Tuesday, 15th April 2008
EU may stop windfarms being built on peat bogs
The future of many of Scotland’s wind farms may be decided following a major scientific seminar being held in the European Parliament, Brussels on Tuesday 15th April.
The seminar has been arranged by Scottish Euro MP Struan Stevenson to determine whether it makes sense to build windfarms on peatland. Four of the UK’s leading scientific experts on peat will deliver papers at the seminar: Dr Helena Black from the Macauly Institute - Aberdeen, Dr Sarah Crowe from the University of the Highlands & Islands, Dr. R. Lindsay from the University of East Anglia and Professor J. Holden from Leeds University.
Speaking ahead of the seminar Struan Stevenson said:
“Peat bogs are Europe’s rain forests. They form a crucial part of the world’s air conditioning system. Peatlands and wetland ecosystems accumulate plant material under saturated conditions to form layers of peat soil up to 20 metres thick – storing on average 10 times more carbon per hectare than other ecosystems. Peatlands occur in 180 countries and cover 400 million hectares or 3% of the world’s surface. Scotland has a unique role to play in preserving and maintaining this global resource. Over one sixth of the world’s blanket bog is located in Scotland, despite the fact that we have only one sixtieth of the world’s total landmass.
“Nevertheless in the headlong rush to cut carbon emissions the EU and the UK government are throwing money into renewable energy without any coherent planning strategy to determine where wind farms should and shouldn’t be built. The result is that there are dozens of outstanding planning applications to build giant wind turbines on blanket peat bog in Scotland, causing immense damage to the environment and releasing vast quantities of CO2 – in other words achieving the exact opposite of what was intended!
“The first thing a contractor does before constructing giant wind turbines, access roads, pylons, borrow pits and associated infrastructure 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 any excavation, 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. By destroying peat bogs in this way, these wind-farms would create more carbon emissions than they would ever save.
“I have invited these eminent scientists to come to Brussels and provide the definitive scientific evidence that will determine once and for all, whether the European Commission should call for a moratorium on all future developments on blanket peatland within the EU. Key environmentalists from the Commission will be attending the seminar, together with leading MEPs from the European Parliament’s Environment and Climate Change Committees.”
