A 21st Century King Canute - Leggin' It
There are nimby's, there are super nimby's and there are Tories. I am frankly gobsmacked at the sheer audacity of 101 Tory MPs, in their call for a slashing of subsidies for onshore windfarms.
Then, there is our one and only Alun Cairns MP, one of the 101 and his arguments in supporting this position are quite remarkable.
He claims that above all, "onshore wind is 'inefficient and expensive". He then goes onto claim that "it drives up people's energy bills and that's the core issue that needs to be focussed on." His colleagues then go on to question why so much money goes into the sector during "straitened times." The alarm bells really should start ringing, when the Tories talk of helping the 'straitened'.
Now call me a rampant greenie if you like, but why is there no mention here of a little thing called climate change? Then, there is the minor inconvenience of onshore wind actually being the cheapest form of renewable energy currently available-subsidies or not. Consequently, by claiming that it is worthless, he is actually saying that all subsidies for renewables should be slashed. Let's in fact go further and get rid of renewables altogether, deny climate change is happening and all move to low lying coast, safe in the knowledge that there's nothing to worry about.
Of course, there is no mention from Mr Cairns of offshore wind because it is out to sea and out of mind, unlikely to affect his electorate. The fact that it is more expensive than onshore and loses a significant proportion of its production through transmission losses (i.e. a little 'inefficient') appears to be irrelevant - because it's not in his back yard (now the Scarweather Sands scheme has been dropped).
Of course, I should be celebrating such ignorance and 'King Canute-esque' behaviour because as a Civil Engineer, Mr Cairns and co will keep me in work busily constructing ever higher coastal defences and sustainable drainage networks. So shouldn't I really be welcoming such blinkered politics in order to feather my own nest to retirement? This has always been my failing because unlike Alun, I was never one of Thatcher's children.
It's not just the Tories. For windfarms, it's over. Move on.
ReplyDeleteAlthough it is not true that all conservatives are stupid people, it is true that most stupid people are conservative.
ReplyDeleteJohn Stuart Mill
People vote conservative for a number of reasons. There are those who vote that way out of self-interest and those who do so when it’s against their self and class interest (those you deem as stupid). The former are greedy and the latter are misguided and in need of convincing of where their best interests lay.
ReplyDeleteWith regard to wind farms and the attitude of the Tory ‘nimbys’, well, this is hardly a surprise.
As far as Wales is concerned we have the opportunities to develop a mixed bag of greener energy sources and, as said before, the key issue is who owns and controls these assets.
I would hope that this would be a key priority for an independent socialist Wales.
People vote conservative for a number of reasons. There are those who vote that way out of self-interest and those who do so when it’s against their self and class interest (those you deem as stupid). The former are greedy and the latter are misguided and in need of convincing of where their best interests lay.
ReplyDeleteWith regard to wind farms and the attitude of the Tory ‘nimbys’, well, this is hardly a surprise.
As far as Wales is concerned we have the opportunities to develop a mixed bag of greener energy sources and, as said before, the key issue is who owns and controls these assets.
I would hope that this would be a key priority for an independent socialist Wales.
Alun Cairns is a clown, this week he's up in arms over the very things he voted against last week.
ReplyDelete