Friday 11 October 2013


 PRESS RELEASE 
11 October 2013

Majority of Blackdog Residents File Objections to Vattenfall EIA
Nearly 90 percent of Blackdog Households Objected to EOWDC Wind Farm Substation

Blackdog, Scotland:

Just over 60 households objected to the substation Vattenfall proposed to build over an old and contaminated landfill 400 feet away from their homes. As the late October decision day for the Formartine Area Committee nears, the Protect Blackdog movement is gaining momentum. Local leaders collected and recently filed 74 residents’ objections to Vattenfall’s Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA), over ten more than last time, with the planning office. The objections addressed the dangers vehicle movements will pose during construction, Vattenfall’s transparency and blemished history, and other points of interest.

The small beach town has been opposing Vattenfall’s substation for months, fighting for their right to safe and peaceful living conditions. Despite public pleas, an online petition, and the majority of the village formally objecting on numerous occasions, the Committee has yet to make their decision.

“Our village is already surrounded by 19 landfills, one of which is the second most contaminated parcel of land in all of Scotland. You can see the oil still oozing onto the beach years later,” says Edna Booth, a local Protect Blackdog leader. “Why has this small beach town been targeted as an industrial dead zone? We don’t want to live 400 feet from a substation, to convert greenery into a cement block that will take months of aggravation to build. I don’t think this is too much to ask.”

The upshot is that Vattenfall is no stranger to dealing with local villages. In August, the company sought to destroy a church and the homes of 800 people in a small village in East Germany in order to expand a brown coal, open-cast mine. Also in August, it was reported that Vattenfall is planning to build a wind farm spanning two forests in South-West Scotland. Clearly the deceptive and manipulative tactics that earned the company its 2009 Climate Greenwash Award for being the “master of spin” are still being employed.
 
In the coming weeks, Blackdog leaders and residents hope that the Committee will rule in their favour and deny Vattenfall another chance to ruin a small, old town. For additional information about the issue, please refer to the group’s petition:http://www.change.org/petitions/formartine-area-committee-stop-vattenfall-from-building-a-substation-near-residential-housing

Contact:
-          Edna Booth (01224702139)
-          Nicola Brown (01224825202)

For additional Information, please refer to the following:

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