Power to the People






















All credit to Dr. Dai Lloyd on his strong stance over devolution of energy consents for large (over 50 MW ) power stations. His Freedom of Information request for information regarding the exact nature of negotiations between London and Cardiff is a welcome attempt to bring transparency into the process.

On the other hand, the Department of Business, Enterprise and Regulatory Reform's contemptuous response shows that little has changed really since Tryweryn in the 1960s. It's just incredible, really, that an elected AM has to undertake such a measure to extract information from civil servants answerable to his own peers in the One Wales Government.

So why the secrecy?

Negotiations between the Assembly and BERR (formerly the DTI) have been underway since 2003. On the face of it, they were prompted by proposals for the massive Cefn Croes wind-power project near Aberystwyth. These negotiations prompted an earlier FoI request by Nick Bourne AM back in 2005, similarly stonewalled by Assembly officials on the grounds that the would "prejudice relations between administrations in the United Kingdom."

Of course, Cefn Croes is now up and running. It's amazing what stalling for time can do. A classic tactic employed by the Sir Humphreys of this world...

Negotiations have been ongoing for at least 5 years and have gone nowhere. In that intervening timescale a number of new power projects have materialised, including the world's biggest LNG terminal and connecting pipeline, a new gas-fired power station at Uskmouth, and approval last year for the world's biggest Biomass plant - the Prenergy plant in Port Talbot. Many of these projects are effectively geared for export to England.

Many have been unsuccessfully challenged locally and in the courts, even while in the past year alone, no less than 4 major energy projects have been thrown out in England, including a key installation along the pipeline itself.

So what's the answer? It seems that while devolution has given us a measure of democratic accountability here in Wales, it has also allowed the UK government to "outsource" energy projects that have been rejected by our good neighbours in England. And while our civil service here in Cardiff pleads impotence, it's been quite happily working behind the scenes to push through many of these projects, including routing pipelines and siting wind turbines over Assembly controlled land, sidestepping the concerns of affected communities.

Who are they accountable to - the Assembly or London? It's quite clear that the current devolutionary setup - at least in energy terms - is unsustainable. But if BERR refuses to devolve these powers, what are we to do? We need accountability, and at present we do not have it.

The only answer is a full Welsh Parliament, and to get that we need a referendum. The Assembly was created by a broad-based popular campaign, and a similar campaign needs to be initiated, sooner rather than later, in order to create unstoppable momentum behind the need for a full Parliament. With so many energy projects now underway across Wales, the argument for more powers needs to be put across to affected communities and residents.

For people who live in the shadow of these developments, these arguments should have powerful resonance. If we do not make them, we run the risk that these developments will turn people against more powers, as the ambiguity of the current setup may alienate people against an Assembly they see as "useless" and "powerless".

With the world in the midst of a full-blown oil crisis, energy is becoming a matter of political survival, and for a British Establishment wrestling with a rapidly growing energy gap, you can bet that means that Wales will come off second best. If we don't fight our corner - no one else is going to.

The longer we wait for a proper Parliament, the more large power projects will be imposed on us, more of our protected landscapes will be ripped up, and the health and safety of more of our communities will be sacrificed to meet England's electricity needs. As it stands, Wales is rapidly becoming an "energy colony", and our Assembly the rubberstamp.

We need a full Parliament with law-making powers, and we need to start campaigning for one now.