Letters, Meetings, Letters

Since the last report there has been a meeting with the Department of the Economy in Faro, and several letters have been sent to various government and local government officials. Letters have also been exchanged with Cavalum, and there have been two telephone conversations. The consultant has agreed to come down to see us and inspect the alternative wind farm locations we have suggested.

However the best advice we are receiving from all sides is to go all out for maximum publicity - Portuguese and English press, TV (eg RTP), radio, British Embassy, British-Portuguese Chambers of Commerce, Dutch, Belgium Chambers of Commerce, etc, etc.

It's election year and we need to make the politicians who are all up for relection in October, face the public and explain why they are sitting on their hands and letting this beautiful environment be destroyed. They need to be made accountable. For example, it's not common knowledge but Tavira Câmera stands to make a lot of money from Cavalum in the form of taxes which it charges for installing wind turbines near your house and mine.

This is why our democratic representatives don't really care if we lose our life savings and decide to move out. They don't care if any planned overseas investments don't go ahead. - they've already got the budget sorted - the new wind farm will help to continue funding high salaries, long holidays and comfortable pensions. Shame about the rest of us. If only we could help you... It wasn't us, it was the people in Lisbon....

Make sure you get this message across to the media - and get them to ask the politicians why they aren't defending their constituents. Get the media to ask the Sta. Catarina and Tavira local authorities how much money they are making out of the high tension cables and the wind farm. Get the media to ask them why they claim to be so powerless when such massive infrastructure development projects are planned for their region. Get the media to ask them why they don't make any effort to inform their constituents about such projects. Ask them why it is that many of the local rural population still don't even know about these developments. Get the questions and any answers in the local newspapers and on the TV, and even more importantly in the media in the UK, Germany, Holland and Belgium. Get angry, get very angry.

Click on this, print it off, and stick it on any ruin that you think will lose value as a result of REN's high-tension cables. We need to improve communications, especially to Portuguese owners of ruins who are conserving them to leave as an inheritance to their children and grandchildren. The Junta and Câmera are making no effort to inform them what is happening, so please, try to help by making them aware.

Residents Committee Meeting 18th March 2009

The residents committee meeting was well attended. The presentation and discussions took place in both Portuguese and English. For many, it was the first time they has seen the plans for the High Tension cables, and they were very angry that the Junta and Tavira Câmera had not kept them informed, and that the Government had totally ignored the petitions they had delivered last year. An action plan was agreed and the next meeting scheduled. Full report to follow.

Portugal News 14 March 2009

Page 4 "High tension Rears its ugly head again"

"One of the eastern Algarve's most idyllic rural retreats, a mountainous range eight kilometres north of Sta. Catarina de Fonte do Bispo (Tavira) which is affectionately known to the locals as the "cloud factory" and comprises a cluster of unspoilt villages, is under threat of being invaded by two large-scale energy projects that are causing residents to unite in uproar, and who are promising to go to all lengths at their disposal to ensure the projects do not follow the proposed route."

A half-page report with quotes from TJ.