Over two years ago, I wrote, in the Telegraph and the Ecologist, about a heroic local struggle in Oxfordshire between a multinational energy giant and a group of local villagers. German mega-corp RWE NPower, which runs Didcot coal-fired power station, not a million miles from me, was planning to dump its toxic waste ash - coal-burning produces a huge amount of this - in a local lake, which doubled as a beauty spot and a wildlife haven.
Having visited this lake a few times, I was gobsmacked that this kind of thing was still going on in the 21st century. It was yet another side of the coal-burning process that we're not aware of. Anyway - the local campaign to save Thrupp Lake was long and hard-fought; and it's just been announced that it has been successful. The lake has been saved, NPower have retreated and the people of Radley have been delivered a great Christmas present.
It's always worth dwelling on successes like these, because they show that determined and well-run campaigns can turn the tide against things that seem inevitable. Hurray for that. And happy Christmas.
2 comments:
Hooray!
I changed companies a while back and NPower called me to ask why I'd left them, so I explained all about Thrupp Lake and gave them the link to your article.
Great blog Paul, lots of interesting links.
The link to Save Our Waterways is an old one (it is still linked to the late Mike Steven's website - he passed on Oct 2007).
The current link is www.saveourwaterways.org
Cheers
Will Chapman
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