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Received this from Ian McHardy, who is keeping an eye on this situation I have the PDF of the letter if anyone wants it. I'll paste a plain text copy of it in here:
>>Hey folks!
A huge industrial factory's gonna ruin a beautiful island, all in the
name of the environment. Please object with this letter; if your not
sure you agree go to the MWT- Moorland Without Turbines website read that and I'm sure you will,
Ian
Dear Member
Urgent – please object again to the Lewis Wind Farm
You will probably know by now that Lewis Wind Power (Amec
and British Energy) have resubmitted their proposal for a
massive windfarm in the north of Lewis, from Newmarket to
Ness.
We attach with this letter an objection to the windfarm.
You can send this to the Scottish Executive as your
objection, or, even better, you can write your own.
Remember, it has to be in by 5 February. Please also
circulate the objection letter round all your own contacts.
It is very important that everyone objects to this
resubmission, even if you objected first time round. If we
do not object a second time, they may claim that their new
proposals have ‘support’.
An advertisement has been placed in the Stornoway Gazette
and the local Lewis free paper, Events. The committee and
volunteers will also be hand delivering an objection letter
round the doors in the Galson Estate area, the Barvas
Estate area, Stornoway and Laxdale/Newmarket. The Barvas
and Galson areas will also receive a letter aimed at
crofters, asking them to indicate that they will object to
common grazings land being resumed.
PLEASE GET YOUR OBJECTION IN AS SOON AS POSSIBLE – IT IS
VITALLY IMPORTANT THAT OBJECTION NUMBERS REMAIN HIGH.
Film night at An Lanntair, 31 January
MWT are showing two very interesting films in the An
Lanntair arts centre in Stornoway at the end of the month.
They present the experiences of Norwegian and Irish
communities who have windfarms nearby. The Irish video is
made up of RTE news coverage, and the Norwegian film was
also professionally shot by an independent TV company.
The showing will start at 8pm, and will be finished by 9pm.
Doors open at 7.30pm. Please come along and spread the
word to others to come too. Donations will be taken at the
door.
Funds
Talking of money, a big THANK YOU to everyone who has
contributed so generously, through donations, letters to
the press, etc, towards the fight against massive
industrial windfarms taking over Lewis. Unfortunately,
with the advertisements and printing costs we have incurred
lately, funds are again running low. And with Scottish and
Southern’s application for their own massive windfarm in
Pairc in Lochs imminent, we have to appeal for your support
again.
If you can, please donate at the film night at an Lanntair,
or direct to our account at the Clydesdale Bank, sort code
82-69-25, account number 90048349. Thank you.
Mòinteach gun Mhuileann / Moorland without Turbines
Save the Lewis peatlands!
Lewis Wind Power has submitted a revised application for a 181-turbine wind
‘farm’ on the Lewis peatlands;
Please object to this revised proposal by Monday 5 February 2007.
LEWIS WIND POWER (AMEC/British Energy) wants to build one of the world's largest onshore
wind farms on the Isle of Lewis in Scotland’s Outer Hebrides.
The 181-turbine development would be located predominantly on the Lewis Peatlands.
This is a European-designated Special Protection Area and a RAMSAR Wetland of
International Importance. It is one of the largest and most intact remaining peatlands in the
world.
Lewis Wind Power hopes to construct 181 turbines (each 140m tall with 1,000 m3
foundations), 141 km of new roads, eight electrical substations and 30 kilometres of
overhead cables on 137 pylons, each 27m high. It would also sink five massive rock
quarries and extract almost 4,000,000 m3 of peat from this protected area.
It provides habitat for a multitude of bird species, many of them protected by European
law, including Golden and White Tailed Sea Eagles and Red-throated and Black-throated
Divers, and thousands of Waders.
The area is also on a main migration route between the Arctic and Europe for species
including swans and geese.
It is now universally recognised that wind farms pose a significant threat to many of
these species.
Help to stop this damaging proposal!
Please sign the objection letter overleaf or write you own and send it to the Scottish
Executive by February 5th 2007 at the address overleaf.
For information, see http://www.mwtlewis.org.uk, http://www.rspb.org.uk/scotland/index.asp and http://www.lewiswind.com.
Published by Moorland without Turbines, http://www.mwt-lewis.org
The letter (without formatting due to translation from PDF) follows:
Scottish Executive Energy Consents Unit
2nd Floor, Meridian Court
5 Cadogan Street
Glasgow, G2 6AT e-mail: [email protected]
Dear Sirs,
Please accept my objection to the revised Lewis Wind Power (LWP) proposal for a 181-turbine
wind-driven generating station on the following grounds.
Environment
The LWP wind farm would devastate a European Special Protection Area and pose an unacceptable
risk to internationally-important populations of protected birds. The inevitable destruction of
peatlands runs contrary to the Kyoto Protocol which indicates that natural carbon stores should be
conserved. Peatlands store three times as much carbon by area as tropical rainforests.
The scale of local opposition
Since 2004, seventeen measures of island opinion have recorded consistent opposition to the wind
farm. The most recent poll found 91 per cent opposed (Stornoway Gazette, December 2006). Over
4,500 objections from Western Isles residents had been logged by December 2005.
Depopulation and unemployment
LWP's claimed reason for locating the windfarm on Lewis is that it would make a major contribution
to the economy of the Western Isles and boost a community supposedly in decline. This is a false
picture. The islands are experiencing positive inward migration, their population is rising1 and
traditionally high unemployment has fallen to levels comparable with those on the mainland.
LWP cannot provide unconditional guarantees on employment or manufacturing levels on Lewis.2
It claims that the 181-turbine windfarm would create 32 full time operating jobs but the 140-turbine
Whitelee wind farm in South Lanarkshire will support only six – less than a fifth of LWP’s figure.
The existing economy, especially tourism and crofting
LWP admits that the wind farm may damage the island’s existing tourism businesses: tourism is
worth between £40 and £60 million a year to the local economy.3
In 2005, the WITB found that 73 per cent of local tourism businesses did not support the Lewis
Wind Farm and research suggests that a significant number of visitors could be deterred.
Crofters' livelihoods will be affected and land availability greatly reduced. The wind farm would
restrict local community projects such as housing, recreation and community renewable schemes
and damage prospects for sustainable development on the Island.
I/we wish to object to the Lewis Wind Farm proposal and urge you to reject this application.
Yours sincerely,
Name__________________________________Name________________________________
Address
Postcode:_________
Tick this box to have your your details kept confidential. Date
1xwww.cne-siar.gov.uk; 2xLWP ES Sect 2, Ch 9, para 92; 3xIbid, para 186, 262, 4xVisitor Survey on the Impact of Windfarm
Development in Lewis.<<
Something is not right. This message is just to keep things from messing up down the road