Who's Wind is it Anyhow?

A detailed account has been provided of the 'hot' debate surrounding a £500m proposal to site an arc of 181 wind turbines (each around 140m high) on an estimated 2% of the moors of north Lewis in the Hebrides (http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2008/feb/04/windpower.renewableenergy). Amec and British Energy have proposed the scheme that they estimate will generate 600 mw (i.e. around 10% of Scotland's renewable electricity and reducing the emission of carbon dioxide and other 'greenhouse' gases). Originally, they envisaged a larger scheme generating a 1000 mw. Even the smaller scheme will require the building of 88 miles of access road, creation of 6 new quarries, construction of 8 electricity sub-stations and erecting more than 100 pylons. The companies are offering £2000 per annum in rent for each crofter on the island. The scheme is supported by the Western Isles Council who see the wind farm as being essential to the island's economy (a recent study suggested that this was 'fragile', depending on more than £150m of state subsidies per annum). The Stornoway Trust that owns much of the targeted moorland also favours the development, with its estate manager (Iain MacIver) claiming that rejection of the wind farm would compromise the council's ambition to make the Western Isles 'a hub for renewable energy'. Ranged against them are the vast majority of Lewis crofters and tourists to the region who claim that the moor is one of the 'most ecologically significant peat bogs in Europe' and provides 'extremely fragile, internationally protected habitats' for a wide range of bird species including the Golden eagle and the Red-throated diver. The Scottish Executive (perhaps being mindful of votes?) is 'minded to refuse' the scheme and the Scottish National Party MSP for the area, Alasdair Allan, has claimed that the scheme is 'simply too big, too brutal for Lewis'. He suggests more subsidies such as substantial cuts in ferry fares to rebuild the local economy. It seems to me that these kinds of debate are always going to occur in such situations. Not much hope for global warming, if these issues can't be resolved at local levels.