Shetland windfarm - Viking Energy

[unlinkedstudent]

is that ghosty or unlink. the writing seems very like unlink.

 

It was definitely Ghostie. An apology wouldn't go amiss, paulb. I don't come on here and say your postings look like it is your wife speaking. Is it a case of having 'a dig' because you can't think of anything to add to the debate in an intelligent manner?

[unlinkedstudent]

... This one statistic alone speaks for itself. Every turbine will need a base of 2000 tonnes of concrete. 145 turbines x 2000t equals 290,000 tonnes of concrete planted all over the central mainland, not to mention the roads. ....

 

Ah, but just remember, according to AT it'll be no different to the amount of stuff left after the war ... anyone got any statistics on how many sq ft/sq m of concrete are left in such an area from the war so we could make a like-for-like comparison? I wasn't aware that two wrongs made a right.

[shetlandpeat]

He did not say it quite like that.

 

any how, how else would you support a wind turbine?

 

Kavis' doom and gloom, on everything.

 

Yet, still there. How can you live in a place you think is that bad. It seems the VoxPops has got the day.

[Ghostrider]

It seems the VoxPops has got the day.

 

Are those the same as Alcopops, but different?

[Ghostrider]

is that ghosty or unlink. the writing seems very like unlink.

 

It was me!

 

Don't you read, I've had to spoon feed SP on this one on here this week already.

[shetlandpeat]

Still a bit touchy? Unproven, at the moment, but we may never know. Spoon feed, cheesus. Folk only saying what they think and see on this forum. Though picking on the finer points as a reason to oppose does not always work. It seems folk will just force their view in favour of themselves. As are the accusations levelled at VE. I hope as much vigour is put into other campaigns where folk are actually suffering ill health, in this real world.

 

As the VE project is the only one that has come forward, it seems the folk of Shetland are gonna run with it, it does now appear the bitter minority who are constantly looking for stumbling blocks for something that will, financially benefit. NO other alternative has presented its self as no one has the metal to publicly start such ventures. Even if they did, this has been going on for nearly a decade with reams of consultation. Could Shetland wait another 10 years before someone does something, as ever, always waiting for someone else to do it.

It would now be wise to get the most from the project, not obstruct it so as to possibly reduce the income.

[Kavi Ugl]

SP, I'm getting tired of your digs at me. I ignore most but it's wearing a little thin now.

 

I'm not doom and gloom - all I'm doing is pointing out some of the things that I feel are wrong in Shetland.

 

For me, the VE project is a reflection of the present "brain dead/let's get rich" Shetland.

 

And from my own personal experience, it's the kind of people who pour scorn on Shetland's traditional history and heritage which from my point of view is what we should be preserving and promoting.

[paulb]

iof course i will say i am sorry as it was you ghosty. but seriously you two do sound very similar now. this is not a dig. i am in fact happy that unlink has found a good friend in you.

 

Anyway back to the topic in hand. were do you get the idea that even if the CT pulled out which they will not now.that they won't be allowed to build on the busta estate. this is council land and has such the council would be duty bound to get the best return on there investment. They could even sell it to VE.

 

the antis wanted an health impact study they are getting one. they wanted to protect those living near the farm they have got that by moving and compo.

 

Seems that VE are meeting your objections. so its going to be heading to the nimby arguments again. SS have gone a lot quieter since the fox left. Anyway its time that this thing was built .

 

Kavi is allowed his views as we are just because we don't agree on it does not mean either is wrong. in fact its time shetland started to heal this row.

[ArabiaTerra]

I'm not doom and gloom - all I'm doing is pointing out some of the things that I feel are wrong in Shetland.

 

For me, the VE project is a reflection of the present "brain dead/let's get rich" Shetland.

 

And from my own personal experience, it's the kind of people who pour scorn on Shetland's traditional history and heritage which from my point of view is what we should be preserving and promoting.

 

So what do you think will happen here without VE, Kavi?

 

The TOTAL development will, at best, employ a hundred people or so, and bring in a few million over it's lifespan. It might be enough to offset the decline and eventual closure of Sullom.

 

The fishing isn't getting any bigger, and if the predictions for ocean acidification come true, it will be devastated.

 

Likewise, the aquaculture industry is mature with the only possible change being down. Ocean acidification will have an even bigger impact on this.

 

The knitting died out years ago.

 

The tourism seems to be fairly flat and with fossil fuel prices driving up travelling costs, I can't see it compensating for the decline in the other industries, especially if climate change starts driving away the birdlife on which the bulk of the tourist trade depends.

 

You seem to believe there was some golden age in the past when Shetland was some idyllic pastoral paradise of healthy, happy crofters farming the land and nipping oot t'da eela in the evening to catch their supper during summertime and gathering round the houses to play fiddle music and dance the winter nights away.

 

WAKE UP!

 

This idyll never existed. Crofting life before the oil consisted of hard, constant, back-breaking toil just to scrape together enough cash to keep the wolf from the door. It was a life of grinding poverty that every able bodied young Shetlander got as far away from as he or she could, the first chance they got.

 

Shetlands "traditional history and heritage" is a tale of debt-ridden wage slavery and exploitation. A tale of plunder by Lairds and oppression by the Kirk. Is that the past you hanker for? Because I'm pretty damn sure I don't want it, for me or my descendents.

 

In the fifties and sixties, Shetland was depopulating because there was nothing here for the young. This process was interrupted by the oil, but the underlying reasons for it haven't changed, and it will resume once the oil money is gone.

 

Unless we have something to replace it.

 

This replacement is the windfarm, renewable energy. The interconnector opens up this new chance to maintain our standard of living, to preserve this culture you seem to value so much.

 

Nothing else can do it.

 

So, unless you know of an alternative that can secure Shetland's economic future in the same way as the windfarm, then please stop this constant whinging. It's getting tiresome.

[Piddly]

 

Well said AT!!

[shetlandpeat]

I agree with AT. I have seen many a folk struggle to make ends meet over the years. What I do see now is progression. Not regression. Unfortunately, some do not have much to say about the good things folk try to do. Happy to find as much info as they can on folk to save for a future event.

 

I see the cuts that are looming and folk are still pig headed about an ideal that NEVER existed. We could always get more folk evicted for sheep, watch the coast line for folk leaving then punish the remaining family.

 

There is nothing on the table at the moment apart from the Citizen Smith sorta campaigns.

 

Shetland has always been a great place, has its loons as everywhere else but you cannot do much about them. I certainly hope that the VE project will inject a little confidence back into the islands and Shetland folk will do what they are best at, make the most of it.

[Kavi Ugl]

Sorry AT, but you've completely missed what I was saying.

 

Maybe what I hope for will never happen but in my book what we should be fighting for is a new form of home-rule/control over our seas and land.

 

This would revive Shetland by giving us control of what I believe is Shetland's resources i.e the fishing.

 

Your point about Total is 100% correct - once the construction is finished it will only employ approx 100 people. Now, if we had the sort of home rule that many feel we should have then not only would we be deriving income from our oil and gas fields but there would be a flourishing offshore service sector creating hundreds of jobs.

 

In private what I find is that many people feel this way but sadly there is as yet no political move towards this.

 

Nevertheless, turning Shetland into an offshore power station is not the answer.

 

I don't believe in some "golden age" but what saddens me is that too many of my fellow Shetlanders have no regard at all for Shetland's rich history and are more concerned with getting an extra pound in their pocket or the latest mobile phone.

 

Talking of money, VE bleat on about all this money that the windfarm will earn but what's the money for??. We can't all work in care homes or Mareel. What Shetland needs is real jobs like what has been provided by the seafood sector.

 

Apart from care homes and Shetland Arts, what is this "standard of living" that VE waffle on about?.

[shetlandpeat]

If it means that much to folk, why has nothing happened?

 

If you feel that strongly about it, why has nothing happened?

 

May be folk think deep down it is a dream. It will not happen. Which, it will not.

 

Try listing all the things that will have to be addressed for your dream to happen. Be serious as if you mean it.

Posting here does nothing in many cases. I am all for folk taking the lead, I see little evidence of that on here. It has become a breeding ground for some sniping.

 

If you think it is possible, and will do what you say, I will support it. Spout the same old woe is Shetland, I will not. I will leave it up to you, again, put something tangible together that we can support, and folk will. Including me.

 

Over to you Citizen Kavi.

[Para Handy]

Well suprise more money after bad then

 

The whole windmill saga is just that same oldest profession.

 

The senior councillor (The pimp)

The Charitable Trust (The Tart)

 

The pimp likes to use the tart as a freebie (Cash cow for pet projects) but like any other the pimp will get other to use it if money is waved about. But sometimes they catch something nasty like a sexually transmitted disease (VE) for instance and pass it on to the tart (The Charitable Trust)

It then starts to lose money left right and centre as nobody decent wants to catch STDs like (VE)

Don’t forget the The Charitable Trust already had Herpes from the Norröna scandal and some Genital Warts (rest of the Councillors)

If the VE Wave enough money in front of Warts!

VE gets it’s the better of them everytime.

[Ghostrider]

Still a bit touchy?

 

Damn right!

 

iof course i will say i am sorry as it was you ghosty. but seriously you two do sound very similar now.

 

Apology accepted by us both. Hmmm....I dunno whether to say, "good, my cunning plan is working well", or that unlinked should just be very worried that's she's turning more me, to the other bit. If she does get as much like me as to start growing a beard though, I will get bloody worried.