only doesn’t work but is killing the patient.
Even more pressing is the question for the Scottish Government.
Despite the much-trumpeted biggest ever consultation over its new national planning legislation earlier this year, Stronelairg shows that the government is patently unable and unwilling to save a key area of wild land from destruction.
The question is when are Ministers going to start taking their cue from the ordinary Scots, the home-grown non-governmental organisations and their own statutory agencies which are committed to protecting our unique natural environment rather than the largely foreign corporate predators of the wind industry?
Linda Holt
Scotland Against Spin
Anstruther
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