New energy jobs

On reading the article (or was it an advert?) by Niall Stuart of Scottish Renewables (Friends of The Scotsman, 3 October)
in which he made the rather
ambiguous assertion that “the jobs of more than 11,000 people in Scotland now depend directly on renewable energy development” we recalled Brian Wilson’s revelation the previous day that ScottishPower has erected 1,000 onshore wind turbines and SSE 700 “without a single solitary one of these being built in Scotland”.

We ask the Scottish Government’s energy minister to commission an investigation into how many full time and permanent Scottish jobs, and the nature of these jobs, have been created by his wind farm strategy.

To be credible this analysis must be fully independent and totally objective, by which we mean the results must be free from political wishful thinking and the influence of the vested interests represented by Scottish Renewables.

Once this information has been provided we can then move on to seeking clarification on the cost of the jobs created and other disputed issues surrounding the aforementioned strategy.

Surely only with such transparency allowing proper accountability can democracy flourish within either the UK or an independent Scotland.

Equally importantly, the community of citizens can participate in a fully informed debate on how we should rise, without, for instance, so much of the cost falling on those already experiencing fuel poverty, to meeting the challenge of anthropogenic global warming, the greatest threat facing humanity and the other species and ecosystems on which we are so dependent.

John Milne

Scottish Wild Land Group

Ardgowan Drive

Uddingston