News
Windfarm Disaster That Could Strike Scotland Too
The peat landslip in 2003 at Derrybrien saw a bog slide almost two miles down a hillside in County Galway - polluting waterways, killing 50,000 fish and engulfing a farmhouse.
July 17, 2006
by Iain Ramage
in This is North Scotland
Experts are warning that an environmental disaster in Ireland which was linked to the construction of a windfarm could happen in Scotland.
The peat landslip in 2003 at Derrybrien saw a bog slide almost two miles down a hillside in County Galway - polluting waterways, killing 50,000 fish and engulfing a farmhouse.
The windfarm operators were fined but construction of the 71-turbine project - Ireland's largest - was completed.
Now a report from the Scottish Wind Assessment Project (Swap), which investigates claims for and against the wind industry, concludes that lessons from Derrybrien have not been heeded - despite legal action by the European Union against the Irish Government.
Moorland specialist John Phillips, a contributor to the report, said: "Windfarms tend to be located on ridges because that's where the wind blows.
"Anything that's got more than half a metre of peat on top of the bedrock is, potentially, something running in parallel with Derrybrien - which is the case for the majority of Scottish windfarms."
Highland councillors last year reviewed a planning application for a windfarm at Edinbane on Skye following legal advice about a possible peat slide in the wake of Derrybrien.
Developers at the proposed neighbouring site of Ben Aketil were advised to include a risk assessment of a peat slide.
Police and the local government ombudsman are investigating a complaint that Highland planners were negligent in approving the 10-turbine Ben Aketil project.
It is alleged the plans were based on information from other planning applications and part of the concern centres on the possibility of peat slide.
John Hodgson, of the Skye Windfarm Action Group, said: "We drew the executive's attention to the Derrybrien disaster in February 2004. As a result, ministers decided that each application had to be accompanied by a token peat stability assessment.
"However, by continuing to permit windfarms to be constructed on blanket bog, ministers are showing they have no concern for the health and safety of the people of Scotland."
Jed Carter, a Skye-based scientist and anti-windfarm campaigner, has also warned that disturbing the naturally-formed carbon storage capability of peat can add to climate change by releasing CO2 into the atmosphere.
Dave Bruce, author of the Swap report, accused some of Scotland's environmental bodies of complacency on the issue of peat-slide risk and the damage to peatland habitats.
"We investigated the matter because we felt it was a job that SNH and others should have been doing to inform a critical public debate," he said.
But SNH uplands and peatlands manager Andrew Coupar said it had recently commissioned research to investigate a peat slide on Skye.
He stressed that the slide had nothing to do with a windfarm or any other development.
Chris Tomlinson, of the British Wind Energy Association, said developers took the environmental issues around peat very seriously.
"Six-figure sums are spent on detailed environmental impact assessments which look at peat among other things," he said.
"I'm not aware of any further issues following on from Derrybrien. Regulations have been tightened up and the industry has taken the issue more seriously since then."
A spokesman for the Scottish Executive said: "Ministers take in all aspects of an application for a windfarm into consideration in making their decision. This includes all health and safety and environmental concerns."
The peat landslip in 2003 at Derrybrien saw a bog slide almost two miles down a hillside in County Galway - polluting waterways, killing 50,000 fish and engulfing a farmhouse.
The windfarm operators were fined but construction of the 71-turbine project - Ireland's largest - was completed.
Now a report from the Scottish Wind Assessment Project (Swap), which investigates claims for and against the wind industry, concludes that lessons from Derrybrien have not been heeded - despite legal action by the European Union against the Irish Government.
Moorland specialist John Phillips, a contributor to the report, said: "Windfarms tend to be located on ridges because that's where the wind blows.
"Anything that's got more than half a metre of peat on top of the bedrock is, potentially, something running in parallel with Derrybrien - which is the case for the majority of Scottish windfarms."
Highland councillors last year reviewed a planning application for a windfarm at Edinbane on Skye following legal advice about a possible peat slide in the wake of Derrybrien.
Developers at the proposed neighbouring site of Ben Aketil were advised to include a risk assessment of a peat slide.
Police and the local government ombudsman are investigating a complaint that Highland planners were negligent in approving the 10-turbine Ben Aketil project.
It is alleged the plans were based on information from other planning applications and part of the concern centres on the possibility of peat slide.
John Hodgson, of the Skye Windfarm Action Group, said: "We drew the executive's attention to the Derrybrien disaster in February 2004. As a result, ministers decided that each application had to be accompanied by a token peat stability assessment.
"However, by continuing to permit windfarms to be constructed on blanket bog, ministers are showing they have no concern for the health and safety of the people of Scotland."
Jed Carter, a Skye-based scientist and anti-windfarm campaigner, has also warned that disturbing the naturally-formed carbon storage capability of peat can add to climate change by releasing CO2 into the atmosphere.
Dave Bruce, author of the Swap report, accused some of Scotland's environmental bodies of complacency on the issue of peat-slide risk and the damage to peatland habitats.
"We investigated the matter because we felt it was a job that SNH and others should have been doing to inform a critical public debate," he said.
But SNH uplands and peatlands manager Andrew Coupar said it had recently commissioned research to investigate a peat slide on Skye.
He stressed that the slide had nothing to do with a windfarm or any other development.
Chris Tomlinson, of the British Wind Energy Association, said developers took the environmental issues around peat very seriously.
"Six-figure sums are spent on detailed environmental impact assessments which look at peat among other things," he said.
"I'm not aware of any further issues following on from Derrybrien. Regulations have been tightened up and the industry has taken the issue more seriously since then."
A spokesman for the Scottish Executive said: "Ministers take in all aspects of an application for a windfarm into consideration in making their decision. This includes all health and safety and environmental concerns."
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