Bishop Hill Green groups funded by big wind
Apr 29, 2012 Climate: other Energy: wind Greens The Mail on Sunday (not online) carries the news that several prominent Scottish environmental groups are sponsored by wind farm companies.
Environment group WWF Scotland admitted that it had received more than £22,500 in the past year from one of the UK's biggest energy firms, Scottish and Southern Energy.
It has apparently also been revealed that Friends of the Earth Scotland are supported by Scottish Power Renewables, while the Royal Society for the Protection of Birds Scotland is also in the pay of big wind.
Amusing therefore to see this report issued jointly by the three organisations saying that fears over the reliability of wind power are overdone. Money talks, I guess.
Bishop Hill
There was also this RSPB study, which found that "wind farms are not bird blenders".
Reader Comments (61)
I wonder if any MSPs are in receipt of money from 'big green'.
IIRC, back in 2000, a story did the rounds that Scottish Labour party was funded by wind turbine manufacturers.
“When religion and politics travel in the same cart, the riders believe nothing can stand in their way. Their movements become headlong - faster and faster and faster. They put aside all thoughts of obstacles and forget the precipice does not show itself to the man in a blind rush until it's to late.”
― Frank Herbert, Dune
Does anyone have info on where the Green Party have found money recently?
My wife and I received direct mail appeals to support our local Green candidate in the Thursday Council elections. Plus more delivered literature than I've seen before from them.
In our case it was not well targetted as, (declaration of interest), I'm a sitting Edinburgh Conservative councillor, who is delivering all material with the help of unpaid volunteers.
This seems like a bit of a non-story . . .
So political organisations funded by those who benefit directly from political decisions is a non story.
I wonder what the idiot renewable view would have been if heartland received money from the mythical big oil.....hysterics? I do wonder at the sight of secular religions corrupting people.
http://forargyll.com/2012/04/major-environmental-groups-seriously-compromised-by-wind-developers-cash/
nothing to see, eh, Scots R?...let's pass on by....
This does not come as a surprise to me, or many others who have argued against inappropriate wind and hydro-electric schemes in Scotland. SSE investment in WWF has paid dividends in terms of the pro wind coverage that Richard Dixon and others in WWF have generated in Scotland. There are also non-financial links; I know of one of SSE's Public Affairs employee who has close ties to the Green Party (he stood as the Green candidate in local elections a few years back). There is also a senior figure in Scottish Power Renewables, who worked for WWF for many years in the 1990s.
are you sure it's not baked beans providing the wind mate
There was an episode of QI where Stephen Fry read out an emphatic statement from the RSPB saying, if I recall correctly, that no birds at all had been killed by wind turbines.
I remembered wondering at the time what the hell they were thinking, especially as it would be impossible to prove that none had been killed anyway.
Yeeesss.........completely unlike unproven small sums of cash which may, or may not, have found their way from energy companies to sceptic activist groups like Heartland - they require multiple headlines and endless anguished analysis in the Guardian of course.
BTW - how are your green website clients getting along? Business looking up at all?
The RSPB has 30 pieces of silver and a pile of dead birds
I often wondered how the RSPB could ever have come out in favour of windmills when bird deaths were widely reported. Now we know.
"This seems like a bit of a non-story . . ."
In denial are we SR? Three charities, who are paid by wind-interests, just happen to come up with a joint report extolling the virtues of wind-power.
And you see nothing worth reporting there?
Get a grip laddie and take a long hard look at yourself.
"RSPB study, which found that "wind farms are not bird blenders"
Reminds me of the story of school in Dorset which put a wind turbine on the roof, to demonstrate care for environment and all that. The head teacher had to come to school early to clear up the dead birds to minimise the distress to pupils.
RSPB was asked by the BBC to comment on that story too, I wonder if they remember.
I often wondered how the RSPB could ever have come out in favour of windmills . . .
For about a decade, RSPB had a deal with Scottish & Southern whereby the former sold the latter's "green" electricity to members and supporters for commission. The scheme ran at much the same as Greenpeace's "Juice" deal with German nuclear giant RWE, developers of the North Hoyle off-shore subsidy farm. At the time, Matthew Spencer of the Greenpeace climate campaign enthused that:
'When we hear about ice caps melting and floods increasing, it's easy to think global warming is too big a problem to tackle. Juice offers hope by giving individuals a simple and effective way of doing their bit to fight climate change through their electricity bill.'
Yes, of course; the bigger the Greenpeace commission, the slower the icecaps melt. Have we a consensus on that? Again coincidentally, Greenpeace International
renewables director Corin Millais quit GP in June 2002 to head up the European Wind Energy Association.
In short, political corruption of the type 'is Grace reports is not new though I must stress that the fact that the only major proposal of the several put forward for the Isle of Lewis that RSPB bigwigs did not oppose was SSE's one for Pairc Estate is coincidental.
Scots Renewables suggests that all this is a "a bit of a non-story . . .". Well, he could be right at that though I'd remind him that News International's perversion of the course of justice was a "non story" for long enough.
For a long time I was puzled by the RSPB position on windmills. At one time they used to take the side of the birds - every bird every time. It was someone else's job to weigh other factors and decide if a new TV transmitter was more important than a pair of breeding falcons. The RSPB would side with the birds.
I thought they were perhaps trying to balance short term versus long term issues.
The truth is much simpler: they have been bought.
FYI
WWF Scotland - Gross income £57,756,000.00
FOE Scotland - Gross income £547,994.00
RSPB Scotland - Gross income £122,519,000.00
Source: http://www.oscr.org.uk/
GWPF - Gross income £158,008.00
Breaking wind story.
Perhaps Canadian birds and bats have not been trained in evasive measures to avoid avian Cuisinarts!
http://naturecanadablog.blogspot.ca/2010/05/wind-farm-on-wolf-island-is-killing.html
Just for once I'd agree with SR. Reprehensible though it is WWF and Friends of the Earth will go to any lengths to destroy the prosperity of ordinary people, that they should take money to do so is hardly surprising for the morally bankrupt gang of human haters we know them to be. The RSPB is a bed fellow of the environmental movement, and, of course, shares their malignant aims for the future of humanity. So why wouldn't they take money to further the aims of a bunch of quasi religious anti-human propogandists?
From the Ecclesiastical Uncle, an old retired bureaucrat in a field only remotely related to climate, with minimal qualifications and only half a mind.
Returning at last after total distraction caused by the preparation of a pontification (?sermon, homily, etc) about something else I know nothing about. Now complete for the time being.
‘Once more into the breech, dear friends….’
1.Was the Mail article a neutral report, or did it express approbation or disapprobation?
2.Surely reports like this could be used to attack. Particularly if a flow of funds, preferably quantified, from Scottish and Southern Energy to any part o the wind farm industry could be demonstrated. Is that information out there?.
3.Thus equipped, can anyone think of, and wield, an appropriate polemical weapon?
Windmill farms aren't bird blenders and statements about the lack of reliability of wind farm has been overstated. Both are true statements, regardless of the source.
Compare the metrics of bird deaths by wind turbines to bird deaths by other anthropogenic sources, then consider what the phrase "ecologically significant mortality rate" means in this context, and drawn your own conclusions. Secondly, look at the variability wind speeds at the surface versus 100-m. Our experience on the surface of the Earth tells us nothing about what is happening 100-m up. Who'd a thunk it?
On and the third truth is you and other skeptics use these arguments of bird blending and lack of reliability not because you've vetted them and know them to be true, but because they are so very, very convenient to your political arguments, an argument that relates to the disagreement over government subsidization of wind mill farms and is something that I completely agree with your criticisms of.
Is it really that hard to figure out that some things that the windmill proponents argue for are true (and I'm not a windmill proponent though you will all mistake me for one for calling BS on what I think are flakey arguments), and yet their fundamental premise can still be totally flawed? [I would say the fundamental premise is that government can mandate technology growth through end-user subsidization. Ask Obama how that Solyndra loan worked out.]
The sum of a series of bad arguments doesn't make a good argument a better one.
The RSPB seem confused about their own message on windmills:
June 2006 Wind farm 'hits eagle numbers'
Mar 2009 RSPB calls for more UK wind farms
Nov 2011 RSPB Scotland objection to Aberdeen offshore wind farm
Jan 2012 Bempton residents' group criticises RSPB over turbine stance
WWF Scotland - Gross income £57,756,000.00 ??
like wow...
A tenner for every Scottish person ? - I don't see that being voluntarily donated :-)
Kate Humble's English RSPB trousers £20 Million plus annually in direct contributions from gubmint and pays chuggers (charity street muggers / panhandlers) £100 cash for every punter who's dumb enough to sign up for a monthly bank direct debit to protect the birdies.
This rotten-ness is now an epidemic.
But £57 million? ... eargh! I need to go to the proverbial darkened room for a lie down.
It's interesting to note that the joint report from Friends of the Earth, Greenpeace, WWF and RSPB entitled "Wind energy: Keeping the lights on" was written by "by energy" expert David Milborrow.
Who is "energy" expert David Milborrow you may ask?
Well he has been has been involved in the wind energy industry since 1978 and has been a director of the British Wind Energy Association (BWEA, now RenewableUK). He has been Windpower Monthly's technical consultant since 1993. So he is just the kind of independent consultant you would turn to if you wanted an unbiased report. ;<)
From the Telegraph article on the RSPB report:
Try telling that to the Eagles!
TerryS
Woah! That is a truly astonishing amount for a niche animal charity. That has to be a UK wide figure? Even if it is UK wide, I never realised they were that well funded. I wonder how much of that comes via government?
@carrick
'statements about the lack of reliability of wind farm has been overstated'
This is a meaningless remark unless you can state
a. exactly which statements are you referring to, and
b. evidence that they have are overstated.
Just wittering on without evidence about wind speeds at 100m does not cut the mustard.
@Leopard
TerryS is correct:
http://www.oscr.org.uk/search-charity-register/charity-extract/?charitynumber=SC037654
and the RSPB wants more:
http://www.rspb.org.uk/
More breaking wind news: it seems that wind farms are causing climate change. The Telegraph has the story here.
Do the WWW and RSPB know, I wonder?
Milborrow wrote two reports for Friends of the Earth, Greenpeace, WWF and RSPB in 2009. The other one was entitled "Managing Variability". In it he claimed
So within less than 2 years of this bold prediction, with wind output less thasn 10% of requirements, he was proved wrong as below.
Re: mangochutney
I might be wrong :(
http://www.charitycommission.gov.uk/Showcharity/RegisterOfCharities/CharityWithPartB.aspx?RegisteredCharityNumber=207076&SubsidiaryNumber=0
The Charity Commission for England and Wales show the exact same figure for both the RSPB and the WWF so they must be UK wide figures.
The FOE has an income of £9,334,984 from England and Wales so if you add this to the figure for Scotland you get an income of £10m from the UK.
@Carrick,
The source of the information you provide is the AWEA, in their own words "A lobbying force for wind development and voice for wind manufacturers in the United States."
Any chance of getting a different source without economical interest in the matter? Just out of curiosity, you know...
@TerryS
Even so, £122m a year! That's still a lot of dosh - £1 per bird by some estimates (RSPB 2004 say there were 126m individual birds (9930 species) in the UK excluding chickens and the like, Wrens being the largest number of individuals at around 16m birds)
So we pay tax to the government.
The government pay subsidies to wind farm operators.
The wind farm operators donate funds to green charities.
Green charities commission polls to inform us of what we think.
He said a recent Ipsos MORI poll commissioned by the industry group found 68 per cent of people in the countryside are in favour of the new technology - just above the number in favour of wind in urban areas.
To say that I am a tad unimpressed by the continued use of the circular argument may be indicative of my skeptical nature, I do hope that I can discuss this with the representative of the Green party in my area this week.
The study on whether wind turbines are bird choppers expressly did not consider their effect on raptors. If one excludes the populations that are being affected then of course wind turbines have no effect on birds.
@ScientistForTruth
Specially when one of the papers referenced clearly states:
"Mortality caused by turbines was higher than that caused by the power line. Losses involved mainly resident species, mostly griffon vultures Gyps fulvus (0·15 individuals turbine−1 year−1) and common kestrels Falco tinnunculus (0·19 individuals turbine−1 year−1)."
Barrios, L. & Rodrı ́guez, A. (2004) Behavioural and environmental correlates of soaring bird mortality at on-shore wind turbines. Journal of Applied Ecol- ogy, 41, 72–81.
Re: Lord Beaverbrook
According to their accounts the WWF spent £4m on "Influencing key audiences", £4m on "tackling climate change" and another £4m on "Changing the Way we live".
They also received £3.5M from DFID (Department for International Development)
Patagon
It seems that Griffon Vultures don't look where they are going.
http://www.nature.com/news/vultures-blind-to-the-dangers-of-wind-farms-1.10214
Mann is right! There is a conspiracy of Deniers on the pay of energy companies!!
The RSPB study is hilarious and useless - from the summary "Data were available for ten species although none were raptors."
Wind Turbines have also had no effect on the sparrows in my garden. So nothing to worry about, move along please...
RSPB loves Windmills so much...
Wonder how much they'll make from it. Glad I don't live in Sandy...
Are you sure that the RSPB's figures aren't actually Kate Humble's salary from the BBC ?
A few years ago, my mother-in-law was sent one of those "free" dial-up internet service CDs from the RSPB. I installed it for her and then had to spend the rest of the day undoing the damage that it had done to her PC.
She has recently stopped her donations to the RSPB as she has recognised it as a political movement rather than a body determined to keep up the sparrow numbers.
The appointment of Everyman's-fanatsy-Jolly-hockey-sticks-head-girl-firm-buttocked Kate Humble cut no ice either.
Well we got a tri-fector for Royal Society's.
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2136714/Nature-lover-leaves-wildlife-haven-RSPCA--sell-bulldozed-built-on.html
Remember your not allowed to criticise though as it's for charity mate.
'DaveB' commented:
A pity they can't do special deals so their electricity comes solely from renewables.With smart metering to ensure power cuts specifically targeted to the useful idiots when the wind doesn't blow, leaving more power available for the numerate. Sigh. I can dream.
Tends to dwarf the payments we sceptics get from 'Big Oil'....
Hands up all those who've received their cheque this month...
Nobody..? Well - there's a surprise...
Josh
"Wind Turbines have also had no effect on the sparrows in my garden"
Nor on my chickens. They must be safe, then.
John B
"firm-buttocked Kate Humble"
Have you got HDTV..?