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Stop The Severn Barrage! (1 Viewer)

Rob Laughton

Rob Laughton

Bird, bird, bird...
Please sign this petition to stop the building of the Severn Barrage.

It will be a disaster on a grand scale for all wildlife on the severn estuary and surrounding area, not to mention for all the wintering, breeding and migratory birds which use this massive Ecosystem every year.

Please sign the petition and show your support to stop this so called GREEN earth friendly structure going ahead.

As Chris Wilkinson has rightly said:

"How can we criticise the South Koreans for the destruction of internationally important estuaries if we let it happen here"

Thanks

http://petitions.pm.gov.uk/savethesevern/
 
you beat me to it, i was just about to post this petition. I wonder what would happen to WWT Slimbridge? i assume it would be badly affected? Also my regular birding patch newport wetlands would also be affected so i obviously have signed.
 
Signed and I wonder what the potential destruction of the Severn Bore would mean for local tourism? Is it affected?
 
McMadd said:
Signed and I wonder what the potential destruction of the Severn Bore would mean for local tourism? Is it affected?
Click to expand...

I beleive it will be affected, maybe even totally lost. Then again im not an expert on these tidal maters, just someone who cares about the wildlife of the severn. Apparently there is a compensation package going to be made for the loss of habitat that the barrage will cause! Dont make me laugh! Heven knows how they will replace one of the biggest estuary's in the British Isles! Probably with some half hearted attempt of some shallow pools near Brean Down I would imagine.

No one can replace what will be lost, if the Barrage goes ahead. Im all for reducing our Carbon Emissions, but at the cost of one of the most important wildlife areas in Europe! No thanks. I would rather just pay higher energy prices, thanks. Then we can hopefully find some better way round this whole scenario.

Thank you all for signing up :t::t::t:
 
Signed.

The whole prospect does not sound very good at all. :C

I hope that it is reconsidered, and stopped

Regards
Kathy
 
McMadd said:
Signed and I wonder what the potential destruction of the Severn Bore would mean for local tourism? Is it affected?
Click to expand...

I suppose the Bore would be lost, though the value of the Bore to tourism is negligable, if anything. Also, with regard to Slimbridge, I guess the impact on the geese populations would also be low. It is however to the vast wader populations that the barrage would be an unmitigated disaster. And any so-called green person that supports such a scheme needs to hang their head in shame, or better be straight hung from one of the existing Severn Bridges. Gee, I hate carbonites - the mentally single-most warped segment of the environmentalist cause in existance.
 
The tidal energy plant in Brittany (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rance_tidal_power_plant) must be the most uninteresting spot along its coast. Luckily, it is small... but note the feeble contribution to Brittany's energy needs.
I don't mind small-scale water/wind power (there are better things to do with oil, gas and coal than burning them), but this whole idea is just ridiculously over-scaled.
 
signed


Well done the minister for comparing the Barrage to the 3 Gorges Dam
Even the Chinese Government are beginning to admit what an environmental disaster the three gorges dam is and are sayng so publicly!

Of such loose words are the bullets that shoot white elephants made!
 
Xenospiza said:
The tidal energy plant in Brittany (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rance_tidal_power_plant) must be the most uninteresting spot along its coast. Luckily, it is small... but note the feeble contribution to Brittany's energy needs.
I don't mind small-scale water/wind power (there are better things to do with oil, gas and coal than burning them), but this whole idea is just ridiculously over-scaled.
Click to expand...

Don't bite my head off, but this is a dilema for me. Yes I'm happy to sign this petition, but actually I just don't know enough about this scheme to make an informed judgement about whether it's good or bad. I'm just going along with the crowd (and only the vocal minority at that), who for all I know have got vested interests in this scheme being stopped. It feels like the right thing to do, to save our waders, but is it?

Almost daily we see dire warnings on the news about the consequences of Global warming. We all know that action must be taken now, yet nobody wants it in their own backyard. Perhaps at some stage in the future we are just going to have to accept that, yes barrages and wind farms are going to cause some local problems, and may not be attractive, but they are better than the alternative of spiraling Global Warming and all the problems that brings for wildlife. Trouble is, we don't seem to have a lot of time to think about this. What's the alternative? More nuclear power stations?

So yes, the petition is signed, but with a heavy heart unless somebody can convince me otherwise.
 
At least as important as global warming is secure, sustainable supply, which the barrier would provide (5% of overall UK electricity needs I think). However I think the scheme should use tidal lagoons, which would preserve the intertidal areas (and the bore!). I don't have anything to hand but understand the lagoons system may potentially provide more energy. I guess it's not being suggested because it is more expensive and perhaps because it won't provide a crossing?

Shame about the spelling mistakes in the petition. Doesn't come over very well does it? It could have been more constructive as well: '...understanding the need for sustainable power... ...urging govt to look at alternatives with less impact...'

It would be nice to be able to add comments to the signature too.

Still in the absence of anything else I guess it's worth signing.
 
I've also signed with reservations about not being able to add a comment to the effect that I'm not against renewables in principle, but I feel that this particular scheme is inappropriate.

This is what the RSPB say in their policy statement:

"A barrage would have a very serious impact upon sites of international importance for birds and other wildlife, including sites protected under EU environmental legislation.
Construction of the Barrage would be damaging and disruptive to the environment of the Estuary and embody a significant amount of carbon.

Both the cost of construction and the cost of renewable electricity from the Barrage are likely to be significantly higher than the cost of readily available alternative sources."

Adrian
 
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