from The Herald, 18 November 2013
A plan for a massive new opencast coal mine near Edinburgh looks likely to get the green light this week, despite fierce opposition from environmental groups and outrage from local residents.
The mine at Cauldhall near Penicuik is the first to be proposed since Scotland’s two major coal companies went bust, leaving dozens of old opencast mines across the country without enough money to clean them up as had been promised.
Opponents say the new mine should be rejected until they are clear assurances that landscape restoration will be funded. Its proponent, however, says there will be legally-binding restoration guarantees in place before work starts.
Midlothian Council planning officials are recommending approval at a meeting on Tuesday for a bid by the coal company, Hargreaves, to extract ten million tonnes of coal over the next 13 years at Cauldhall. Most of the 500-hectare site is owned by the Earl of Rosebery as part of Dalmeny Estates.
“It is unthinkable another mine could be consented before we even know what went catastrophically wrong in the regulation of existing sites,” said Aedán Smith, head of planning at the Royal Society for the Protection of Birds in Scotland. “When you are in a hole, you should stop digging.”
A recent report from East Ayrshire Council, where many derelict mines are concentrated, estimated that it was short of £130 million needed to restore them. There are likely to be shortfalls in other opencast mining areas across the central belt.
“The current coal industry crisis has resulted in significant numbers of unrestored sites and revealed that the financial bonds intended to complete restoration are completely unfit for purpose,” said Smith. “We must not risk a repeat of these recent mistakes.”
The Scottish Wildlife Trust (SWT) was “far from convinced that the proposed action to restore habitat after the mine closes will actually happen”. It pointed out that the mine would remove over 500,000 cubic metres of ancient peat, which could release 50,000 tonnes of climate-wrecking carbon.
“This proposal clearly contradicts the Scottish government’s commitment to protect peatlands and its much-lauded target of reducing greenhouse gas emissions by 42% by 2020,” said SWT’s Bruce Wilson.
Local resident Malcolm Spaven was “outraged” that planners were recommending the go-ahead for the mine. “There are major unresolved questions that Hargreaves have refused to address and Midlothian Council refused to ask,” he said.
“History will repeat itself and Hargreaves will walk away when they've made a quick buck just like Scottish Coal did, leaving everyone else to clear up the mess.”
The accusation was denied, however, by the company. “Hargreaves is wholly committed to the future of the surface mining industry in Scotland and to the delivery of legally binding restoration guarantees on all new sites before work commences,” said its planning director, Steve McQuarrie.
“Hargreaves is a substantial listed company with skilled people that is committed to delivering a vital indigenous resource to the UK power generation industry and to meeting our environmental responsibilities.”
McQuarrie pointed out that coal provided up to half of the UK’s electricity and over 70 per cent of it was imported from abroad. New mines like Cauldhall were vital to help reduce the UK’s reliance on imported coal, he argued.
Cauldhall will employ 230 people and create more jobs in the supply chain, he said. It was important to maintain “an indigenous industry that continues to employ significant number of people, often in areas where other opportunities are few and far between.”
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