Trafalgar battle site threat

Plans to build the world's largest offshore wind farm on the site of the Battle of Trafalgar sailed into controversy Monday after claims they could destroy archaeological evidence and desecrate a war grave.

The proposal for up to 500 wind turbines off southwestern Spain's Cape Trafalgar aims to use the area's high winds to generate enough electricity to power 750,000 homes . . .

Sources at Navarra Hydroelectric Energy, the company behind the plan, told Reuters the project was still at a very preliminary stage. The cape is one of the few windy places in Spain where it is shallow enough near the shore to plant windvanes, they said.

But the prospect of 240-foot (73-meter) tall turbines on the battle site has alarmed those in Britain who believe it might destroy archaeological evidence yet to be assessed . . .

Some 449 British and 4,408 French and Spanish seamen died during the battle, which raged over a 20-30 mile stretch of the Spanish coast between Cadiz and Gibraltar.

No mention, interestingly enough, of opposition from anyone speaking on behalf of the French and Spanish dead. Although, as noted here, Napoleon's forces were drawn from throughout Europe -- while for Spain, the Napoleonic wars were an unmitigated disaster. From Reuters.

Posted by David on June 10, 2003 8:52 AM