Do not repeat the 1970s oil folly with this wind bonanza

ENTREPRENEURIAL Scotland is well represented in the new Council of Economic Advisors to the Scottish Government. I expect it will shortly get down to considering the country’s huge potential to create clean energy far beyond our domestic requirements. No doubt it will also look at the prospect of exporting clear, clean water as Europe and the south of England warm up due to climate change.

Already several very big businesses are gathering to bid for offshore wind licences from the Scottish Government (“Giants increase competition for windfarm licences off Scotland”, The Herald, July 16).

This evokes a strong sense of deja vu, as I recall Westminster doling out the oil exploration and development licences in the early 1970s. Big Oil rewarded Scotland with several decades of hardworking jobs extracting this national resource from our waters and Aberdeen enjoyed boom times – now a distant memory.

We should, however, remember that whereas the UK has nothing to show for these boom years, Norway dealt with its natural asset differently and today enjoys the largest sovereign wealth fund in the world and is its sixth wealthiest nation.

Climate change is probably a lot more certain than exploring for oil, and clearly Big Business now thinks so. It now behoves the Scottish Government to ensure that this potential wealth benefits the whole nation and the profits do not disappear without trace into the insatiable neo-liberal global machine.

FR Morrison, Helensburgh.