SCOTTISH POWER PROPAGANDA BACKFIRES

Desperate to persuade a sceptical public that Gas Plant II is not the environmental desecration that it actually is, Scottish Power have launched another clumsy stunt that has comprehensively miss-fired. Terrified of running proper public meetings where RAP would hit them with uncomfortable truths, Scottish Power are deluging members of the public with "Community Information Leaflets" - glossy exercises in spin and PR - sent to peoples' homes with a covering letter beginning with the weasel words "Cheshire County Councillors have suggested we write to you", to give a spurious "official credibility" to this exercise in propaganda. Said RAP Chairman John Halstead: "Once again Scottish Power have shot themselves in the foot. My phone's been red hot with furious people phoning to ask what's going on, and expressing their fury at such ludicrously biased nonsense being sent into their homes." Added Dr John Edwards, RAP's Press Spokesman: "Apart from anything else, the information leaflet is full of misrepresentation, as there's no national need at all for Gas Plant II, it would be big, noisy, ugly and polluting, and above all there's a frightening safety question Scottish Power are refusing to discuss." The safety problem is WHERE'S THE SALT? Over two weeks since RAP broke the story, Scottish Power are still refusing to discuss why there would be less than 10 metres of protective salt strata beneath their underground gas cavities, when UK experts British Gas Storage, insist on 100 metres of solid salt strata. The silence is deafening and becoming a scandal. This is serious.