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« Guardian in sensible comment shocker | Main | Another AR5 hearing »
Tuesday
Feb112014

EA working with Labour against government?

Inside the Environment Agency is reporting that he has received a letter from a potential whistleblower who claims to have evidence that Agency officials are conspiring with the Labour party to undermine the government.

I have been following your blog for the last few months. You make some truthful claims but they are only the tip of the iceberg. I have been working for the Environment Agency as a team leader for six years. Your last post on political hypocrisy is what has prompted this email. I can give you the evidence you need showing senior managers in the South West conspiring with Labour MPs to discredit this government over the past two to three years, which I believe have made the floods far worse than they otherwise would have been. The MPs involved are: xxxxx (edited out for legal reasons - Labour MPs based in South West towns and cities)

There's always the possibility that it's not true, but it might be worth laying in supplies of popcorn, just in case.

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Reader Comments (59)

Feb 12, 2014 at 8:12 AM | jamspid
============================

Miliband keeping out of it? He'd have been well advised to do so

http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b03t7d1j

From 10:08 in, special attention c 11:10 onwards. It's very funny :-)

Feb 12, 2014 at 3:22 PM | Unregistered CommenterJeremy Poynton

Milliband certainly isn't "leading" on this issue, is he?

He's quite vulnerable in this general area, in the sense that he's tied to the climate change act.

But more generally, the flooding problem is demonstating the impotence of the political class. I'd love for Farage to turn up with a Range Rover with sandbags in the back. It would be by far the most helpful act by any politician.

Feb 12, 2014 at 3:48 PM | Unregistered CommenterDead Dog Bounce

You blinked. If you want a fine analysis of what happened, I have to recommend Peter Oborne's "The Triumph of the Political Class", which details how they have stripped down democracy in the UK (and elsewhere), and concludes that really, it's us against them now, not Con v Labour v LibDem. Amazon have it, and whilst it is a depressing read, it's a must. There's no way any of the major parties will get my vote again.

Feb 12, 2014 at 11:32 AM | Registered Commenterjeremypoynton

Seconded Jeremy - best political book of recent years.

The chapter about the LibLabCon pols, spin doctors and assorted hacks all smooching together at Adam Boulton's wedding to Blair's spin doctor was like the final scene in Animal Farm.

Feb 12, 2014 at 5:13 PM | Registered CommenterFoxgoose

I want to tell you what really has happened on the Somerset Levels.

I am remaining anonymous for good reason, I think you'll understand why.

You have to go back to 1939, when the MOD decided that they needed a new Munitions factory for HDX explosives, HDX uses a lot of water, all munitions manufacture does, but HDX is greedy.

The levels had too much water and so we built one on the Levels, ROF37 or ROF Bridgewater or ROF Woolavington, it's all the same place.

To ensure that there was enough water even on the waterlogged Levels, we built the Huntspill River, we then connected it to the River Brue to the North and the Kings Sedgemoor Drain via a pipe to the South, we also widened the River Sowy to get water to our factory.

We would use >5 thousand million litres every year, rain or shine.

We then disposed of it into the sea, we had to do this regardless of the tidal conditions and we had steam pumps that did this remarkable task, they pumped out at the Huntspill sluice 3 thousand million ltrs a year, the rest was either evaporated, too contaminated and shipped off-site or left the factory in the product!

Part of the legacy f the fall of Communism was that we didn't need quite so much ordnance to practice killing the deadly foe.

In the mid 1990s the decision was made and we ran down the ROFs.

By 2000 ROF37 was given an execution date of 2008 and like all state executions, it was carried out on time.

We all knew that the 'run-on' from our departure would be that the EA/Levels Boards needed to take over pumping, they couldn't afford our old system as it was very old and on restricted land.

I should explain at this point that the ONLY pumping done was ours, we could and did pump no matter the tides, we'd taken over the responsibility/control in 1940 for all high volume pumping on the Levels.

We advised that the Huntspill be automated and the Kings Sedgemoor Drain be pumped and made strong representation to that effect.

But every meeting with the EA ended in frustration as they never sent a single seriously knowledgeable Drainage Engineer to any meeting. The Levels Boards understood the issues and tried to get the pumps installed.

It didn't happen.

One of the problems with draining the Levels is silting, we used to pump in such a way as to utilise 'scour' of all the rhynes and ditches and pipelines to keep them clear, when we shut down in the 50s due to a slight mishap and explosion on site in just 15 days of reduced use we found the lines lost about 1% of their 'flow sympathy' meaning we had to suck about 1% harder to get the same amount of water through the top metering point.

We all hoped that the 2007 flood would wake the EA up and get them to re-think their stance on the KSD pumps, they would not even agree to a meeting! We were pumping furiously on a limited facility in that year or that flood would have been horrific.

Today, looking at the flood charts and pictures it is obvious that the connection to the Huntspill is blocked, silted up.

So the water can't be 'smeared' over all the levels as in the past, that is why 'record' levels are being recorded in certain areas whilst others are barely affected.

The poor chap who has built an Island out of his home has my sympathies, he the KSD pumps been in place for the last 6 years he'd not be in the predicament he is in, nor for that matter would most of the others on the levels, the water won't be going anywhere soon.

This is the reality of the situation, if you wish to check for yourself, you can go to even the Wiki pages and read about it (until they get edited no doubt!) but all that I've written is a matter of public record and can be verified elsewhere.

I enclose a single link to the fact that we did our best to convince the EA that the matter was serious.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/King%27s_Sedgemoor_Drain

Quote from above... Floodwater is removed from many of the moors of the Somerset Levels by pumping stations, which were originally steam-powered. These were superseded by diesel engines, and more recently by electric pumps. The King's Sedgemoor Drain is unusual in that it operates entirely by gravity. Consideration was given to replacing Dunball clyse with a pumping station in 2002, which would have allowed water to be discharged into the estuary at all states of the tide, but this course of action was not followed. Management of the Drain is the responsibility of the Environment Agency, whereas the numerous rhynes or drainage ditches which feed into the Drain are the responsibility of several Internal Drainage Boards, who work together as the Parrett Consortium of Drainage Boards.[19]

The reference point... ^ The Parrett Catchment Water Management Strategy Action Plan. Environment Agency. 2002. ISBN 1-85705-788-0. Retrieved 16 November 2010.

I thought someone ought to know the real truth behind this fiasco.

Feb 13, 2014 at 9:47 PM | Unregistered CommenterCorporal Jones Ghost

Corporal Jones Ghost
That is an important but depressing record. Thanks for posting it.

Feb 14, 2014 at 7:23 AM | Unregistered CommenterMessenger

Corporal Jones Ghost

what Messenger said

Feb 14, 2014 at 9:18 AM | Registered Commentertomo

Corporal Jones Ghost

Thanks

Feb 14, 2014 at 9:42 AM | Registered CommenterGreen Sand

Anybody know their way around The National Archives ? - there must be tons of stuff about the design, construction and operation of this facility in there from WW2

Feb 14, 2014 at 6:25 PM | Registered Commentertomo

lets get things right here the farmers vote the Torys in as a reward they get paid not to farm their land by the government the lib/cons are in power how can Labour do anything about it sorry but i think the people who voted this shambles of a government in only got them selves to blame this weather was forcast at least a month before it happened bearing in mind tide tables are published once a year they would have known trouble was coming but sent 60 million to foreign aid instead of looking after the very people who vote them in they are laughing at you in your faces 165,000 Redundancies in the flood defence department so next time you will have less help thousands of our troops who risked their lives every day being made redundant so who's going to do the work next time ??? if you fall for Cameron's lies then sorry i got no sympathy for you at all if he got his act together a month before Christmas ie: river dredged pumps brought in and made ready you would all be sitting in your nice warm homes now the only way is to vote with your tick the next election edd Millaband has Cameron in pieces every day they are in parlement any one who tries blaming the labour party on this is stupid

Feb 17, 2014 at 1:11 AM | Unregistered Commentermike

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