Bob Blizzard: I am sorry to intervene on the hon. Gentleman again, but I obviously did not make myself clear or perhaps I was misheard. I referred to that UN convention. My argument was that, because it exists, the wording of amendment No. 170 is unnecessary. While I am on my feet, may I ask whether he regards recreational yachting, referred to by the hon. Member for Vale of York, as essential...
Bob Blizzard: I listened at great length to the hon. Member for Vale of York during the previous sitting. She said that the question of navigation and shipping, which is covered by clauses 100 and 101 and amendment No. 170, is a red line issue. By the end of her speech, I could see what she meant, but I would put it rather differently. The debate on this part of the Bill is the key test of whether members...
Bob Blizzard: I am saying that we have to take a balanced approach to this. There is a legitimate shipping and navigational interest, but we have to balance that against other important matters such as the need to develop renewable energy through wind farms offshore. Our debate on the clauses and the amendment is not about balance, but about introducing an unreasonable veto. If the debate was about...
Bob Blizzard: The Chamber of Shipping is trying to put its point in the melting pot, but it is not leading the argument. It regularly contacts me on all kinds of matters, but first out of the trap on the issue was not the Chamber of Shipping but people who seem to have a downer on offshore wind. The record of debates in the other place shows that people who are leading on the matter have strong views on...
Bob Blizzard: On a point of order, Mr. O'Brien. Earlier, you asked Back Benchers to speak up so that the Hansard reporter could hear them. Could I ask you to ask those on the Front Benches to speak up so that Back Benchers can hear them?
Bob Blizzard: Will the hon. Lady tell the Committee what she would envisage the wind or renewable energy developers would have to do to demonstrate that there will be no threat, as in the words of her amendment?
Bob Blizzard: Would the hon. Lady like to say what other source of renewable energy is available to the level of technological development needed for it to be rolled out in such a manner to stand any chance of meeting the Government's targets?
Bob Blizzard: Does the hon. Gentleman think that every application for an offshore oil and gas installation should have been subject to a public inquiry?
Bob Blizzard: I accept that the proposal would limit the ability to call for a public inquiry to certain bodies, but if such a public inquiry were held, would it then be open to all and sundry to present evidence? Would that not risk having public inquiries that went on and on, as has been the case with various energy developments in this country for many years?
Bob Blizzard: It was said this morning—by the hon. Member for South-West Hertfordshire, I think—that everyone on the Committee was committed to renewable energy. I hope that we are. The technology for wind energy is ready to run, which is why the Government are rightly putting so much emphasis on wind energy in delivering the renewable energy target. However, it has been difficult to make sufficient...
Bob Blizzard: I gratefully take your advice, Mr. O'Brien. The Bill contains a lot of measures for protection—we have talked about marine protection, and environmental impact assessments are required. As the Minister said earlier, the people applying for such license have to gather all kinds of information. There are many opportunities in the process for the various interests to make their points....
Bob Blizzard: On a point of order, I seek your guidance, Mr. O'Brien. Will you be allowing a stand part debate on clause 94 after we have debated the amendments and stand part debates on clauses 100 and 101?
Bob Blizzard: May I underline what my hon. Friend has just said? It is not just Powergen in one isolated instance that is investing in the Scroby sands wind farm. Lowestoft in my constituency is receiving a number of inquiries from other wind energy generation companies that want to invest in offshore wind. That is why we in Lowestoft are calling ourselves Britain's leading edge.
Bob Blizzard: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs what her estimate is of the total amount of plastic waste generated by farming for each of the last three years; and what methods were used to dispose of it.
Bob Blizzard: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs what research she has commissioned to examine alternatives to the use of plastic sheeting used to cover fields and crops in farm production.
Bob Blizzard: I, too, find it a great pleasure to serve under your chairmanship, Mr. Sayeed. I rise briefly to support the inclusion of new subsection (1B)(j) in new clause 7. It is not in clause 2, so I regard that as an improvement on the existing provision. The reference in new paragraph (j) to ''technologies for the production of energy, the use of which would, in the opinion of the Secretary of...
Bob Blizzard: To security of supply, to emissions reduction and to the sustainable future that we want. It will take many years to make the transition to a fully sustainable energy system. During that time, whether we like it or not, we will have to generate energy from fossil fuels; we will be using coal and gas. It would make sense to capture CO2 from that coal and gas using the technology that I have...
Bob Blizzard: When she will be in a position to bring forward legislation to ban hunting with dogs.
Bob Blizzard: I thank my right hon. Friend for that answer. There have been inquiries and endless debates on whether hunting is an essential tool of countryside management, but is not the key to be found on the placards that huntsmen hold up when they go on their demonstrations? The placards say, "Leave country sports alone". Hunting is a sport. It is a cruel sport. It is an unnecessary sport. It is a...
Bob Blizzard: Is not the key point that some of those other technologies, such as tidal current, are not yet ready for commercial production. If we wait until they are—although I hope that they will be soon—we will not maximise the use of wind. Is it not also the case—to return briefly to gas—that as well as getting gas from Norway and from pipelines from Russia, we are also likely to import a lot...