Wednesday, 15th April 2009
Pylon protestors take their case to Brussels
The Scotland Before Pylons and Stirling Before Pylons campaigners made a big impact in Brussels at this morning’s seminar, which was chaired by Scottish Conservative Euro MP Struan Stevenson and attended by 5 of Scotland’s seven MEPs. A senior official from the European Commission – Paulo Paixāo from the Nature & Biodiversity department in DG Environment also addressed the seminar.
Speaking after the seminar Struan Stevenson said:
“The campaigners made it clear that they are not opposed to renewable energy, nor are they opposed to properly sited pylons. However, the Beauly to Denny powerline project involves the total re-construction of 220 km of overhead lines, with massive pylons towering 50 meters in height. The project was opposed by over 17,000 people who wrote letters of objection, while only 45 letters of support were received. It is hardly surprising the project generated such opposition, as parts of the proposed overhead line will cut through highly sensitive areas of iconic landscape in the Highlands and will even march through 6 km of the Ochils and directly past the Wallace Monument, dissecting the historic Sheriffmuir Jacobite battlefield (1715) near Stirling.
Struan continued:
“Quite reasonably, the campaigners are not demanding the abandonment of the Beauly to Denny transmission line. Rather, they are making a credible plea for around 25% of the proposed route to be undergrounded across the areas of highest landscape value and away from people’s homes where there could be a danger to health. Leading EU cable experts told us during the seminar that contrary to the assertions of the power companies during the public inquiry, the cost of undergrounding does not amount to 12 to 17 times more than the cost of overhead lines. In fact, depending on the terrain, the cost can be only around 5 times more and the extra costs are shared across the entire British transmission network. Their estimate is that undergrounding 25% of the Beauly to Denny route would add around £1 to everyone’s electricity bill in the UK, a small price to pay for such an enormous national benefit.
“Given that Scottish householders are currently contributing through their electricity bills to the cost of burying electricity cables around the new Olympic Stadium in London, I think it is only fair that we should expect some assistance from our cousins South of the Border towards the extra costs of undergrounding parts of the Beauly-Denny transmission line, particularly when by doing so they will be helping to preserve some of the most beautiful landscape in Britain. Overhead powerlines were first utilised by Stalin during his race to roll out the industrial revolution in the USSR. It seems ridiculous that over than a century later we are still allowing power companies to wreck our landscape and put people’s health at risk by using old, cheap and nasty technology like this.
“I am also amazed that the power companies involved have not sought financial assistance from the EU for this project. We were informed by experts that similar projects involving partial undergrounding of cables in the Netherlands, Spain and Germany, have all received financial aid from Brussels. Was there a reluctance to apply for financial assistance in case it exposed the alternative options of undergrounding parts of the route?
“I felt the campaigners made a powerful case in the European Parliament and hope that the Scottish Government will pay attention to these arguments. Personally I would favour the option of abandoning Beauly-Denny altogether and running an undersea cable right down the West Coast from Ullapool to Hunterston in Ayrshire.”
