Last week we prepared and sent a detailed letter to the First Minister – today we received a lacklustre response from Paul Wheelhouse along the lines of “its nothing to do with us”. He actually claims the power to grant an EPS licence is also devolved – this seems to be contrary to what our statutory nature conservation agency thinks which states it is Marine Scotland who would grant an EPS licence – someone is wrong, and our legal opinion would suggest it is the Scottish Government. In the let they do at least acknowledge receipt of the consultation, but states that being sent to a “junior official” is not good enough. He then goes on to point out “significant differences” between the current application and the Firth of Forth – however, he conveniently misses the point – there is one crucial similarity – the communities of the Firth of Forth did not want this and the the communities of the Moray Firth do not want this. Yes, it might be regulated now, and the CFPA will no doubt try to make a strong case that the environmental impact will be minimal however, it is all smoke and mirrors – the risk remains. The risk is unacceptable. A response like this from the Scottish Government really makes you want to beat your head off the wall and after the fine words in yesterdays debate, it has to make you wonder what the hell is going on behind closed doors. Is there actually a political will to stop this or have they succumbed to lobbying?
One thing we did learn yesterday in the debate is that there will be no new application now until October 2017. I would expect that the CFPA are no playing the long game and hoping we’ll get bored and go away. Not a chance!
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