The UK press has covered the development exhaustively, with only The Guardian's  Ed Douglas having the courage to actively dissent.

"Alternative approaches," he writes "existed, but weren't properly considered during the planning process. A less intrusive east coast route was identified. The power cable could have gone under the North Sea and spared the Highlands altogether.

"In fact, an international North Sea grid linking renewable installations across northern Europe and beyond already has the backing of the Westminster government. That will require colossal investment in undersea cabling.

"The Electricity Network Strategy Group released a report in March exploring how our electricity supply can be adapted to cope both technically and economically with the complex shift towards a larger proportion of renewable energy.

Needless to say, undersea cables form an integral part of their plans. So why not in the Highlands?"

In fact, planning work is already underway to bring the Orkney Smart Grid from Thurso to Dounreay at a capital cost of connection at £47m, with two 180MW cables, and the Shetland to Orkney then Keith at £205m with two at 500MW units, with Scottish and Southern Energy work with Smart Grid Supplies, the Strathclyde University spinout.

If Scotland still rejects an undersea grid link, the other feasible route could be to adopt the SuperConductior underground cable approach, to be used for the US Tres Amigas project.

Superconductor Electricity Pipelines combine conventional underground pipeline construction techniques with two highly complementary electric power technologies: DC superconductor power transmission cables and multi-terminal (voltage-source) AC/DC power converters.  



The result is a high-capacity electric transmission “pipeline” that is underground, easy to site and access, highly efficient and controllable, offering greater security than competing technologies.

The approach resolves difficult siting problems, needing only 25ft wide corridors. The approach obviously improves aesthetics and does not cause eletromagnetic fields. Security is increased (ice storms and terrorism for example) and the approach also cuts power losses by two to three times, compared with conventional transmission options.

But as Ed Douglas points out: "Our infrastructure paradigm is currently being rewritten and the people holding the pen are those with the biggest financial interest. You might think it's overly romantic, even indulgent, to defend wild and beautiful landscapes when climate change and energy security are at stake.

"Yet the government clearly felt landscape was worth defending when it signed the European landscape convention  in 2006.

"But by allowing this kind of project to go ahead through the heart of a national park, the Scottish executive has shown that everything is up for grabs."

Take the Scottish Government's advise and get out there to remember an relatively uncluttered view of the scenery. The project, which will cost between £300m and £400m, will see about 600 pylons between 42 metres and 65metres high built along the 137 mile spectacular scenic route. It's a project that may create 500 jobs.

If the press has resigned itself to the inevitable, it says it all in pictures.