Rob Edwards

Changing Cockenzie from coal to gas would create ‘carnage’

from Sunday Herald, 21 June 2009

A plan to upgrade one’s of Scotland’s dirtiest old power stations from coal to gas has come under fire for failing to do enough to cut climate pollution and for threatening “environmental carnage”.

Spanish-owned ScottishPower has announced a proposal to turn the coal-fired station at Cockenzie in East Lothian into a modern gas-fired plant. Because it is so polluting, the old station has to close by the end of 2015, and the company is now “examining options” for its replacement.

But environmentalists say that it may not be necessary to replace Cockenzie if enough electricity is generated by renewable sources like wind, wave and tidal power. And they point out that that gas, while less polluting than coal, still results in significant emissions of climate-wrecking carbon.

“Replacing one fossil fuel plant with another is the logic of the 20th century,” said the Green MSP, Patrick Harvie. “Ministers and power companies should be drawing on our own clean energy resources rather than making our future dependent on unreliable Russian gas imports.”

Revealed: Ramblers Scotland at risk of extinction

from Sunday Herald, 14 June 2009

One of the nation’s most effective and influential campaign organisations, Ramblers Scotland, is facing closure due to draconian financial cutbacks being imposed by its London headquarters.

Its budget is being slashed, its office closed and its staff sacked or relegated, leaving no more than a rump reporting to managers in the south. According to one insider: “Scotland was wiped off the map in about 30 seconds of conversation.”

The shock move has been angrily condemned as “an insult to the people of Scotland” by the convenor of Ramblers Scotland, the former MSP Dennis Canavan. It has also provoked strong messages of support and sympathy from across the political spectrum.

Ramblers Scotland is one of Scotland’s leading environmental and recreational bodies. Over the last few years it has played a major role in the land reform legislation which has given Scotland amongst the best arrangements for public access to land and water in the world.

Argument erupts over when to shoot deer

from Sunday Herald, 14 June 2009

Chaps with guns and tweeds like bagging stags. But they only do it for three or four months a year, and that’s how they want it to stay.

So when the Scottish government launches a proposal tomorrow to abandon the traditional close season for shooting stags, it will ruffle landowners’ feathers. But it will please environmentalists, some of whom regard deer as the plague, rather than the monarch, of the glen.

Arguments over managing Scotland’s deer are as old as the hills. Over the last 50 years the number roaming the slopes and forests have doubled - or even trebled - to approaching a million animals.

Landowners have been accused of keeping the numbers artificially high so that there are plenty to be shot at by paying visitors. But the beasts have become so prolific they are wrecking the environment - eating saplings, destabilising the landscape and stunting the growth of native forests.

Wild land in Scotland is disappearing fast

from Sunday Herald, 24 May 2009

If you thought the Highlands were being preserved as beautiful, natural and wild places, think again. The unspoilt landscape that has characterised Scotland’s mountainous regions for centuries is disappearing - and fast.

The countryside is increasingly being scarred by roads, wind farms, power lines, forestry plantations, and buildings, making it ever more difficult to escape man-made developments.

Glens have been wrecked by tracks bulldozed for grouse shooters and scenic views have been ruined by arrays of towering wind turbines, say conservationists, who are stepping up their opposition to “blind progress”.

A new study by the government’s conservation agency, Scottish Natural Heritage (SNH), has revealed that the proportion of Scotland unmarred by artificial visual intrusions dropped from 41% to 31% between 2002 and 2008.

Governments bungled £48 million grants for the Highlands

from Sunday Herald, 03 May 2009

Successive governments systematically flouted financial aid rules, wrongly claiming millions of pounds for a series of major telephone, transport and industrial developments in the highlands and islands, according to the European Commission.

Amongst the high-profile projects for which the Scottish government now has to pay back nearly £10 million to Brussels are the Cairngorm mountain railway, the Barmac development at Nigg dock, the Highland mobile phone network and the causeway between the islands of Eriskay and South Uist.

Other big projects for which grants have been embarrassingly bungled include the famed Hunters of Brora Woollen Mill in Sutherland, a Harris Tweed marketing scheme, the Berneray causeway, the A890 improvement near Achnasheen, the Kyle of Lochalsh sewage works and a cycleway between Forres and Kinloss.

Failing to protect a wildlife paradise

from Sunday Herald, 03 May 2009

“I live in a wonderful wildlife paradise,” says Dr Gus Jones, a naturalist from Nethy Bridge near the Cairngorm mountains. Red squirrels, capercaillie and the unique beauty of the ancient Caledonian pine forest are all within easy reach of his front door.

So when devolution brought the prospect of Scotland’s first national parks, he was optimistic that the area’s stunning natural assets would be safeguarded. “The minister at the time, Sam Galbraith, spoke of a new way of doing things and hopes were high that old mistakes could be corrected,” he said.

In 2002 the Loch Lomond and the Trossachs National Park was created, followed closely by the Cairngorms National Park in 2003. Park authorities were set up for the first time to oversee development and conserve the natural heritage.

But since then, Jones has become disillusioned. “It quickly became apparent that the Cairngorms National Park Authority was in favour of rapid growth and housing, housing, housing,” he said.

Anger over plans to ‘cover Fife in concrete’

from Sunday Herald, 19 April 2009

Ministers are coming under mounting pressure to rethink plans for one of Scotland’s biggest and most controversial housing-building projects.

Proposals to build over 35,000 new homes across Fife over the next 20 years are being opposed by Edinburgh and Dundee councils, the government’s conservation agency, Scottish Natural Heritage, and dozens of community groups.

They are strongly backed, however, by Fife Council and by private house-builders, who argue that new houses are needed to meet demand and to kick-start economic growth.

The latest version of Fife Council’s structure plan is now with Scottish ministers, waiting for a final decision. Objectors fear that they are preparing to give it the go-ahead.

Ptarmigan disappearing from southern Scotland

from Sunday Herald, 01 February 2009

One of Scotland’s most iconic mountain birds could be disappearing from southern Scotland, according to new evidence from the National Trust for Scotland.

Extensive surveys have failed to find any ptarmigan on the island of Arran, indicating that global warming may have restricted their food and prevented breeding. A previous survey recorded 28 birds in 1981.

That suggests that the most southerly mountain where ptarmigan are still breeding is Ben Lomond, north of Glasgow, says the Trust. But if the climate continues changing, the birds could be driven from there in years to come.

Sparrowhawk trapping trial goes ahead

from Sunday Herald, 01 February 2009

A controversial experiment to trap and move sparrowhawks to try and prevent them from preying on racing pigeons has begun across Scotland.

Between now and the end of March, hawks from around pigeon lofts near Glasgow, Edinburgh, Kilmarnock, Stirling and Dumfries will be forcibly relocated in the hope that pigeons’ lives will be saved.

The trial, which is costing taxpayers £25,000, is going ahead despite warnings from the government’s conservation advisers that it could be illegal and ineffective. It is backed by the Scottish Homing Union, which represents Scotland’s 3,500 pigeon fanciers.

Ancient forest felled after police break up protest camp

from Sunday Herald, 25 January 2009

Trees from one of the world’s most ancient and precious forests are being felled for timber after a two-year protest camp was broken up by police.

Huge eucalyptus logs were last week trucked out of Upper Florentine Valley in Tasmania, Australia, under a police escort. The forest has long been the focus of an intense and bitter battle between environmentalists and loggers.

More than 30 people have been arrested in an argument that pitches the needs of the planet and local wildlife against the economic benefits of the timber industry. And though the logging has begun, the protests continue.

The rare insects that will bug wildlife plan

from Sunday Herald, 18 January 2009

A startling array of rare and colourful bugs has been discovered at two sites in the Cairngorms National Park threatened by major housing developments.

The discoveries, including several Scottish firsts for insects, will put a major new conservation strategy being launched by ministers this week to the test. Experts fear that some of the species risk being lost for ever.

Among the insects uncovered is a small bee previously thought extinct, plus three little hoppers and a thin green bug with long antennae never before recorded in Scotland. The gnarled-looking Slender Groundhopper has also be found much further north than ever before.

On Tuesday the environment minister, Michael Russell, will be helping to unveil a strategy for saving Scotland’s bugs. Drawn up by conservation groups, it will set out a framework for protecting Scotland's endangered invertebrates - animals without backbones like insects, snails and shellfish.

Medicinal plants on verge of extinction

from New Scientist, 07 January 2009

The health of millions could be at risk because medicinal plants used to make traditional remedies, including drugs to combat cancer and malaria, are being overexploited. "The loss of medicinal plant diversity is a quiet disaster," says Sara Oldfield, secretary general of the NGO Botanic Gardens Conservation International.

Most people worldwide, including 80 per cent of all Africans, rely on herbal medicines obtained mostly from wild plants. But some 15,000 of 50,000 medicinal species are under threat of extinction, according to a report this week from international conservation group Plantlife. Shortages have been reported in China, India, Kenya, Nepal, Tanzania and Uganda.

Commercial over-harvesting does the most harm, though pollution, competition from invasive species and habitat destruction all contribute. “Commercial collectors generally harvest medicinal plants with little care for sustainability,” the Plantlife report says. "This can be partly through ignorance, but [happens] mainly because such collection is unorganised and competitive."

Forestry plan under fire

21 December 2008

The Scottish government’s plan to lease large swathes of forest to private companies for 75 years has come under renewed attack from the Labour Party as a “waste of taxpayers’ money”.

The Sunday Herald revealed last month that the plan had run into opposition because of the threat it posed to hundreds of forestry jobs. It was also attacked as an attempt to “sell off our family silver”.

Opposition to plan to lease forests to foreign companies

from Sunday Herald, 23 November 2008

Plans by the Scottish government to raise hundreds of millions of pounds by giving control of vast areas of Scotland’s forests to foreign multinationals are facing furious opposition from trade unions and Labour politicians.

The Scottish National Party has been accused of proposing to “sell off our family silver” to forestry companies, as well as threatening hundreds of jobs. Public access to forests and the protection of wildlife within them are also in jeopardy, allege critics.

But the environment minister, Michael Russell, promised there would be no compulsory redundancies and plenty of guarantees to protect access and wildlife. The government needed to raise money to cut the pollution that is causing climate change, he said.

Hen harriers in terminal decline

from Sunday Herald, 23 November 2008

One of Scotland’s premier birds of prey is facing terminal decline because government measures meant to protect it from persecution are failing.

The hen harrier, which used to be a familiar feature of the moorlands, is disappearing so fast that experts fear for its future. And they castigate the government’s wildlife agency, Scottish Natural Heritage (SNH), for its “pathetic” response.

SNH defends itself by promising renewed action to crack down on wildlife crime and to encourage better behaviour by landowners, while the Scottish environment minister, Michael Russell, says he is “horrified” by the decline.

Probe into ‘scandal’ of Cairngorm railway funding

from Sunday Herald, 09 November 2008

The £50 million fiasco over the Cairngorm mountain railway is to be investigated by the Scottish government’s public spending watchdog, the Sunday Herald can reveal.

The huge amounts of taxpayer’s money lavished on the funicular railway near Aviemore by Highlands and Islands Enterprise (HIE) are going to be probed by Audit Scotland.

The launch of a major investigation has been hailed as a victory by environmental campaigners. They have been long been demanding an inquiry into what they see as a public funding “scandal”.

The Cairngorm funicular, which runs nearly all the way to the summit of Britain’s fifth highest mountain, has been plagued with controversy since it was first proposed in the early 1990s. Lack of visitors meant that it has been struggling to make money.

The unattractive animals we ignore at our peril

from Sunday Herald, 02 November 2008

They can survive in outer space, go ten years without water, and resist lethal doses of radiation. But hardly anyone has heard of them, and no-one is campaigning to save them.

Tardigrades, which look like microscopic, eight-legged bears, are amongst the planet’s most amazing animals. There are more than a thousand different species of them in every environment on earth, including high mountains, deep oceans, the tropics and the poles.

But unlike whales, elephants, pandas or polar bears, tardigrades have not caught the public imagination. Neither, it has to be said, have mushrooms, microbes, earthworms or woodlice. And that, say the UK government’s wildlife advisers, is a problem.

Rare doves on their way home to Mexico

from Sunday Herald, 12 October 2008

This week, a dozen rare Mexican doves will begin a long journey home. Thirty-six years after their ancestors became extinct in the wild, Edinburgh Zoo is flying them  across the Atlantic in the hope they can be freed back into their native forests.

Socorro doves, from islands off Mexico of the same name, died out in 1972 after being hunted by feral cats and losing vital habitat to sheep. As part of a major international project to save the doves, Edinburgh Zoo has been breeding them in captivity since 2005, hatching 15 chicks.

On Thursday 12 birds will be carefully boxed up and sent to Los Angeles, where they will be kept in quarantine for 30 days. Then they will be shipped to zoos in San Francisco and Albuquerque, from where they, or their offspring, will be returned to the Socorro islands.

“We are taking an important step towards reintroducing these birds into the wild,” said Colin Oulton, the head bird keeper at Edinburgh Zoo. The hope was that they would now be able to survive, as the number of feral cats on the Socorro islands had declined.

Breeding the pretty, pink-necked doves had not been easy, Oulton confessed. During courting, the males can become so overexcited that they peck the females to death. “Doves may be symbols of peace, but they are not always peaceful themselves,” he said.

Eco-housing plan for ancient woodland put on hold

from Sunday Herald, 05 October 2008

 

The Forestry Commission has withdrawn a plan to build a green community in an ancient woodland in the wake of fierce opposition from environmental groups and local residents.

The commission’s controversial application for 32 “sustainable” homes in Kilnhill Wood near Nairn was facing rejection by Highland Council’s local planning committee on Tuesday, in line with a recommendation from officials.

So late on Friday, after inquiries by the Sunday Herald, the commission decided to pull the application. “The plan has been withdrawn to address concerns raised by the planners,” said a commission spokesman. “It will be resubmitted at some stage.”

Revealed: £50m bill to clean up Cairngorm railway

from Sunday Herald, 07 September 2008

The financial mess that is the Cairngorm mountain railway could end up costing taxpayers a massive £50 million to clean up, according to internal government documents obtained by the Sunday Herald.

The growing prospect that ministers will be asked to pay the bill for dismantling and removing the controversial funicular from the mountain near Aviemore has been described as “daunting” and “scary” by Scottish government officials. 

The documents also reveal how the company that ran the funicular was on the verge of going bust before it was taken over by the government agency, Highlands and Islands Enterprise (HIE), in May - and how this fact was hidden from the public by HIE at the time.