Britain must return to coal power and forget climate hype

From: John Richmond, Harrogate Road, Ripon, North Yorkshire.

YOUR mailbox must find an increasing number of letters supporting a return to using coal for our power stations instead of the daft idea of wind power.

While the Tory party had an inbuilt hatred of the miners, much of which will now be re-lived with the death of Margaret Thatcher, it really is time that somebody got to grips and told us, the public, the true costs in following the use of biomass, wooden pellets and the rest, all in the interest of so-called global warming.

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It’s just possible that the public are not as gullible as these “coalition” MPs think, who are cleverly keeping each other in office... they might remember it’s a long road that hasn’t got a turning!

It’s a “bit rich” to read Andrew Cook’s comments (Yorkshire Post, April 5) on the issue of coal power stations... as was not his company involved in the proposed loan of £80m from the previous government for Forgemaster Steel, causing a great deal of wrangling around Nick Clegg’s constituency?

As to the CO2 problem, many years ago a fireplace manufacturing company, I think named Parkray, developed a product that had a second burner in the flue system that burnt away the obnoxious gases. While this was only a domestic product, was this a forerunner of what might have been if there had been a real interest to burn coal “clean”?

That this country came within a hair’s breadth recently to a complete shut down on the power front is quite disturbing.

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Dependent now on imported coal and gas, nuclear power stations coming to the end of their life, we are no longer as self sufficient as we think.

I served during the 1980s on what was then called the Gas Consumer Council. “Dash for gas” was the phrase. When I posed the question: “Where will we get the gas when North Sea runs out”? I remember the reply: “There’s plenty on the Norwegian Shelf”! Thirty years on, I guess we are paying the price!

From: PJ Thomson, Kelly Street, Goldthorpe, South Yorkshire.

WITH reference to the letter from Mr Peter Green about dealing with the oil shortage, he seems to skim over the major problems that we in this nation are about to have to endure with regard to our future and vital energy needs.

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He mentions all the alternative sources of energy such as nuclear, wind, and oil power but he seems to have airbrushed out the part which is to me the most important factor, namely the use of clean coal technology, and seam gasification.

In his letter he writes: “But our grandfathers had a very sensible saying: ‘Don’t throw good money after bad’.”

May I remind him that they 
 also said “Don’t put all your eggs in one basket” which is sadly exactly what we have done as a nation in regard to our future energy needs; each time that a crisis happens in the Middle East, no matter how many gun boats we have at our disposal, we still find ourselves up the creek without a paddle.

Our only secure and stable indigenous energy base was destroyed by a government intent on spiteful revenge against the hardworking coal miners, who had the audacity to ask to be able to work and make a contribution to society.

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Japan, of course, decimated its coal industry during the 1980s to rely on nuclear. Now, where have I heard that before?

With each year that passes the economic case for clean coal technology becomes more valid, so in my opinion we must act now before it is tragically too late.

From: Linda McAvan, Labour MEP for Yorkshire and the Humber, High Street, Wath-upon-Dearne.

UKIP and Tory MEPs have defied David Cameron and British businesses to undermine climate change policy

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Sadly, three of Yorkshire’s MEPs allowed their Euroscepticism to get the better of them, blocking an EU proposal that David Cameron and British businesses had asked them to support.

Investments in green technology and Carbon Capture and Storage (CCS) projects that would have brought jobs and growth to our region will now be much harder to achieve as pumping emissions into the atmosphere is dirt cheap.

A sad day for British businesses and EU climate change policy.