Thursday, 26th June 2008
Brown’s wind turbine policy will do far more harm than good to Scotland’s peatlands
Scots Tory MEP Struan Stevenson has issued a stark warning to Prime Minister Gordon Brown about his plans to erect 7000 new wind turbines in the UK.
He fears that new legislation may fast-track the building of wind turbines on peatland, releasing huge amounts of CO2 into the environment and destroying swathes of Scottish countryside.
Speaking from Brussels, Struan Stevenson said:
“It is an admirable sentiment of the Prime Minister to pledge to increase renewable energy sources. However, I hope he takes note of the damage that could be done to the environment in the building of these structures.
“Many giant wind turbines in Scotland would have to be built on deep peatland, causing immense damage to the environment and releasing vast quantities of CO2. Hundreds of applications are already in the planning pipeline, many of them in wholly inappropriate locations which would threaten endangered flora and fauna and industrialise some of Scotland’s most spectacular landscape. Worse still, by destroying deep peatland, these wind-farms would create more carbon emissions than they would ever save.
“Peat is a global carbon sink, storing millions of tonnes of CO2 during the millennia it takes for the peat to form from rotting trees and plant material. The first thing a contractor does before building a giant windmill on peatland is to drain the area, thus releasing all of the stored CO2 into the atmosphere. The peatland is also subsequently destroyed as a carbon sump, stopping any further carbon storage. Damage to peat can extend as much as 250m on either side of turbine foundations and access-road installations. So the peat will gradually dry out over the years resulting in an ongoing release of carbon. The whole hydrology of the area will change forever and once damaged, peat can never be replaced – a terrible legacy to leave to future generations and a loss of a critical carbon sink.
“Taken together with the construction of the mammoth steel towers, huge blades, vast concrete foundations under every turbine, borrow pits, drains, service roads, overhead power-lines and pylons, the carbon footprint from every windfarm built on deep peat far exceeds any environmental savings it may aspire to.
“Recent applications for the construction of giant windfarms on deep peat have been approved at Godonbush in Sutherland and Edinbane in Skye. Current applications are in the pipeline exist for seven windfarms at Dava Moor in Grantown on Spey and for the Kergord Valley in Shetland, and in many other locations. They should all be stopped. Wind energy certainly has a role to play in a diverse renewable energy mix, but it must be properly planned and sited. Allowing the rape of Scotland’s natural heritage as well as a potential technical breach of the Kyoto protocol, which has a requirement that signatories protect their natural carbon sinks, is just not an option.
“Greenhouse gases are increasing at the rate of approximately 1.5 ppm every year and of course we need all the help we can muster to reduce this appalling figure. But Gordon Brown must realise that we need to protect our deep peatland, not destroy it. It is a global lung. Let it breathe!”
