The end of UK deep coal mining.

[Leekbrookgull]

I believe at around the time of the miner,s strike there where around 170 (?) deep mines open and yes closure of many mines was always on the cards,but did anyone actual for see this,and i read today in one newspaper the Drax power station just 7 miles down the road from Kellingley will now import foreign coal as it is supposed to be cheaper ? Finally it would be interesting to know why the employee buy-out was refused. http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-york-north-yorkshire-35124077

 

[Norman Baker suck my lozenge]

Heartbreaking,thatchers evil legacy,the destruction of community and industry.

 

[Guy Fawkes]

I believe at around the time of the miner,s strike there where around 170 (?) deep mines open and yes closure of many mines was always on the cards,but did anyone actual for see this,and i read today in one newspaper the Drax power station just 7 miles down the road from Kellingley will now import foreign coal as it is supposed to be cheaper ? Finally it would be interesting to know why the employee buy-out was refused. http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-york-north-yorkshire-35124077

Hopefully to be replaced with cleaner and less polluting sources of power production

 

[yxee]

Heartbreaking,thatchers evil legacy,the destruction of community and industry.

... by the simple fact that the coal was too expensive to mine in the UK.

This is economics and the same thing happens throughout history.

Structural reform may be heartbreaking but it's the reason we're not living in the dark ages, if you want a silver lining...

 

[Norman Baker suck my lozenge]

... by the simple fact that the coal was too expensive to mine in the UK.

This is economics and the same thing happens throughout history.

Structural reform may be heartbreaking but it's the reason we're not living in the dark ages, if you want a silver lining...

Like when Tory Blair bailed out the banks?
Thank goodness you cleared that up.

 

[Mr Bridger]

... by the simple fact that the coal was too expensive to mine in the UK.

This is economics and the same thing happens throughout history.

Structural reform may be heartbreaking but it's the reason we're not living in the dark ages, if you want a silver lining...

Some people still are and can't let it go.

 

[jakarta]

Heartbreaking,thatchers evil legacy,the destruction of community and industry.

I presume you must be from a Mining Family, with in-depth knowledge of the British Coal Industry and sensible costed options for its continuation?

 

[Norman Baker suck my lozenge]

I presume you must be from a Mining Family, with in-depth knowledge of the British Coal Industry and sensible costed options for its continuation?

And isn't such a wonderful world we live in ?now that everything's costed.

 

[Hastings gull]

Heartbreaking,thatchers evil legacy,the destruction of community and industry.

It is no doubt very distressing for the communities, and as you talk of an evil legacy, I can of course take it that you have used coal as your sole form of heating for say the last 30 years?

 

[Norman Baker suck my lozenge]

I would love British coal to power British power stations and industry, yes.

 

[Soulman]

Sad day because we have so much coal under this island.
I remember working at Bettshanger colliery in Deal, i had to throw away the trousers that i wore under my overalls after a few washes when i'd left the colliery because the coal dust was still seeping out and leaving my legs black.
I also worked in Doncaster for months in the middle of the miners strike in 85. The precinct i was working on was deserted most of the time and the pubs were empty most nights. I spoke to many miners and brought a few drinks for them.
Viable or not it is a sad day.

 

[Hastings gull]

I would love British coal to power British power stations and industry, yes.

You may not have been responding to me, I appreciate, but I suspect that your circumspect answer was your way round admitting that you would love British coal to thrive, just not in your own home. Ideally, British coal should be used, but the figures I heard about suggest that foreign coal is £13.00 a ton cheaper to deliver to that power station. Why this is, assuming this true, I do not know, but the TV tonight suggested that this might be due to paying workers less and less attention to H&S. Again, would you be prepared to be consistent and pay £13.00 more for the exactly the same product at your local supermarket, simply because it was made here?

 

[Norman Baker suck my lozenge]

You may not have been responding to me, I appreciate, but I suspect that your circumspect answer was your way round admitting that you would love British coal to thrive, just not in your own home. Ideally, British coal should be used, but the figures I heard about suggest that foreign coal is £13.00 a ton cheaper to deliver to that power station. Why this is, assuming this true, I do not know, but the TV tonight suggested that this might be due to paying workers less and less attention to H&S. Again, would you be prepared to be consistent and pay £13.00 more for the exactly the same product at your local supermarket, simply because it was made here?

As a bulk buyer,yes,when you consider the money that is now going to haemorrhage out of that community £13 a ton is **** all compared to what governments have shovelled into banks and private rail companies,
I don't have a coal fire,but would gladly pay extra to know I'm using an energy supplier that used British coal.

 

[Leekbrookgull]

You may not have been responding to me, I appreciate, but I suspect that your circumspect answer was your way round admitting that you would love British coal to thrive, just not in your own home. Ideally, British coal should be used, but the figures I heard about suggest that foreign coal is £13.00 a ton cheaper to deliver to that power station. Why this is, assuming this true, I do not know, but the TV tonight suggested that this might be due to paying workers less and less attention to H&S. Again, would you be prepared to be consistent and pay £13.00 more for the exactly the same product at your local supermarket, simply because it was made here?

All fair points,yet it would be interesting to know what kind of hidden subsidy foreign governments are giving to their mining industry ?

 

[Leekbrookgull]

Chinese Coal. Chinese Energy. Chinese Steel. Who lives in No11 ? Xi Jinping.

 

[The Rivet]

Hopefully to be replaced with cleaner and less polluting sources of power production

Hopefully yes, Please specify a sustainable cleaner and less polluting supply. The emphasise of course, is on 'sustainable'.
Genuine question as wave power, wind power and solar panels are simply not up to the job of national demand.
Coal pollutes, yes. Alternatives need to be found because the above is also 'unsustainable'.

 

[beorhthelm]

I would love British coal to power British power stations and industry, yes.

despite the fact the world is moving on from burning coal? we are merely ahead of the curve on this.

and regarding the comparison to the bank bail out, if they had not bailed out those two banks, the collapse to the economy would have been unimagibably more severe. it was an action out of necessity. meanwhile the cost proping up the coal industry was holding back the economy. and the banking bailout cost was one off, where as the mining industry had been costing billions every year to prop up. there were hundreds pits closed before the 1970s as the industry was in decline, yet somehow a couple dozen closed in the 1980's holds such ill feeling. the irony is that no one liked the dirty and dangerous jobs, wishing their children would find a better life. its an odd romantic fetish some seem to hold for this industry.

 

[lawros left foot]

If you take out Government subsidies,British coal is the cheapest deep mined coal in the world, at £43 a tonne. Columbian coal is £20 a tonne, but has a £30 Columbian Government subsidy, Russian coal is £29 per tonne, but has a £20 government subsidy. The British mine industry has no government subsidy, hardly a level playing field.

 

[Hastings gull]

As a bulk buyer,yes,when you consider the money that is now going to haemorrhage out of that community £13 a ton is **** all compared to what governments have shovelled into banks and private rail companies,
I don't have a coal fire,but would gladly pay extra to know I'm using an energy supplier that used British coal.

I see you are now trying to conveniently steer the argument away with a really quite irrelevant comparison. You don't have a coal fire, along with millions of others, so the politicians are responding to that market force, whether you like it or not. and as for the argument that you would gladly pay extra .. . . .

 

[Norman Baker suck my lozenge]

I see you are now trying to conveniently steer the argument away with a really quite irrelevant comparison. You don't have a coal fire, along with millions of others, so the politicians are responding to that market force, whether you like it or not. and as for the argument that you would gladly pay extra .. . . .

Not trying to steer clear of anything conveniently,just stating that the house I live in at the moment doesn't have a coal fire.still I suppose the Tory work is now complete,working men and women rejoicing at the loss of other men and women's jobs in the name of progress.
Happy Christmas and good luck in the race to the bottom.