Headlines, PublicNet: 6 July, 2009
People are being invited to join an online debate about the environment and energy infrastructure which has begun with the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change, Ed Miliband, answering a series of questions from countryside campaigners. The Campaign to Protect Rural England is today posting Mr. Miliband’s answers at www.cpre.org.uk/debates and asking anyone interested to contribute to the discussion. The Secretary of State will then respond to the public comments at the end of July.
In answer to the initial questions, Mr. Miliband clarified his controversial statement that it should ‘be socially unacceptable to be against wind turbines in your area like not wearing a seatbelt or driving past a zebra crossing’. He has acknowledged that local communities have an important role and that there are places where wind farms might not be suitable. He has also accepted that constructing new energy infrastructure in National Parks and Areas of Outstanding Natural Beauty could be justified only in exceptional circumstances.
In other answers he has refused to rule out more opencast coal mining but he has repeated his commitment to all new coal power stations being fitted with Carbon Capture and Storage systems.
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