Are onshore wind turbines – often in ones or twos on farming land – being thrown out so that the mega-business of fracking can reign supreme and provide the Treasury with vastly more tax income?
Some intriguing possibilities:
“If fracking yields ample supplies of gas (which is still an unknown), the Treasury will be relieved. The tax take from North Sea oil and gas tax has dropped by more than £6bn over three years and the Office of Budget Responsibility recently slashed its long-term North Sea revenue forecast by 94%. …
… Daisy Sands from Greenpeace said: “The contrast between [the government’s] view that local councils should be ‘masters of their own destiny’ and the new provisions announced today is staggering.
“Local residents could end up with virtually no say over whether their homes, communities and national parks are fracked or not.
“There is a clear double standard at play – the same government that is intent on driving through fracking at whatever cost has just given more powers to local councils to oppose wind farms, the cheapest source of clean energy. The government is riding rough-shod over democracy to industrialise our most beautiful landscapes and damage the climate. …”
So, wind farms not supplying enough tax to the Treasury but fracking looking much more lucrative.
East Devon Watch 