tog3 Posted January 20, 2011 Share Posted January 20, 2011 The coal industry & the fishing industry where horse-traded in the EU, probably in exchange for keeping our financial sector. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
puisseguin Posted January 20, 2011 Share Posted January 20, 2011 The original pit clossures were only justified economically because North Sea Gas came online and was cheaper.... until it ran out. Our Coal was cheaper than anywhre else in the EEC. There would be many more pits open had a less short term view been taken on the issue and we would have been £billions more wealthy. Even though we do produce some coal we also have to import high grade coal from china by ship to make some of the more exotic steels because they are the only supplier of the high grade fuel required. Coal we used to produce ourselves.... Not quite what is said here. Note this Reuters article is dated 2007 http://uk.reuters.com/article/idUKL2175957820070621 (Reuters) - Britain will not pressure its power generators to cut back the coal imports on which they depend, UK Trade and Industry Secretary Alistair Darling told a committee of members of parliament on Thursday. Darling had been asked whether the government was comfortable with the UK's dependence on imported Russian coal. The UK consumed 58 million tonnes of coal in 2006, of which only 17 million was mined domestically. The remainder was imported, mostly from Russia and South Africa. Generators say they have no option but to rely on coal imports because UK coal production is far below their needs and extremely unlikely to revive substantially. Asked what the government could do to help revive the domestic coal industry, Darling said: "You could only do that by, in effect, subsidising it." The government has been urged by UK coal mining companies and generators to relax environmental and planning controls which have severely restricted their ability to start new opencast mines. One deep-shaft underground coal mine could cost up to 400 million pounds to develop and would take several years to come to full production, mining industry sources said. Those in the industry say they doubt there will be any operating UK coal mines in 15 years time. There are currently 5,000-6,000 workers directly employed in UK coal mining -- 5 pct of the total prior to privatisation of the industry in 1994. Six deep-shaft mines still operate, compared to 22 before privatisation. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Glamrocker Posted January 21, 2011 Share Posted January 21, 2011 Theres plenty of coal in Britain ..maybe you should ask yourself why it is not being mined,I dont think its anything to do with the cost,just think how many people would come off benefits for a start,I think the words backhanders and greased palms may figure more significantly. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
caparo Posted January 21, 2011 Share Posted January 21, 2011 The economically viable ones did. But surely there's no defence for shutting down pits just because they aren't economically viable. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
eckerslike Posted January 21, 2011 Author Share Posted January 21, 2011 The original pit clossures were only justified economically because North Sea Gas came online and was cheaper.... until it ran out. . North Sea Gas hasn't run out. We still generate half our electricity using the stuff, and my gas fire still works OK. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
shanes teeth Posted January 21, 2011 Share Posted January 21, 2011 It's a cunning plan. We're saving ours until everybody elses has run out. Then it'll be worth a fortune and once again we will rule the world! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
davedj Posted January 21, 2011 Share Posted January 21, 2011 It's a cunning plan. We're saving ours until everybody elses has run out. Then it'll be worth a fortune and once again we will rule the world! I agree! And can't blame the goverment for doing this. Fossil fuels will start to run out so lets exploit other countries reserves and keep our own. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest sibon Posted January 21, 2011 Share Posted January 21, 2011 Why did coal imports double between 1997 and 2007? In 1997 we were importing less than 20 million tons of coal a year. By 2007 imports were above 43 million tons. I'm puzzled. The Tories closed the industry down in an act of class war, against its own people. North Sea Gas hasn't run out. We still generate half our electricity using the stuff, and my gas fire still works OK. We are a net importer of gas though. More than half of our gas comes from overseas. Some might argue that we sold our energy security down the river when the pits were closed. We could have used the coal to generate electricity and kept the gas for other purposes. We are about to enter into a "relationship" with Gazprom which should to cause everyone concern. Still... that showed Scargill. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mj.scuba Posted January 21, 2011 Share Posted January 21, 2011 Could be an increase in population. Increase in population = increase in people using electricity. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Grandad.Malky Posted January 21, 2011 Share Posted January 21, 2011 The Tories closed the industry down in an act of class war, against its own people. . Well said Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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