Closing Europe's coal mines damages the economies of their surrounding regions, the countries they are in and the whole of Europe. Locally, the pits and their supporting industries provide many jobs. Other industries must be created to provide replacement jobs and income.
European coal provides a European source of fuel. Europe imports over 80 per cent of its fuel and relying on fuel imports has high costs and severe risks. Europe must sell products outside Europe to get the money to buy fuel imports. The 1970s "oil crisis" demonstrated the risks.
The benefits of coal are widely accepted outside Europe. Coal is the world's largest and fastest growing traded bulk commodity: it overtook grain in 1995. Properly used, it is cheap, efficient and clean. And -- unlike oil and gas -- it is abundantly available in many places. Indeed, coal will be the major fuel of the 21st Century.
But throughout Europe coal is now seen as dirty, inefficient and old-fashioned, so European coal industries are being shut despite the severe economic harm this causes. This sorry state of coal usage in Europe is a stark contrast to the rapid growth of coal usage elsewhere. So why is coal usage being constrained throughout Europe, and what can be done about it?
The closure of European coal mines is a result of political decisions. Saving coal industries needs political decisions and actions.
The public have a right to know that cheap coal-fired electricity is being displaced by more expensive competitors. They are having to pay the cost. The public have a right to know that clean coal technologies for power generation are providing benefits throughout the rest of the world, but they are being denied these benefits. The public have a right to know that coal usage reduces the risks of another "oil crisis", or a "gas crisis". The public have a right to know . . . But the public is not being told.
The European Union (EU) has decided that fuel supplies should be governed by free market forces. A balanced energy policy would permit any EU country to reserve up to 30 per cent of its primary fuel supplies for each European fuel it chooses. So, for example, countries that produce coal could each guarantee a market for European coal up to 30 per cent of their primary energy demand. This would ensure that coal production continues in Europe while ensuring that competition between fuels continues between European countries and in at least 70 per cent of each country's energy market.
Regional electricity companies (RECs) distribute generated electricity to consumers. And UK RECs are allowed to own power stations in the UK. RECs have been given a licence to make money if they own power stations, and so they are building gas-fired power stations as fast as they can. This is increasing electricity costs and reducing diversity of energy supply by destroying the UK's primary market for coal, with the resulting collapse of the UK's coal industry. Electricity generation is forbidden to electricity distributors in the USA, because the bad effects now happening in the UK have been recognised for a long time.
UK taxation policies to sustain nuclear power and to encourage use of lead-free petrol have been very effective. Taxation policy should be adjusted to sustain the coal industry and coal-fired electricity industry, which are being destroyed by the "dash for gas".
The UK is imposing unnecessary constraints on sulphur emissions from power stations which have the effect of making it against the law to burn coal. Such policies should be abandoned, at least until alternative coal-burning technologies are available. The UK leads the world in the appropriate clean coal technology. It is called the air-blown gasification combined cycle (ABGC). This technology is clean. Its flue gases are cleaner than the air in a typical office!
All the parts of ABGC have been proven, but the complete process has not been demonstrated. Nobody will buy a technology that has not been fully demonstrated. The demonstration would give a long-term future to UK coal (the cheapest European coal) and enable the technology to be sold around the world. Present government policies indicate lack of support for coal and thus discourage industry from risky demonstrations to ensure coal's future. Funding for the demonstration should be provided by government if no other source can be found.
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