Wales | Wales Climate Chaos Newswire Archive

The £469m Cost of Restoring Opencast Coal Sites:

Yesterday the House of commons debated the issue of Un-restored Opencast Sites in the UK. Totting up all the figures used in the debate means that the cost of restoring these sites has reached £469m. LAON's press release below goes on to warn that unless steps are taken to prevent new site approvals under the present regime, more sites could be left un-restored.

Wrexham: Report from Borras Anti-Fracking Evening... More Planned

25-10-2014 12:11 | Climate Chaos | Ecology | Fracking | Wales

Last Thursday night, 23 October, local campaigners against fracking and other 'unconventional' (extreme) gas extraction methods held a public meeting in Borras, Wrexham not far from where Green Park Energy, bought out by Dart Energy, bought out by IGas, have just been given permission to undertake exploratory drilling ostensibly for coal bed methane. The local pub was packed out with standing room only and not much of that as the local community turned out in force to find out more, many angry that the unelected and unaccountable Planning Inspectorate had overturned the decision of Wrexham council's Planning Committee whose members had voted (17 to 2) to reject the planning application back in March.

Wales author of climate fiction

23-06-2014 20:52 | Climate Chaos | Wales

Interview with author and wanderer Lloyd Jones on his book about future of Wales under climate change. With Alex Smith of Radio Ecoshock

Plea to Make Coal a 'Special Case'

The Loose Anti Opencast Network, along with CPRE, FoE Scotland, the Scottish Opencast Communities Alliance and the London Mining Network are launching a campaign today to change the rules governing the Opencast Mining Industry in the UK. This is because Coal is being phased out of the UK's Energy Mix and we don't want to be left with a heritage of derelict opencast sites such as blight large areas of Scotland, where 35 sites lie abandoned.

Fracking, Coal and Planning: The Story Of Westfield

Ed Davey the Sec of State for Energy and Climate Change has argued that with a robust regulatory and planning system there will not be environmental damage from Fracking. Here, this view is challenged, by using an example of environmental damage caused by opencast mining at the Westfield site in Fife. This example demonstrates how impotent the planning system is when systems of control break down

This press release from The Loose Anti Opencast Network, about what is currently happening in Scotland, where company bankruptcies have left up to 25 un-restored opencast mines, including Westfield, the subject of a recently published LAON report

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Cardiff Shell petrol station rooftop occupation

A report of the rooftop occupation of the Shell petrol station in Pontprennau, Cardiff on 29th June 2013.

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LAON's April Review of English Opencast Sites

This review updates information on planning developments affecting new English Opencast sites. In addition, it has information on the sites that would be affected if UK Mine Holdings / UK Coal Operations were, as recent press stories indicate, to go into administration. In addition it has news on the the land slip at Hatfield Colliery, latest developments over the Helsley Wood Tip and opencast mining on the Canobie Coalfield.

Scottish Coal's Collapse : A Failure of the Planning System

LAON's Press Release questions the role the Scottish Planning System has played in this tragic sequence of events. It draws attention to the fact that 18 opencast sites are affected, not just the six often mention in most news items on this story and suggests that some form of public inquiry is needed if trust is to be restored into the Scottish Planning System and lessons learned so that this situation can be avoided in the future.

Scottish Coal's Collapse : The Untold Story

On Friday 20/4/13, Scotland's largest producer of surface mined coal, Scottish Coal went into liquidation. LAON's press release suggests that reasons other than those which have dominated news items about this event, lie behind this collapse. This press release aims at putting the record strait. In so doing, it raises questions as to whether large scale opencast mining operations, under present circumstanace will ever be profitable in Scotland again.

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Local residents campaign against UK Coal at Great Oak

UK Coal (Coalfield Resources) want to open cast Great oak – aka Diglake Colliery. This site is where the January 1895 Flooding Disaster killed 77 men and boys and is close to the villages of Audley, Bignall End, Red Street and Crackley.

Some 72 bodies are still in the old workings over which UK Coal want to open cast mine.

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Is Welsh Planning Policy for Coal about to Hit the Buffers?

The new Welsh Minister for Housing and Regeneration, Mr Carl Seargent, is about to make a decision on the Varteg Hill Opencast site application. If he decides to uphold the Appeal recommendation arising from a recent Public Inquiry it could set a new precedent for how all other Welsh opencast site applications are decided. It could have even wider repercussions across England and Scotland as well. This press release explains why.

LAON's Feb-March 2013 of Welsh Opencast Sites

This review carries news items on the state of opencast mine proposals in Wales, especially the latest news about the Varteg and East Pit proposal. It also provides some information about who Miller Argent are, the Company mining at Ffos-y-Fran and who mau be submitting a new opencast proposal for the Nant Llesg site in Gwent

Call For an Open Debate on the Use of Coal

Yesterday, the Government announced that it was to develop a short to medium term strategy for coal in light of the closure of Daw Mill. In it's 22nd Press Release, The Loose Anti Opencast Network calls for widening this discussion to include groups affected by the impact of opencast mining

Coal and the Risks Faced by Planning Authorities

This press release recounts the problems beseting the UK Coal Indusrty such as the fire at Daw Mill, the decline in the demand for coal for power generation purposes, lack of willingness to invest in coal, downward pressure on coal prices, pollution caused by coal being responsible fro premature deaths. Yet despite all this the Government wants to make it easier to dig it up!! See what you can do at this late stage to stop this plan it its tracks!!

LAON's February Review of English Opencast Sites

This review details the latest development on known actual and potential opencast sites in England, plus providing additional information on Air quality Issues and Opencast Mining, the Welsh Varteg Petition, Derelict and Unrestored English Sites and news affecting Hargreaves Services and UK Coal.

Does the UK Need nealy 50 New Opencast Mines?

The 20th LAON press release highlights a recent estimate that 47 new sites for opencast or the surface mining of coal are in the planning pipeline, 15 in England, 25 in Scotland and 7 in Wales. At the same time UK Coal Mining acknowledges that the demand for coal is going to drop significantly - hence the title of the press release

PR 19 '2013- A Crunch Year for Coal and the UK Coal Industry

This press release explains why this is an important year for the UK Coal Industry. The industry awaits the outcome of decisions that have to be made this year by Generating Companies, on whether they will adapt their coal firing power stations to meet new European Pollution Standards. If they do not, the use of coal for power generation could fall from over 41m in 2011 to 7m in 2023, thus significantly reducing the demand for opencast coal, if the UK Coal industry can survive that long.

December 2012 Review of New UK Opencast Sites

This edition of the review shows that 26 new sites are under consideration, 13 in England, 7 in Wales and 6 in Scotland. It also has information on what the implications of restructuring of UK Coal plc may mean for its surface mine operations, the implications of trying to rescue ATH Resources, the Hesley Wood Tip planning meeting and the Growth and Infrastructure Bill, Clause 21 - now clause 23.

Does the Energy Bill Herald An End To Opencast Mining?

LAON's 17th Press Release analyses what the effect of implementing the 2012 Energy Bill will be on the UK Surface Mine Coal Industry. The prognosis is that it faces medium to long term decline. As a consequence, over time, the strength of the current 'Need for Coal' arguments will slowly weaken. However, it may not come soon enough to prevent two new 9 and 10m tonne surface mines from being developed, one in Scotland and the other in Wales.

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The Clause 21 Growth and Infrastructure Bill Threat: More Info

01-12-2012 15:54 | Climate Chaos | Social Struggles | Sheffield | Wales

'If the Government gets it's way, are we likely to get more 'mothballed'opencast sites pock-marking our countryside'

On Tuesday, the HoC Growth and Infrastructure Public Bill Committee are likely to debate Clause 21 of the Bill to which we have lodged an objection.

This press release highlights what might be at stake if the Government pushes ahead with its plans to ease the means by which planning permission for new opencast sites can be given for new surface mine sites, just when the UK Coal Industry, increasingly reliant on surfaced mined coal, experiences a financial crisis and a significant decline in the UK's ability to burn coal. We may indeed be left with a pock-marked countryside as a consequence.

Wales Climate Chaos Newswire Archive

The £469m Cost of Restoring Opencast Coal Sites:

Wrexham: Report from Borras Anti-Fracking Evening... More Planned

Wales author of climate fiction

Plea to Make Coal a 'Special Case'

Fracking, Coal and Planning: The Story Of Westfield

Cardiff Shell petrol station rooftop occupation

LAON's April Review of English Opencast Sites

Scottish Coal's Collapse : A Failure of the Planning System

Scottish Coal's Collapse : The Untold Story

Local residents campaign against UK Coal at Great Oak

Is Welsh Planning Policy for Coal about to Hit the Buffers?

LAON's Feb-March 2013 of Welsh Opencast Sites

Call For an Open Debate on the Use of Coal

Coal and the Risks Faced by Planning Authorities

LAON's February Review of English Opencast Sites

Does the UK Need nealy 50 New Opencast Mines?

PR 19 '2013- A Crunch Year for Coal and the UK Coal Industry

December 2012 Review of New UK Opencast Sites

Does the Energy Bill Herald An End To Opencast Mining?

The Clause 21 Growth and Infrastructure Bill Threat: More Info

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