RWE – Raping Welsh Environment : RWE now have their sights set upon the River Conwy in Snowdonia by David Shinn

RWE – Raping Welsh Environment The German energy company, RWE, not satisfied with destroying our coastlines with offshore windfarms like Gwynt y Môr and Rhyl Flats in North Wales, and our hills and valleys with onshore windfarms like Taff Ely in the Rhondda and the proposed Mynydd y Gwair project in South Wales.

RWE now have their sights set upon the River Conwy in Snowdonia, North Wales, with plans to dam and divert up to 80% of the flow above Conwy Falls for a “small scale” hydro-electric power plant, which will cause untold devastation to one of Wales’ few remaining wild landscapes, the “Fairy Glen” in Betws y Coed.

A previous application had been defeated, but it seems that RWE do not like to take “no” for an answer, and have re-submitted an application for a “hydro scheme generating up to 5MW of electricity comprising construction of intake weir, buried and tunnelled pipeline, buried powerhouse, switchgear room and transformer building, temporary construction compounds, biodiversity and recreational enhancement proposals, and alterations to vehicular accesses” at a cost of £13million.

There are currently in the region of 20 hydro-electric plants in and around Snowdonia, with a combined capacity of 82MW, which is far in excess of local need, so much so that the area exports a lot of the electricity it produces. So, who stands to benefit from these proposals? Certainly not the people of Snowdonia, or Wales.

It seems this project, once again, exists solely for the profit of foreign investors and will have no benefit to the local people.

Time is running out to try and defeat these proposals as all objections have to be received in writing by Friday 23rd September, which does not give us much time to make our voices heard, but we will fight this to the very end.

For more information on how to object, please follow this link and use the template to voice your objection to the proposals: https://savetheconwy.com/2016/08/15/new-planning-application/

It is time the people of Wales stood up to those who would rape and pillage our land for the profit of greedy corporations and see our nation as a gold mine for their own personal gain.

Join the fight for a free and just Wales in the 21st century - join the Great Unrest and support the Welsh Socialist Republican Congress