Energy threat that now stalks the former mining areas

MANY of us live in areas which have been scarred from decades of coal mining. Attempts are often made to camouflage the old pit head, winding wheels and spoil tips.

Those who worked deep underground are easily identifiable with their coughing and spluttering, symptomatic of pneumoconiosis and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease. Those living within the shadow of the pit did not escape unscathed.

Some companies have been tapping into abandoned coal mines and pumping out coal bed methane. The methane is pushed through generators which produce electricity which is sold to the national grid. These developments often go unnoticed primarily because they are located within the boundary of the old coal mining sites.

The number of sites suitable for this kind of development is dwindling. Companies are looking to develop new ways of continuing their business. One of the ways is to release coal bed methane gas which has been trapped underground. From time to time the Department of Energy and Climate Change sell off Petroleum Exploration and Development Licences (PEDL) and the owner of the PEDL has the right to explore for fuel reserves within their designated area.

The exploratory work often goes unnoticed and may occur on brown land, arable land or green belt. Once a reservoir of stranded coal bed methane has been identified, an application must be made to the local planning authority for permission to drill into the reservoir and extract the gas.

The applicant will also seek to place generating equipment on the site and arrange for connection to the electricity distribution network. Frequently promises are made that the site will be returned to its original condition following completion some 10 to 15 years hence.

Such applications are likely to slip under the wire. The PEDLs are sold by the Government without it being compulsory upon them to advise the affected local community. Given our crazy energy policy there is a presumption that planning permission will be granted. It must be remembered that coal bed methane is a fossil fuel and the impact upon health may be very similar to the impact that traditional coal mining had upon communities but without the benefit of employment and income within the community. We will not know until the damage has been done.

Areas which were once blighted by the equipment associated with coal mining will be littered with a new breed of coal extraction equipment. Once again earthworks will be undertaken in an attempt to camouflage the industrial process.

Areas of outstanding beauty such as Yorkshire, Derbyshire and Staffordshire will be damaged further. Experience from the old coal mines shows that the land is never returned to its original condition and once you have lost your good health it is unlikely to return.

Government Ministers, MPs and local planning authorities must understand the extent of the concern these developments cause for members of the community who will really suffer. We must modify the rush for cheaper energy and include a compulsory compensation charter in future PEDL licences.

From: David F Chambers, Sladeburn Drive, Northallerton.

I APPRECIATE the Yorkshire Post’s staunch support for Yorkshire and have come to realise that usually there is more common sense in this county than is to be found in the whole of the south east put together.

Nevertheless, I take exception to your editorial “Going Green” (Yorkshire Post, April 20). Eco-friendly and low carbon businesses, I gather, are to be encouraged. At the expense of therefore “harmful” businesses? These include coal, oil, gas, steel, aluminium, glass making, shipbuilding and various other heavy manufacturing, leaving not a lot of our wealth producing capacity beyond expertly advising each other.

You claim that “energy
policy continues to evolve at pace” but for “evolve” I would substitute “stumble in the wrong direction”. You state that public attitudes must change but it is pretty clear at the moment that there will not be sufficient power, and that fuel poverty and hypothermia will become commonplace.

As to my efforts to safeguard the environment, I think I am less wasteful than my fellows, and I do wish to see an environment unpolluted by windmills (Don Quixote had the right idea).

Correct me if I’m wrong, but surely our most basic requirement, to avoid slipping back into a medieval lifestyle is a steady, reliable, adequate and affordable supply of electricity? We’ve stumbled to the point where we’ve got to seize on priorities rather than baseless, unachievable fancies.

The very future of our TVs, websites, mobiles and Kindles is at stake.