Reports in the Sunday papers (here in the Independent on Sunday) indicate that tomorrow will see the massively damaging Severn barrage dropped on cost grounds. The cycle of wild enthusiasm, appraisal of the true risks and costs followed by collapse of proposals under the weight of their massive cost and predicted environmental impact is now becoming familiar. This is the second time on the Severn and already the first attempt on the Mersey went the same way. If Severn I and II and Mersey I tell us anything it's big barrages are a bad idea. Mersey II is already starting it's cycle (it's still in it's wild enthusiasm phase).
In pausing to breathe a sigh of relief at the end of the latest grand threat to the Severn (and it's still wise to wait see the full announcement tomorrow) there is a real need to use this news to stimulate real innovation in tidal energy. Look to the future technologies that start from the principle that safegaurding the natural environment is a vital first step and move beyond yesterday's big bad barrages with their spiralling costs and massive predicted impacts which, by the way, added to the fundementally flawed economics of big barrages producing green energy.
If you can, today, go and look at the timeless tides of the Severn without the nagging thought that their days were numbered.
You can read more, here, on Mark Avery's blog.
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