Alternative take

Published on Wednesday 23 January 2008 21:18

Philip Blair tilts at windmills

HAVING read recent letters by Dina Murray and Iain McIver, I thought it may be useful to provide an alternative angle on the Lewis wind farm.

I am a tourist who has been visiting Lewis for nearly 20 years, spending much of my time fishing for the wild trout which fill the lochs dominating the wonderful Lewis landscape.

On a world scale these fish are important because they may well be genetically unique, and fish from each loch tend to have their own physical characteristics. They are at least as important as the animals of the Amazon rainforest, yet the so-called "green lobby" can look the other way while the Lewis trout are wiped out.

On Lewis the turbines will dominate the shores of many trout lochs, yet Lewis Wind Power's environmental survey makes no mention of the environmental impact on the lochs; it makes no reference to the existence of the lochs at all.

The "green lobby" often use terms like "sustainable" to describe the industrial complex that Mr McIver hopes the Barvas Moor would become once the turbines are built.

Industrialisation and the current sustainable lifestyle which has protected a unique ecosystem for thousands of years are incompatible, it is impossible for them to work hand in hand, and I would urge the Scottish Government to decide in favour of sustainable tourism and the lifestyle the indigenous peoples want for themselves.