The conflicted environmentalists

Independent:

Britain's environmental movement was yesterday presented with its starkest choice yet: whether or not to support the world's largest-ever renewable energy project which will result in unprecedented ecological damage to one of our most important natural habitats.

The giant £20bn Severn barrage, which would stretch 10 miles from Lavernock Point near Cardiff to Brean Down near Weston-super-Mare, would harness the tides to generate up to 5 per cent of the UK's electricity needs – the equivalent of eight typical coal-fired power stations. This is crucially important in the fight against climate change.

But environmentalists fear that by blocking the Severn estuary completely, the barrage would destroy vast areas of mudflats and mashes, which are vital feeding grounds for tens of thousands of wading birds, and prevent migratory fish such as salmon and eels from ascending rivers to spawn. Other environmentalists think such a large project would divert resources away from other key renewable technologies such as wind power.

Yesterday the barrage appeared on a shortlist of five renewable energy schemes for the Severn estuary indicating that the project, which the Government is known to favour, is moving closer to formal acceptance. The shortlist will now be the subject of a public consultation and a final decision will be taken by 2010.

But the proposal is causing real difficulties for Britain's green movement, whose members are united in the need to take action against global warming, yet view with deep dismay the unprecedented ecological damage a Severn barrage would undoubtedly bring about. The dilemma could not be more acute: on the one hand, the prospect of more renewable energy from one place than is currently produced in the entire UK; on the other, the virtual wiping out of one of Britain's most important wildlife sites. The dilemma will only increase as the imperative of countering climate change with major developments runs up against the damage to the natural world which such large-scale schemes may cause.

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The environmental movement needs to buy a clue. There is no such thing as free energy or energy without consequences. That is why most of the time they oppose every form of energy that is proposed. I suspect that the engineers for this proposal can come up with a way to keep the wetlands and let the water creatures get through the tidal energy devices. If not there will be other wetlands created for that purpose.

But, when it comes to the environment and energy the greens are either in opposition or a dilemma.