On Wednesday in the House of Commons, the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland and Wales discussed the possible development of the Severn Barrage which could create a significant supply of clean, electricity for the UK by harnessing the tidal flow of the Severn Estuary. Rt. Hon Peter Hain MP stated: “experience at La Rance river in France is that biodiversity can increase as a result of the construction of a barrage and that if we are not prepared to take bold steps to fight climate change, biodiversity will be, in a sense, a secondary matter”. Read the full debate here.
The BES produced a booklet on the Ecological Impacts of Estuarine Barrages.
This is good news, and I would like to see more focus on using a barrage in many of our rivers. The Mersey, for example, is a huge tidal estuary. It is much cleaner in recent years than it has been, and a barrage could be a way to further encourage both green energy and biodervisity in the area. These are the things that the BES should be caring about.
Funny you should mention the Mersey… http://icliverpool.icnetwork.co.uk/0100news/0100regionalnews/tm_headline=mersey-could-power-all-city-homes%26method=full%26objectid=19294381%26siteid=50061-name_page.html
This long link will take you to a local news story about just such a barrage. It does suggest an impacy for local wading-birds. Any thoughts on what kind of impact this might have?