Rob Edwards

Call for banking to go green

for Sunday Herald, 25 July 2010

The UK government will be urged this week to green the Royal Bank of Scotland (RBS) so that nearly £200 billion can be invested in wind farms, electric cars and high-speed rail networks over the next decade.

A report to be published tomorrow will urge ministers not to scrap plans for public investment in a new environmentally-friendly bank. Instead, campaigners say, they should transform RBS into a vehicle for backing clean technology across the world.

The report was written by a former PricewaterhouseCoopers consultant, James Leaton, for two groups campaigning to cut climate pollution, the World Development Movement (WDM) and Platform.

Nuclear submarine safety bungle could put thousands at risk

from Sunday Herald, 25 July 2010

Britain’s troubled £4 billion programme to build a fleet of new nuclear-powered submarines has been hit by a safety bungle that could put thousands of people in danger.

Emergency plans for responding to an accidental leak of radioactivity from a submarine under construction at Barrow in Cumbria have been condemned as inadequate by the government’s safety watchdog.

As a result, BAE Systems, the company that is building the new Astute class of submarines destined for the Faslane naval base on the Clyde, has been ordered to rerun an emergency exercise. This could cause further delays to the submarine building programme, critics say.

An emergency exercise, codenamed Indigo, took place at BAE Systems’ Barrow shipyard on Tuesday 13 July. Involving more a dozen agencies, it was meant to test arrangements for dealing with a radioactive leak from a submarine reactor.

But the exercise revealed so many problems with safety procedures that nuclear inspectors from the government’s Health and Safety Executive (HSE) judged that it had failed to meet their standards. Another exercise now has to be conducted within the next six months.

Risk to beachgoers from thousands of dumped flares

from Sunday Herald, 25 July 2010

Thousands of dangerous distress flares could be illegally dumped and put the lives of beachgoers around Scotland at risk, coastguards have warned.

New arrangements for disposing of out-of-date flares, which can contain powerful explosives, make it much more difficult to get rid of them. The fear is that this could prompt some sailors to throw them overboard, or abandon them on land.

There are now only six authorised disposal sites at coastguard stations in Scotland, with only one on the west coast mainland. And unused flares can only be dropped off at limited times, with appointments having to be made in advance.

Brightly coloured flares, which are carried by sailors to attract attention in case of emergencies, have to be replaced every four years. Up to 35,000 are disposed of every year in the UK.

Before April this year, boat-owners could dispose of “time-expired pyrotechnics” at more than 70 coastguard stations in the UK. They used to be regularly collected by the Ministry of Defence (MoD), who would ensure they were safely blown up.

Spending decision on Trident delayed for a third time

from Sunday Herald, 18 July 2010

A crunch spending decision on the £20 billion plan to replace the Trident nuclear weapons system has been postponed for a third time, creating new doubts about government defence funding.

UK ministers originally said that a major decision on the investment in new nuclear submarines to carry Trident missiles would be made last September. But then it was delayed to December, and then again to this month.

Now, however, the Secretary of State for Defence, Liam Fox MP, has said that the decision will only be made “towards the end of 2010”. The delay comes as government departments are engaged in a fierce wrangle over how to pay for a new generation of nuclear warheads.

Mr Fox is battling with the Treasury to try and prevent the cost of Trident being funded from the core budget of the Ministry of Defence (MoD). But Treasury ministers are insisting that spending on Trident cannot be separated out from spending on conventional weapons.

There have also been disagreements in the past over the choice of nuclear reactor to power the new submarines. The manufacturer, Rolls Royce, proposed a wholly new design, but some officials argued it would be better to stick with a reactor similar to the existing one.

Confrontation looms between Edinburgh and London over GM food

from Sunday Herald, 18 July 2010

The UK government’s “respect” agenda towards Scotland could be wrecked by disagreements over growing genetically modified (GM) foods, following a new move by the European Commission (EC).

The EC last week proposed a new law which would enable countries to either back or ban GM crops, sometimes known as “Frankenstein foods”. The Scottish National Party (SNP) fears that this will allow pro-GM ministers in London to force GM crops onto an unwilling Scotland.

The EC proposal is designed to end a 12-year split between states which has virtually frozen GM farming across Europe. Austria, Bulgaria, Germany, Greece, Hungary and Ireland have banned GM crops, but Spain, Sweden, the Netherlands, the Czech Republic, and the UK are in favour.

The UK’s new environment secretary, the Conservative MP Caroline Spelman, has pronounced herself a fan of GM foods “in the right circumstances”. Before she became a minister, she was director of a pro-GM food and biotechnology consultancy for 20 years.

The SNP MEP, Alyn Smith, alleged that the EC proposal “totally undermined” the Scottish Parliament and government. “The respect agenda, such as it is, will be thrown out the window if the resolutely pro-GM coalition in London authorises cultivation in Scotland against the clear wishes of the majority in Holyrood and the nation as a whole,” he said.

SNP government accused of failing on wildlife crime

from Sunday Herald, 18 July 2010

Animal killers could be getting away with murder across large parts of Scotland because two of the country’s major police forces have no officers dedicated to fighting wildlife crime.

Neither Northern Constabulary, which covers the Highlands and Islands, nor Dumfries and Galloway Constabulary have any full-time wildlife crime officers. This has prompted accusations that the Scottish government is failing to tackle the illegal poisoning, trapping and poaching of wild creatures.

Scotland has seen a huge rise in recorded wildlife crime over the last decade. According to official figures, the total number of wildlife offences reported every year leapt from 140 to 384 between 1999 and 2008.

Landowners and gamekeepers are blamed for deliberately poisoning birds of prey to protect grouse for shooting. Last year saw a record 27 birds of prey killed by pesticides, including 19 buzzards, four red kites and two golden eagles.

Up to March this year, there had already been 22 pesticide poisoning incidents investigated by government scientists, involving buzzards, red kites, owls, dogs and foxes. In the past cats, badgers and otters have also been victims of suspected poisoning, probably from eating laced bait.

Council accused of breaking climate law

from Sunday Herald, 18 July 2010

A major local authority has been accused of breaking the law by failing to cut climate pollution, raising the first prospect of a legal challenge under Scotland’s world-leading climate legislation.

Aberdeenshire Council is under attack for not insisting on tough enough measures to improve energy insulation in new homes and offices. Its proposed local development plan contains less ambitious targets than those specified in the 2009 Climate Change Act.

According to the Scottish Greens, this means that the council is exposing itself to court action in the future. The council says its stance has been backed by the Scottish government, though this was not confirmed by a government spokesman.

A public consultation on Aberdeenshire’s proposed development plan, which has been backed by a majority of councillors, was launched this month. In its supplementary guidance the plan promises to only approve new buildings “if the predicted carbon dioxide emissions are reduced by at least 30% beyond the 2007 building regulations’ carbon dioxide emissions standard.”

Failing to protect people from a terrorist attack on a nuclear plant

from Sunday Herald, 11 July 2010

If it had been real life, it would have been the most audacious act of terrorism since September 11.

When Exercise Lindisfarne got under way on Wednesday, March 17, at the Torness power station in East Lothian, it was to test the defences of Scotland’s nuclear industry.

And it revealed just how slip-shod safety procedures are in what should be one of the country’s most secure facilities. During the role-playing exercise a “terrorist” with a stolen security pass penetrated the Torness nuclear power station. He damaged the reactor, caused casualties and took several staff hostage.

The emergency response launched by the plant’s operators was so riddled with flaws that it failed to deal safely and promptly with the crisis. Exercise Lindisfarne resulted in British Energy having to revamp its emergency procedures to prove to government safety watchdogs that they wouldn’t go wrong again.

Secret post-mortems on Exercise Lindisfarne were compiled by the Nuclear Installations Inspectorate (NII) and the Office for Civil Nuclear Security (OCNS), both part of the government’s Health and Safety Executive. Their reports have now been released to the Sunday Herald under freedom of information law.

“Action to ensure safety of personnel and plant appeared to lack urgency at times and the station should correct this,” concluded the NII report. There were delays in tracking and making contact with the intruder, failures tracing missing persons, and poor communications.

Why we need to green the concrete jungles

from Sunday Herald, 11 July 2010

More than 70 per cent of people in Scotland are deprived of easy access to woodlands, putting their health and well-being at risk, says a new report.

In some areas like Renfrewshire, South Ayrshire and East Lothian, the proportion of the population without accessible woodlands nearby rises to over 90%. 

This is despite mounting evidence that green spaces can do much to reduce the stress of living in 21st century concrete jungles. Studies have shown that greater exposure to nature can help combat mental illness and reduce social problems.

The Woodland Trust, a conservation charity, argues that everyone should have a woodland of two hectares or more within 500 metres of their home. But according to a report it published last week, only 28% of Scots now meet this standard.

This is significantly better than in 2004, when only 15% of Scotland’s population met the standard, and significantly higher than in England, Wales and Northern Ireland. But it still leaves 72% of people without nearby areas of trees to enjoy.

Exposed: a series of safety lapses in silicon glen

from Sunday Herald, 04 July 2010

A series of worrying safety lapses in the high-tech microelectronics industry have been exposed in a new report from the government’s watchdog, the Health and Safety Executive (HSE).

Companies using highly toxic chemicals to etch silicon chips for computers are under fire for failing to protect the health of their workers. HSE inspectors uncovered “weaknesses”, “misunderstandings” and poor practices in vital safety procedures.

Seven legal enforcement notices have been served on four companies in the past few months for breaching health and safety rules. One Scottish company, Intense Photonics, was rapped three times for failing to control hazards at its former plant in Blantyre, South Lanarkshire, including risks from arsenic dust.

HSE inspectors last year visited 17 companies in the UK involved in making semiconductors for the computer industry. Five were in Scotland’s ‘silicon glen’: National Semiconductor in Greenock, Semefab and Raytheon Systems in Glenrothes, Shin-Etsu Handotai in Livingston and Intense Photonics.

The HSE was checking to see what had changed since it last had a serious look at the microelectronics industry in 2002. Although it found some improvements, a string of remaining safety shortfalls are highlighted in its report, released online last week.

Monitoring to ensure compliance with safety rules in high hazard situations “was weak at several sites”, the report said. “Often, there was no consideration of risks to others arising from maintenance and cleaning, for example from spread of contamination.”

25 years on, Chernobyl stops poisoning Scottish sheep

from Sunday Herald, 04 July 2010

Nearly a quarter of a century after the nuclear reactor at Chernobyl in the Ukraine exploded and spewed radioactivity across the world, it has finally stopped making Scottish sheep too hot to eat.

For the first time levels of radioactive contamination in sheep on all Scottish farms dropped below safety limits last month, enabling the government’s Food Standards Agency (FSA) to lift restrictions on farmers. Controls on the movement and sale of sheep have been in force since after the accident in 1986.

The Chernobyl reactor near Kiev scattered a massive cloud of radioactivity over Europe, after it overheated, caught fire and ripped apart because of errors made by control room staff. It was the world’s worst nuclear accident, and has been blamed for causing ten of thousands of cancer deaths.

Peat and grass in upland areas of Scotland were polluted with radioactive caesium-137 released by the reactor and brought to ground by rain. This was eaten and recycled by sheep, and has persisted in the environment far longer than originally anticipated.

In 1987 the restrictions on sheep covered 73 farms across southwest and central Scotland. Animals that contained more than 1,000 becquerels of radioactivity per kilogram were banned from being slaughtered for food.