Why We Shouldn’t Mine Coal
I’m sixty-seven this year and all my life, every year or so, I’ve heard reports of the deaths of coal miners.
Now today, there are reports of a serious mine disaster in Turkey.
When I was in Poland, I shared a train compartment with a lady going to Katowice. I remember the city for a mining disaster in the 1950s, which was nearby.
Isn’t it about time, we stopped mining the filthy stuff, as it just creates grief for the miners and their families? And of course there’s always the issue of global warming.
Trade Unions Living In The Past
I was listening to Radio 5 this morning and a couple of Trade Union leaders said that we should open up the mines again and burn coal using carbon capture technology.
Who do they think they’re kidding?
I have serious doubts about this technology and don’t think I’ll ever see it working in my lifetime on a large scale. I put a few thoughts here. But don’t listen to me. In these two posts, Wikipedia details the limitations and cost. So it looks like an exopensive dead end, if you believe Wikipedia. I definitely agree!
One thing though, if we started deep mining coal, I doubt there would be queues of people wanting to work in the mines. But then we can always get a few thousand willing immigrants to do the work!
A Bail-Out Too Far
The Sunday Times is reporting that because of the big fire at Daw Mill, UK Coal is close to collapse. The story is also here in the Newcastle Journal.
For many decades now, I’ve been against the mining of coal and its use as a fuel. My objection probably stems more from the dangers of mining, the bad disasters of my childhood years and recollections of a few former miners, that I’ve met, and not from any political reasons. When global warming became known, it just reinforced my views that we should get rid of this dangerous and polluting fuel.
If we don’t put UK Coal out of its misery this time, we’ll only be delaying the inevitable for a few years, as some other problem will come along.
Coal Is A Dangerous Fuel
There are dramatic pictures in Modern Railways of the landslip at Hatfield Colliery, which damaged the railway at Stainforth.
It just goes to show how dangerous coal is, as it seems to be capable of creating disasters. Luckily this one didn’t cause any injuries or death.
There’s more about it here.
I believe that coal is just too dangerous to mine! It’s also a large producer of carbon dioxide and I would ban its burning worldwide.
More Problems For Coal
I am not a great fan of coal as, I think it’s a dirty fuel, that is dangerous to mine and causes all sorts of problems like subsidence for the neighbours.
So this news of a large fire at Daw Mill Colliery in Warwickshire, that might spell the end of mining in the county, is just typical of the problems of this fuel.
I will not be sorry if this hastens the end of the UK coal industry. For everybody’s sake, we should have put together a comprehensive plan to shut the lot down perhaps half a century ago.
A Benefit Of Fracking
To many there isn’t one benefit from using fracking to extract gas from the ground. but here’s one even the most total opponent of the technique might concede.
Modern Railways this month states the following.
The major rail operators in the US are all reporting reduced profits as coal volumes plummeted by up to 20% in the last year. Here, the shift in generation mix is being driven principally by the exploitation of shale gas now being produced on a massive scale as a by-product of crude oil exploitation. although a frighteningly high proportion of this gas is just flared, sufficient is being used in power-generation to undermine the need for coal, and for rail freight.
I would suspect the facts are correct. So fracking is cutting the need to burn coal, thus reducing global warming, as burning gas creates less CO2.
And People Worry About HS2 And Other Developments!
I do sometimes worry about the grip some people have on sense. Look at this article, about the damage done by the slag heap from a coal mine to the railways near Doncaster.
We should have got rid of our coal mines just after we found we had North Sea Gas and Oil, and probably developed nuclear power for most of or electricity. Instead we struggled on with the world’s most polluting fuel for many years.
Now the Nimbys don’t want any developments, be they fracking, nuclear power, wind power or even new railways like HS2. I suspect, if you had a vote on new motorways it would pass, provided they didn’t build one near to the voters.
But how many people will call this trouble with the trains near Doncaster, an environmental disaster caused by not getting rid of coal years ago? I will!
British Coal In A British Grate
This phrase was quoted in an article in The Times today by David Aaronovitch, where he likens the arguments of those who don’t believe in climate change, global warming and renewable energy, with those who were against the Clean Air Act of 1956. The MP for Bromsgrove, Michael Higgs was the opponent of the Act, who Aaronovitch quoted.
I can remember the smogs of that time and they weren’t pleasant. The only good thing was that we got sent home early from my primary school; de Bohun in Southgate. Teachers would organise us into groups and put a responsible ten or eleven year old in charge. Our parents didn’t know we were coming home, but then most mothers didn’t work in the 1950s.
I don’t think they’d do that now!
Miners Have a Go at the Iron Lady
The BBC has reported that the Iron Lady film has had protests in Chesterfield, which lost their coal mines, when she was Prime Minister.
My view is straightforward. Coal is a dirty fuel, that causes lots of ill health and is a major cause of global warming. Even with the small number of pits we have now, the death of miners is not unknown.
Mrs. Thatcher may have been the Prime Minister, who actually shut the mines, but in my view it was done about twenty years at least too late.
North Sea oil and gas, gave us the opportunity to abandon coal production and it should have been done in a managed and gradual way. I’d love to know, whether Prime Ministers before Mrs. Thatcher had thought of shutting the mines. After all, when the railways abandoned steam engines, a lot of coal wasn’t needed any more. So do those who want more mining jobs, want steam trains as well? And domestic coal fires, which created the smog of the sixties? Many days, I had to walk home from school in thick pea soup.
I should also say, that I’ve met quite a few people, from mining families and all were advised to get an education and avoid going down the pits.
How have other countries weaned themselves off coal? I found this article about the rise and fall of the German coal industry. It seems that German industry has managed to survive the loss of its prime energy source.
I suspect they have managed the run down of their industry much better. I can remember a proposal in The Guardian to use redundant miners to insulate our rather poor housing stock. Nothing happened, as far as I know!
We don’t learn either! Most of our vehicles are powered by fossil fuel, which don’t help the stopping of global warming. So when we bring forward proposals to help like wind, wave and tidal power, new electricity networks and rail lines, the Nimbys come out in force.
We can’t have it both ways, even if the Americans and the Chinese think they can.
I think I’ll prefer to go to hell on my two legs, a bicycle or a New Bus for London, rather than a fossil-fuel powered handcart.
The Anonymous Widower 