This press release highlights the publication of our new Briefing Note which explains why the Minorca Opencast Protest Group believe that a change in Government Energy Policy makes a successful Minorca Surface Mine less likely.

MOPG PR 78                                                                                                                         14/9/10

CAMPAIGNERS ARGUE THAT A CHANGE IN POLICY MEANS THAT NEW OPENCAST MINE APPLICATIONS ARE LESS LIKELY TO SUCCEED

A new Briefing Note written for the Minorca Opencast Protest Group concludes its review of the Coalition Government’s Energy Policy by claiming that the special circumstances which lead to recent Public Inquiries finding in favour of the applicant no longer applies. The special circumstances were based on a ‘Need for Coal’ argument based on statements contained in the previous Governments Energy White Paper of 2007.

MOPG’s review of this Government’s Energy Policy suggests this is not the case anymore, since the Government has made it quite clear that in the short to medium term that Gas should be the preferred fuel for power generation purposes and that no new coal fired power stations are to be built unless they are equipped with proven Carbon Capture and Storage technology. This was made clear in a debate on Energy Policy in the House of Commons on July 27th when the Secretary Of State for the Department of Energy and Climate Change, Chris Huhne, was asked a specific question about the role coal will play in providing the UK with energy

“Ian Lavery (Wansbeck) (Lab): Is the Secretary of State aware that at this moment in time coal produces up to 35%-at times, 50%-of the electricity generated in the UK, yet the announcement this morning did not make a single reference to coal? Will he give a commitment to the continuation of the British deep mining coal industry?

Chris Huhne: The hon. Gentleman clearly was not listening to the part of the statement that dealt with carbon capture and storage. The future of the coal industry-and, potentially, of gas-is about carbon capture and storage. It is an exciting technology on which this country has led. We have done a lot of the interesting, pioneering science on it. That, above all, will be the commitment to the coal sector.” 

As the Briefing Note points out the future prospect for the coal industry in the immediate future is looking bleak indeed, as in 2015 one third of the UK’s coal fired generating capacity will have to close because it breaches EU. rules aimed at reducing levels of pollution caused by burning coal in power stations not fitted with the technology to remove Sulphuric Acid and Nitrous Oxide from their emissions.

In addition,  it seems that the new Government’s pro Gas policy is now based on expectations that new safe sources of Shale Gas, possibly including utilising new reserves being currently prospected for in the UK, will continue to insure that Gas not Coal retains its new position of being the main source of energy for power generation purposes.

For these reasons the Briefing Note argues that the main planning guidance on which a decision about the Minorca application should be based is the MP3 guidance and its presumption against new opencast mining clauses.

Steve Leary, the author of the Briefing Note E1 “The Coalition Government’s Energy Policy and the Minorca Application” said

“This Briefing Note makes it clear that their has been a clean break between this Government’s Energy Policy and that of the previous Labour Government.  Then we had a policy of allowing new opencast mine applications because that Government held the view that the UK faced a short term energy crisis and that coal, especially opencast coal, could fill the gap.

Our new Government has taken account of changes occurring in provision of new sources of energy, especially the development of new techniques of recovering large deposits of Shale Gas initially in the USA and potentially in the UK. In its review of Energy Policy, these new sources of Gas from politically safe and stable democracies mean that the UK need not be so reliant on coal as an energy source in the short to medium term. This is one reason why the emphasis in the new policy is a switch to Gas.

The other reason is that coal is such a dirty fuel to burn in Power Stations without the pollution controls required from 2015. It seems crazy to consider that by then, if planning permission is granted for the Minorca Application, that this coal would be being sold into a rapidly shrinking market for coal when a third of the current coal fired power stations are switched off and  where prices are being squeezed because of the impact of cheap and abundant supplies of Gas. 

As the Briefing Note comments

“.....The Minorca Opencast Protest Group do not consider that the short term national benefit of working this coal can now be justified when, within four to five years, the demand for coal will decline so rapidly and currently there is no problem in supplying the UK with coal. .  It is not worth the destruction, blight, nuisance and disturbance to local residents that will automatically come with the granting of such planning permission. Such problems last for many years, in this case starting in 2008 with the first announcement of UK Coal’s intentions causing planning blight and lasting until approximately 2036 when the local landscape will look relatively mature again, a total of 28 years. Under these present circumstances this is too high and an unnecessary, price to pay.”

The new Briefing Note can be downloaded from:

http://www.leicestershirevillages.com/measham/mopg-briefing-notes-series.htm

END

FOR MORE INFORMATION ON THIS PRESS RELEASE CONTACT:

STEVE LEARY, SPOKESPERSON, MOPG

 tel 05601 767981,    

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