Letters / Questions remain unanswered
I recently sent a letter to our Scottish Government requesting answers to questions on the following issues.
- How much of our country’s fishing grounds are to be sold off and covered with anchors and chains to hold offshore wind farms in place, thus, excluding UK fishing communities’ access to valuable fishing grounds?
- How many thousands of miles of expensive (plastic covered) copper cables will be required to be laid on the seabed, to transfer the generated power to where it is required?
- Has the carbon cost of the production of the windmills, the copper cables and the steel for the anchors and chains that will be required, running in various directions from each windmill to hold them in place; been included in the environmental and financial calculations, plus the windmill’s replacement roughly every twenty years?
- How long after the government subsidies have stopped, will the developers keep investing in running the offshore wind farms and what will the future cost of the electricity have to be; to recoup the cost of the construction, maintenance, renewal, and continued operation of those wind farms?
- What effect will the infrasound from those offshore wind farms have on marine life?
However, the reply I received from the government provided no answers to any of the questions I had raised; what I received instead, appears to be a propaganda document proclaiming the wonders of offshore wind farms.
What our Scottish Government appear to be unaware of, with their planned offshore wind farm developments; or are happy to conveniently dismiss, is a natural phenomenon called the Gulf Stream that annually feeds plankton rich waters up past the west coast of Scotland, across the North Scottish coast; around Orkney and Shetland and into the North Sea, thus making this a natural feeding ground to sustain newborn marine life.
That is why the seabed around these shores is teeming with marine life, as it is a spawning ground for all manner of marine species; thus, providing a food source for larger marine predators in the natural food chain.
Now where did the Scottish Government pick to sell and rent off the seabed for industrialised wind farm development? Oh yes, from the West coast of Scotland; across the North Scottish coast, around Orkney and Shetland and into the North Sea.
The creation of massive electromagnetic fields, from the thousands of miles of power cables linking up each wind power generator in the massive wind farms; before sending on the electrical power to where it is required, does not appear to be of a concern to the decision makers in the Scottish Government; nor does the devastation it may cause to the marine life in our nation’s coastal waters.
Regarding this, it is a complete mystery to me how our government, influenced by the Green Party of supposed environmentalists; consider the possible destruction of the marine habitat that sustains life in our seas and helps to feed people in many nations, from the bounty that nature provides from around our shores; to be of a lower priority than making profits for the predominately, overseas owners of (heavily subsidised by our own government) offshore wind farms.
What is also conveniently overlooked in this quest for green energy in their proclaimed efforts to remove our dependency on the oil industry for our electric power; is the amount of oil that is required in each wind farm generator to lubricate its moving parts, multiplied by the number of generators in each wind farm.
Is it any wonder that oil companies are investing in wind farm development, the requirement for the oil they provide; will be around for many decades to come.
William Polson
A very concerned fisherman
Whalsay
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