wind turbines at sunset
A crucial part of getting the go-ahead for any wind power proposal is an assessment of the potential environmental impacts that may occur. By law, the developer has to pay a consultant to assess these impacts. This process is called an Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA). It covers all stages of the development (building, operation, and decommissioning). The EIA looks at potential ecological effects and also any potential impacts on natural processes like coastal erosion, or on human activities such as fishing.
The results of the EIA for Scarweather Sands have been published in a huge document called the Environmental Statement (ES). This statement is itself backed up by several huge volumes of deeper research. According to the ES, the proposed wind farm will not have any detrimental environmental effects. Greenpeace scientists have studied the ES and interviewed the company United Utilities and its consultants. We are confident that the ES findings on surf, beach and water quality are robust and based on thorough research.
The wind farm won't cause pollution. Other industries are not nearly as clean and many areas of our coastal waters are already polluted. Ironically, due to the legacy of dirty industries, even clean marine developers (like wind farm builders) have to be careful. In theory, there is a danger that, if pollutants are trapped in the mud and sand on the seabed, building work or 'scour' could churn them up, releasing some into the water.
This is not a problem at Scarweather Sands. While Swansea Bay as a whole has been heavily polluted, Scarweather Sands is not in the most heavily affected areas. The bore hole testing bears this out - in every single sample any contaminants found were well inside precautionary safety limits.
