Severn estuary barrage debate continue - critical habitat threatened

publication date: Dec 14, 2007

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author/source: Environment Agency

From the Environment Agency

Building a barrage across the Severn Estuary to generate electricity
would do irreversible damage to important natural habitats, the
Environment Agency's chief executive warned today.
Crossbencher Baroness Young of Old Scone said building the barrage to
help the fight against climate change would be the equivalent of
"throwing the baby out with the bath water".
In a Lords debate, Lady Young said: "It's irreplacability is due to the
extent of its tidal range and this proposal would reduce considerably
the tidal range of a very large part of the estuary.
"It is one of the more important estuarine systems in Europe for things
like its salmon rivers and inter-tidal rivers. It is truly a globally
unique river."
She warned that if the barrage were to go ahead "it is not possible to
create a replacement habitat elsewhere in the country that would
recreate what is lost".
At the Environment Agency "we struggle each year to create about 100
hectares of replacement habitat. I'm not sure how we would see 14,000
hectares of habitat created.
"It is one of the few sites in Britain designated to the very highest
level."
She said: "If we were to over-ride the protection of one of our most
highly protected sites in this country, I believe it would become open
season. It would happen a bit here but a lot across the rest of Europe."

Baroness Young said she feared, despite a Government feasibility study,
a momentum was building up behind the scheme which would involve
building a barrage between England and Wales.
She told peers: "It does seem to me that what is being examined is not
whether this barrage should go ahead but how it can be allowed and
enabled to go ahead."
Lady Young warned: "We must watch that there is not an inexorable
momentum behind this proposition that governments of any complexion will
find it difficult to go back on.
"I would urge the Government to consider the feasibility study in the
context of what could be achieved by investing this scale of finance in
cheaper carbon reductions - for example in less damaging climate
technologies like lagoons or in major programmes of energy efficiency or
other renewable technologies."
"I hope that in the future we are not in the position where we believe
we cannot solve the problem of climate change without junking other
environmental resources. For me that would be very much throwing the
baby out with the bath water." 

For Tories, Earl Attlee said: "We can study the economics of the barrage
project but we, the current generation - the current custodians - will
have to pay for the project if it proceeds.
"We will definitely be leaving for future generations all sorts of
problems and they will not thank us for them. There is global warming,
rising sea levels, deforestation, depletion of natural resources, loss
of biodiversity on a grand scale, and nuclear waste.
"It would be rather nice to leave future generations 17 terrawatts of
electricity every year, absolutely free."
Replying for the Government, Lord Bach said: "If anyone ever thought
that the big decisions that had to be made around climate change would
be easy decisions, how wrong they were.
"There are conflicting interests all over the place. The difficulty for
Government and Parliament is to work their way through these interests
to find out what is best for our generation and future ones.

For the Government, Lord Bach said: "As the urgency of tackling climate
change and achieving energy security increases, the case for more
renewable energy has become more and more compelling.
"That is why the UK supports the agreement of EU leaders that by 2020,
one-fifth of all Europe's energy should come from renewables - a near
three-fold increase.
"Our commitment to renewable energy, such as wind and wave, is clear.
Estimates suggest that tidal energy could provide more than 10% of the
UK's energy demands, so it must make sense for us to explore the
potential for harnessing that resource."
He said a study by the Sustainable Development Commission concluded
"that there was a strong case for a sustainable Severn Barrage and that
such a development may provide an environmental opportunity by linking a
compensatory habitat package to climate change adaptation.
"They set a number of conditions that would need to be met for a barrage
to be considered sustainable. These require any consideration of a
barrage to be within a framework that places high value on the long-term
public interest and on maintaining the overall integrity of
international recognised habitat and species.
"We welcome the Commission's key message that tidal power can be
generated in the Severn Estuary within sustainable development
principles. We are looking at the report and its conclusions with great
care.

Lord Bach added: "This is an option we want to explore further. We have
announced our intention to carry out a feasibility study to include
consideration of the environmental impact because a barrage would have a
major effect on the eco-systems of the Severn Estuary.
"May I make it crystal clear that we have come to no conclusion about
the end result of the study. It will be carried out openly and is very
much about the question of whether this scheme will go ahead.
"We aim to make this a proper feasibility study that will lead to the
right conclusions.
"It is going to look at the various options for developing tidal energy
in the estuary and will look at lagoons as well as a barrage.
"The study is expected to take at least 18 months to two years to
complete. Throughout we intend to do the work transparently and engage
the people and organisations who would be affected by any such
developments.
"There are going to be important announcements next month, after the
Christmas recess.
"We are currently examining the scope of this study. It is important to
get that right and also its organisational framework and governance.
He added: "We have to move ahead and come to a decision but we do need
to get it right, for our generation and future generations."