wind

Spain

Catalan environmentalists team up with American far right to hinder wind industry’s progress

In the north-eastern area of Spain, the Catalan section of Eurosolar has published a report showing the relationship between anti-wind groups in Catalonia and North American fundamentalists, characterised by their support for nuclear power and the oil industry.
Catalan environmentalists team up with American far right to hinder wind industry’s progress

Last week, Eurosolar – the European Association for Renewable Energy – issued a press release entitled ‘Let's stop irresponsibly playing with renewables’, in which, along with several environmental organisations, it called on the Catalan government and parliament to "resolve the current legal mess jeopardising the administrative guarantees for wind power investors in Catalonia". It also denounced the links of anti-wind protectionist groups and conservationists with the international far-right movement.

The report came to light following the recent ruling by courts in the Catalan province of Lleida ordering the demolition of 25 of the 33 wind turbines comprising the Tallat wind farm, halfway between Urgell and Conca de Barberà. The adoption in 2005 of the 2006-2015 Energy Plan for Catalonia aimed to boost renewables and enable the roll-out of 3,500 MW of wind energy capacity at the end of that period. There is currently 448 MW of wind power capacity in service in Catalonia, 349.4 MW under construction, and a further 1,100 MW approved and in the pipeline.

In 2009 the Government issued Decree 147/2009, of 22 September, which regulates the administrative processing of photovoltaic arrays and wind farms in Catalonia, in order to simplify the permitting process and streamline their installation across the region. But in reality, Eurostar says, "it is a limiting factor for the development of renewables and especially for solar PV in rural areas". In this regard, Eurosolar raises "the urgent need for a law defining administrative safeguards for the development of renewables to eradicate the legal contradictions impeding their uptake and approval within a reasonable time".

In fact, Catalan wind companies have already seen that the very Wind Plan approved by the Government in the last term has been questioned by the judiciary. The Catalan wind energy association, Eoliccat, ensures that there are other cases similar to the Tallat wind farm, and if the ruling reached by the court in Lleida prevail and the Lleida environmental association, IPCENA, continues to present complaints, a global solution will have to be found.

From the EPAW to the JBS

And here is where the interconnections between anti-wind energy groups in Catalonia and American fundamentalism are found. Why? Because "IPCENA, the Platform for the Defence of the Terra Alta (Plataforma para la Defensa de la Terra Alta), the Catalan Ecosystem Research and Protection Group (Grupo de Estudio y Protección de los Ecosistemas Catalanes–GEPEC), the Alto Empordà Nature Research Group (Institución Alto Ampurdanesa de Estudio de la Naturaleza–IAEDEN), and the Portbou and Colera Anti Wind Turbine Civic Platform (Plataforma Cívica AntiMolinos de Portbou y Colera–PCAPIC), are all furiously against the use of wind power. They all belong to the European Platform Against Windfarms (EPAW), an entity that echoes such publications as The New American, a bi-monthly magazine of the John Birch Society (JBS): a North American fundamentalist, anti-civil rights, pro-nuclear, climate change denier institution," says Eurostar.

A year ago, in August 2010, the EPAW website published two articles promoted by The New American: ‘An Ill Wind Blowing’ and ‘The Wind-farm Eruption’, the author of which was Ed Hiserodt. As explained, The New American is the bi-monthly magazine of the John Birch Society: an entity that was created in California in 1958 and is the purest expression of American anti-communism. Its mission, says the Society, is "less government, more responsibility and, with God's help, a better world". In 2010, the JBS was co-sponsor of the Conservative Political Action Conference held in Washington in February, among other things, to present the Ronald Reagan Award to the Tea Party.

"The New American published a blistering report against wind energy in two instalments (27 and 28 October 2010), using the most out-dated arguments that tend to be used to attack this technology. These publications deserved to be highlighted on the EPAW website, a European platform chaired by Jean-Louis Boutros, a strange fellow who also chairs the absurd “environmental” organisation, Fédération Environnement Durable , which is dedicated exclusively to rallying against wind power," claims Eurostar.

As for the author of these reports, Ed Hiserodt, The New American says he is an aerospace engineer and author of a book with a title that is a statement of principles: ‘Underexposed: What if Radiation is Actually GOOD for you?’. In 2007, Hiserodt wrote two articles in The New American itself entitled ‘Another look at nuclear energy’ and ‘Myths about Nuclear Energy’, "in which, as a good spokesman for the American extreme right, he sings the praises of nuclear energy. He also collaborates with the Climate Realistic website, which states that climate change is a non-scientific philosophy and openly denies that it is of human origin".

As for the EPAW, it presents itself as a European platform that "defend the interests of its members which are questioning the effectiveness of wind farms as a tool for solving the problems of man and the planet or defending the flora, fauna and landscapes from damage caused by wind farms… or generally fighting against the damaging effects of wind farms on tourism, the economy, people's quality of life".

Members of the EPAW "include (as shown on the association’s website): the abovementioned Platform for the Defence of the Terra Alta, GEPEC, IAEDEN, IPCENA, and PCAPIC, all of which are against using the wind that blows in certain areas of Catalonia".

According to Eurostar, "it is critical that the Catalan public know who and what is behind the opposition to wind power. Saying no to wind power today is saying yes to nuclear energy and all that it represents".

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