The New Coal Age

By George Monbiot.
Published in the Guardian 9th October 2007.

A vast new opencast pit will ruin local people’s lives and wreck the government’s climate change policies. How was it allowed to happen?As I watched the machine scraping away the first buckets of soil, one thought kept clanging through my head. “If this is allowed to happen, we might as well give up now.

Read More at:-
www.monbiot.com


George Monbiot’s book
Heat: how to stop the planet burning is published with new material in paperback.
www.monbiot.com

Rigged

By George Monbiot.
Published in the Guardian 11th December 2007

Ladies and gentlemen, I have the answer! Incredible as it might seem, I have stumbled across the single technology which will save us from runaway climate change! From the goodness of my heart I offer it to you for free. No patents, no small print, no hidden clauses. Already this technology, a radical new kind of carbon capture and storage, is causing a stir among scientists. It is cheap, it is efficient and it can be deployed straight away. It is called … leaving fossil fuels in the ground.

www.monbiot.com

news!!!!

NEWS!!
PLANNING MEETINGS
Latest:-
Bridgend to meet on Thursday January 17th.
Neath /Port Talbot soon after that. Will keep you informed.

After the Public Meeting

In the Public Meeting that took place on the 13th November in Pyle on the proposed extension to Parc Slip/Margam opencast mine, the communities were treated with contempt and disregard with no direct answer being given to health, social or community concerns.The Planning officers constantly praised the company, for their ‘wonderful comprehensive environmental statement‘, for restoration and for pollution control, even though the communities present told them that in reality they know that restoration has been non existent for 13 years and believe monitoring to be inadequate. The thresholds are too high to protect the people from impacts.At the meeting people expressed their concerns that the opencast affects the physical, mental health and well- being of the local communities. It is already causing stress, worry and depression.PACT would also like to express our disapproval at how an Assembly Minister i.e. Mr Carwyn Jones, was treated by a Planning Officer from Neath/ Port Talbot CBC. The Officer’s attitude was one of arrogance and disregard for anything that the Assembly Minister had to say. Although not as outwardly obvious, the Bridgend officer seemed to us to be expressing his own opinions also rather than just answering questions.The presence of this opencast mine is not an asset to the physical environment or health and well being of our communities that are vulnerable and are already suffering from cumulative impacts. The people related real incidents of dust pollution, noise encroachment and asthma cases.The officer from Bridgend gave a poor response to the public’s health concerns. It is about time that the residents were listened to and the precautionary principle should apply.

No more open cast at Parc Slip

MANY readers have been following the story surrounding the application by Celtic Energy to extend the Parc Slip opencast site near Kenfig Hill and the opposition this has aroused in the local community. Here are my views on it.Eight or nine years ago now, an application was made to extend the site which led to permission being granted to opencast the present site. At that time, the community and BCBC were told this would be the last extension and that a drift mine would be sunk to win the coal in future years.But Celtic Energy no longer wants to do that and instead wants to extend the opencast site once again, despite the assurances given last time around.Understandably, the local community is unhappy as they feel they were promised that opencasting would end.I agree with them. I was one of the councillors who voted on the planning application last time and the fact that it was said there would be no more extensions was a strong factor in my choice of vote.In the past year, new planning guidance has emerged in Wales which makes it very difficult to obtain planning permission for opencast working where there is a settlement within 350 metres of the operational boundary of the opencast site. There are more than 100 houses within 350 metres of the proposed new extension, and there is a strong presumption against granting planning permission on those grounds alone.There are exceptions to the 350-metre buffer zone – for example, if there are safety issues that mean a site has to be opencasted to make it safe, or where land is being reclaimed for beneficial use through opencasting. It wouldn’t make sense if old tips had to be left that way when they could be reclaimed and the land used for housing and leisure uses. Neither of these factors applies at Parc Slip.A drift mine was promised, and despite the volatile nature of the market for coal it seems to me that is exactly what should happen, rather than opencasting again.
CARWYN JONES AM
Oct 4 2007Glamorgan Gazette
Thank You, Carwyn!

THE LOST YEARS

The revised Environmental Statement submitted by Celtic Energy concerning their Margam/Parc Slip Extension planning application would have us believe that extracting coal by opencast methods is no danger to health and well being, is sustainable and causes no lasting damage to the environment.If permission is granted, their prize would be our beautiful valley, Cwm Cynffig. The impossibility of reconstructing this beautiful landscape and its wildlife is one of the reasons why people are opposing opencast mining in our area. The company also have documented that anyone who opposes their developments are prejudiced. Our objections are born out of experience and knowledge and therefore cannot be ‘prejudice‘.Maybe the company should look up the word ’prejudice’. In the Oxford Dictionary the meaning is:-’ An adverse judgment or opinion formed beforehand or without knowledge or examination of the facts.--An unfavourable opinion or feeling formed beforehand or without knowledge, thought, or reason.’How can we then be prejudiced? We have the ‘knowledge’ and are more than familiar with the ‘facts’ having lived with this obscenity for decades. We have had plenty of time to form ‘opinions‘, to ‘think’ and to finally ‘reason’ that we want no more opencast in our area. That is not prejudice!!In the Environmental Statement, Celtic Energy show colourful Disneyland computer generated images of wonderful landscape features, such as broad leaf woodlands and hedgerows. These will take so long to mature that, although our children’s, children’s, children may be lucky enough to see them, we certainly will not!If Celtic Energy are truly interested in what the people want, they should show us their wonderful ability to restore now. They can attempt to beautify the present moonscape site that has been destroyed, (with no restoration for 13 years,) and do there all that they propose to do in the new application !!.Opencast has been in our area since the 1940’s.Since the ‘90’s the people of Cefn Cribbwr and Aberbaiden, perched above the site, and living with the impacts of noise, dust, diesel fumes and depressing visual aspect every day, have had their quality of life ruined . The added impact of severed roads and countryside access has added to the misery. That can never be restored .No amount of restoration can ever replace the lost years for the people of our communities!

Opencast Objection

Press Release: 25/06/2007

Opencast extension plans opposed by Aberavon AM and MP

Aberavon’s political representatives Dr Brian Gibbons AM and Dr Hywel Francis MP have today written a joint letter to the local authority opposing Celtic Energy’s plans to extend the Margam Opencast site. Dr Francis said; “Both our offices have received numerous representations from constituents affected by the proposals objecting to these plans. “Having studied these objections we feel that there is a strong case for rejecting these plans on a number of grounds and we have written to the planning authority to formally oppose the proposed extension to the site”. Dr Gibbons said; “It is our understanding that the proposals potentially bring the site to within 350 metres of some dwellings which is the absolute minimum distance a site should be away from communities as set out by the draft coal TAN. We feel that the advice set out in the TAN should be adhered to as minimal good practice. Dr Francis said: “The communities affected by this application have had to live with the effects of the site for many decades and this has undoubtedly resulted in an adverse effect on people's wellbeing. It has also brought about a loss of amenity with many local access routes being closed as a result of this site. The proposed extension would only see this situation deteriorate further. “The representations we have received have pointed out that promises made by the developers during the last planning application have for the most part been unmet and as a result we have little confidence in them fulfilling any promises they may have made in relation to the current application with regard to restoration of the site”.Dr Gibbons said; “The proposals also have the effect of cutting further into the remaining green wedge which will cause further ecological damage to area that has already been subjected to the scarring of opencasting for many years. “The proposals before the planning authority represent a totally unacceptable green wedge development that will have a significant negative health, ecological and social impact on all the communities affected and as a result we have formally opposed the application”.

Mockery of Democracy

Planning Issues Related specifically to Parc Slip/ MargamOpen Cast Coal Mining in the Kenfig Valley:

A Mockery of Democracy 4th January 2007).

The local community having been subjected to opencast coal mining in the valley since 1947 objected to the planned extension of Park Slip Extension in 1988. The then Local Authority, Mid Glamorgan County Council took heed of these objections and refused planning permission. At the time West Glamorgan County Council had a very small part of the land subject to the planning application and to avoid any expense on their part that council consented to the application (I've been told this by a councillor who was on the planning development committee at the time.) The local community councils also objected to the application nevertheless the case went to Public Inquiry headed by one person, a planning inspector who eventually decided to allow the extension because:a) It would only last for a total of six years including restoration of sites that needed two years restoration anyway.b) Where it would be situated between Law Street and Bedford Road it would be screened from the villagers of Kenfig Hill and would not impact greatly on the communities of either Cefn Cribwr or Kenfig Hill. The community of Cefn Cribwr would have to put up with two years of restoration anyway. The land between Bedford Road and the woodland of Hafod Heulog would shelter Kenfig Hill from the site.c) British Coal had no plans to extend further down valley.Where is the democracy in this? The County Council representing the communities of the area had voted democratically to refuse the application, the local people had objected and yet one individual was allowed to give a consent that has since been made a mockery. Despite what that man said consent has been given to allow the destructive opencast to move down valley to within a few hundred metres of Kenfig Hill. It is now 12 years since the open cast then consented to restarted, no reclamation has taken place, the communities of Cefn Cribwr, Kenfig Hill and Pen Y Bryn are denied all cross valley footpaths, two cross valley routes are closed - Bedford Road and Crown Road -leading to congestion in both villages at peak times, businesses have suffered and closed due to the loss of passing through traffic. Why has this been allowed to happen? Perhaps to some extent because of the reorganisation of local government that has taken place in South Wales since the mid 1980's. We no longer have a Mid Glamorgan and a West Glamorgan County Council, we no longer have Ogwr Borough Council, Port Talbot, Neath and Swansea councils but we have Bridgend CBC and NeathPortTalbot CBC and Swansea all divided up differently and separate. Celtic Energy, the private company resulting from the management buy out of British Coal in the area following the Public Inquiry in 1993, worked Park Slip West and then applied in 1998 to sink a deep mine that required a little bit more opencast in order to sink it in the void - Park Slip West Extension/Margam Mine. The only reason the application included a 'deep mine' was because Neath Port Talbot had planning policies in force that would have stopped further opencast in the valley. Policies in the adopted plan for the area The Cwmafan, Bryn, Goytre and Rural Margam Local Plan were in force protecting the land under application:d) From the opencast mining of coal -E 4.e) Protecting the land for the deep mine - I 3f) Protecting valuable high grade agricultural land.These policies were not brought to the attention of the Neath Port Talbot Planning Development Decision Committee when the application for the deep mine was put to them. In both Bridgend and Neath Port Talbot a lot of emphasis went on the virtues of the proposed 'Deep Mine' which would employ three to four hundred people over a twenty year period. However though the company together with Tower colliery with whom they were supposed to be in partnership, stated that they would be conducting surveys into the viability, economic and geological, of the proposed deep mine, no official from either borough council requested to see these surveys both of which were supposed to have been completed before the councils decided the application. If this is supposed to be a democracy when a company proposes to break so many previous conditions, so many existing policies, why was this company not asked to provide evidence to prove their application? In the event, no sooner was the company given the legal consent in the form of the 106 agreement in March 2001, having been allowed to continue opencasting in the meantime, than they let it be made known to council officers and to the site liaison committee that their 'consultants had advised against sinking a deep mine from the void due to safety considerations'. It is a mockery of the planning process and of democracy and of the views of the local communities to allow a company employing a handful of people, the majority of whom are not even locals, to bypass written legal planning policies in this way. The law is certainly not there to protect democracy is it?In the last two years the local community has again objected most vociferously to the planning application submitted by Celtic Energy in 2004 to continue opencast down valley through the Hafod Heulog Woods and through the River Kenfig, in full view of, adjacent to and with no protection offered to the village of Kenfig Hill. The Countryside Council for Wales and The Environment Agency both refused consent because of the proposed destruction of the pristine river and the semi natural ancient woodlands. I feel that the community should have been spared such an application. It should have been sufficient in planning law that such features are protected and cannot be subject to such process. The company should have been made aware from the outset that such an application was invalid. The Planning Officer for Neath Port Talbot recommended refusal in his report to the decision committee and the company then withdrew it's application. However we are now under threat of a revised application and a current application to extend the ongoing opencast by yet another year. I think that the company should now be made aware that the cumulative impact, the visual impact, the effect on the health of the local populations, the damage to the remaining wildlife, the loss of access to roads, to footpaths, to countryside should make any further application to opencast the remains of our valley beyond consent.Furthermore, once the company has the initial, major consent to opencast then it immediately sets about applying for alterations to planning conditions etc to enable it to do exactly what it wants. In this area, this has included raising the overburden mound, extending the time limit for mining, mining an additional area to within a couple of hundred metres of many dwellings in the village, removing soil mounds placed to absorb sound and dust to protect the community in the process.We have suffered enough mockery of democracy here, we have suffered enough pollution and disregard, it is time to move into the 21st century and adopt modern technologies to protect the environment, the resources of the planet, the climate and the health of the people - which is amongst the worst in the UK.. It is time to put an end to opencast coal mining here.January 2007
Jan Adamson

THE ‘GREED WEDGE’

NEW APPLICATION FOR MARGAM OPENCAST

“So what if we’ve applied again

To opencast your valley.

Don’t moan and groan and make a fuss

It’s really rather silly.

We’ve been so kind this time you see

We’ve saved the river and wood,

We’ll dig each side of the ancient trees

We really are so good.

The badgers, otters, bats, mice, hares

Can be re-homed you know,

To say we should restore and move

Is really rather low!

Across the river we’ll build a bridge

So lorries can move to and fro.

We understand that you need your walks

So we’ll build a subway below.

What! You don’t want to walk where noise, fumes and dust

And diggers will encroach and impact,

You don’t want to hear the machinery noise

Or feel the explosives blast!?

You’d rather have your countryside walk

With birdsong and leafy green trees,

Lush pasture fields with wildlife and flowers

And fresh air and sweet smelling breeze!?

Well you can’t have it all, it’s big business ,--so there!

We need this fine coal to exist,

It’s all singing and dancing and can’t be replaced

Do you want us to add to our list.

So don’t write your letters to object to our plans

You really won’t win, so don’t fret”

“We’ll see ,we’re not beaten-just watch us fight

The battle is not over yet!”

Your sincere promises you’ve never kept.

You’ve ruined our lives for your coal,

For more loss and destruction with no restoration

Is your ultimate aim and your goal.

The company’s breached no set levels we’re told

But the monitors we do not trust.

We know the effects on our health and our homes

From the fumes, and the noise and the dust!

Until people come first we will still be abused

Look after the residents, not coal!

We need stronger measures to protect our health

And we’ll still face a lousy, black hole!!

The powers that be, we hope will be just

And see that the revised new plan

Is too close to housing and countryside features

Not allowed in the new coal M’tan.

Stop now with your opencast , give us some peace

Let us enjoy our homes and our rights,

Stay out of our valley, leave our wildlife alone

Let us enjoy our countryside sights.

Let us keep our good footpaths, our lanes and our views

Our green fields where hares often lie,

For our human species cannot be moved

And the cost of your coal is too high!!!”

G.M.B.
G.BALL
Sign the petition and write to the councils.
Addresses below.
Mr Neville Morgan /Mr Geoff White
Planning ServicesNeath/Port Talbot County Borough Council
Civic Centre,
Neath,SA113QZ
Planning Application Number
Neath/Port Talbot 2007/0663
Mr. Tony Gore /Mr Martin Hooker,
Planning Department,
Bridgend County Borough Council,
Angel Street,Bridgend,CF31 4WB
Planning Application Number
Bridgend Reference P/07/569/MIN/AG:

OPENCAST SITE--DO YOU WANT THIS ON YOUR DOORSTEP!!!

BROKEN PROMISES
-----------------------------
I sat in a Public Meeting

Not such a long time ago,

And listened to Celtic Energy

And their promises to restore………

“The need for energy is great

And we have to dig for coal

But this will be the last phase

The end to the big, black hole.

We’ll do a deep or drift mine

And employ 400 men”…….

So what happened to their speeches?

Broken promises once again!!!!

And now the cycle starts again

They want another phase,

More destruction and pollution

and it’s only us who pays,

For PM10’s and PM 2.5’s

Can make you ill and kill !

We’re wiser now to mining dust
so GET OUT OF KENFIG HILL !!!!

We do not want your opencast

Just leave our land alone.

You can keep your ‘Sunshine Miners’

Who destroy our pleasant home!

Dust and diesel fumes can travel

Invisible in the air.

It settles in our childrens’ lungs

And you don’t seem to care.

This time we stand together

The community will unite.

You have dug a hole between us

But now we’re ready for the fight!!!

OBJECTION

WE NEED EVERYONES SUPPORT, PLEASE WRITE IN EVEN IF YOU ARE NOT IN THE IMMEDIATE VICINITY, PARTICULARLY IF YOU USE THE FOOTPATHS AND LANES FOR COUNTRYSIDE APPRECIATION AND RECREATION.

VIEW WHY WE ARE OBJECTING BY LOOKING ON GOOGLE EARTH. TYPE IN POSTCODE CF336AJ TO SEE THE VAST OVERDOMINENCE AND ENCROACHMENT OF THE PRESENT SITE WHICH WILL GET MASSIVELY BIGGER IF THE PLANS GO AHEAD.

HERE WE GO AGAIN!!

New Application To Extend
THE FIGHT CONTINUES!
THE BATTLE IS NOT OVER.
----------------------------------------------------
CELTIC ENERGY HAVE APPLIED AGAIN FOR THE EXTENSION THAT WAS WITHDRAWN.
THEY HAVE JUST ALTERED ONE OR TWO THINGS.
IF THEY HAVE THIS EXTENSION, IT WILL MEAN A FURTHER 8 YEARS AT LEAST OF WORKINGS PLUS YEARS OF RESTORATION AFTERWARDS.
YOU MUST OBJECT BY WRITING IN TO BOTH COUNCILS AGAIN.PREVIOUS LETTERS WILL NOT BE VALID AS THIS IS A NEW APPLICATION, BUT ALL ISSUES REMAIN.
ALTHOUGH THE WOOD AND RIVER MAY NOT BE DESTROYED, THEY WILL BE ENCROACHED UPON AND IMPACTED UPON.
THERE IS NO GUARANTEE THAT 350 METRES WILL STOP THIS EXTENSION, BUT PEOPLE POWER CAN STOP IT!
DO NOT SIT BACK AND LET THIS HAPPEN TO OUR BEAUTIFUL COUNTRYSIDE.
WRITE TODAY!!!!Write to :-


Mr Neville Morgan /Mr Geoff White
Planning Services
Neath/Port Talbot County Borough Council
Civic Centre,
Neath,
SA113QZ
Planning Application Number
Neath/Port Talbot 2007/0663

Mr. Tony Gore /Mr Martin Hooker,
Planning Department,
Bridgend County Borough Council,
Angel Street,
Bridgend,
CF31 4WB
Planning Application Number
Bridgend Reference P/07/569/MIN/AG:

Mockery of Democracy

Time extension/Parc Slip/Margam Opencast Site

We were present during last week’s planning meeting in Bridgend ( 25/01/07) when the Year Time extension at Parc Slip/Margam Opencast Site was discussed.We felt heartened on hearing the public and Community Councillors speak against the proposal in such a forthright manner. Following this, during the debate by the planning committee, it was obvious that that every member who spoke, from every area of Bridgend, was strongly against the time extension . In fact, it seemed to us, that the only people who actually agreed to the time extension were the mine manager and the Planning Officer, who had recommended acceptance of this proposal. We were therefore surprised and disappointed that the public and the press were then requested to leave the committee room whilst a closed session took place. All sound was turned off, but we could view the proceedings in the adjoining room.We do not know what was said by the planning officer, but when the sound returned, every member seemed to have been silenced. There also did not seem to have been a vote. On the 30th January, Neath Port Talbot also allowed the year time extension.Once again, the communities who have to live with this horrific opencast , are being subjected to yet another year of cumulative, negative impacts and loss of amenity. It is imposed on the communities in spite of numerous objections, but it appears that it is also forced upon them in an undemocratic manner.As if this were not enough, Celtic Energy have recently declared that that they plan to resubmit their previously withdrawn longer term application for an extension, sometime in the spring.Their demands are never ending.We, the surrounding communities, are determined to say goodbye to these unwanted neighbours once and for all.

ONE SMALL VICTORY

PLANNING APPLICATIONSRECOMMENDED FOR REFUSAL BY NEATH/PORT TALBOT

'PROPOSED EXTENSION TO EXISTING OPENCAST COAL SITE FOLLOWED BY RESTORATION AND AFTERCARE MANAGEMENT'
MARGAM OCCS, FFORDD Y GYFRAITH, CEFN CRIBWR, BRIDGEND CF32 OBS

CELTIC ENERGY LTD

REASONS;(1)The development would create an intrusion into the landscape which would result in significant harm to the visual amenity and rural character of the area and to visual amenity and would also cause an unacceptable level of impact on the outlook of local residents and therefore is contrary to Policy DC3 of the Draft Minerals Local Plan for West Glamorgan, C1 of the West Glamorgan Structure Plan Review No. 2, E9 of the Draft Port Talbot Local Plan.

(2)The development would result in unacceptable damage to and loss of flora and fauna, habitats and biodiversity and is therefore contrary to Policy EQ5 and EQ6 of the West Glamorgan Structure Plan Review No. 2, DC6 of the West Glamorgan Minerals Local Plan, E9 o the Port Talbot Local Plan, Policy E6 of the Cwmafan, Bryn and Goytre Valley and Rural Margam Local Plan.(3)The proposals would perpetuate opencast activities within the locality and on the existing site for a further minimum period of 7 years, which, added to the previous workings of the Parc Slip, Parc Slip West and Margam Mine (Opencast) developments will result in an unreasonable level of disruption in terms of visual impact, noise, dust, thereby causing unacceptable detrimental cumulative impact on local residents and the surrounding area and is contrary to Policy M3 of the West Glamorgan Structure Plan Review (No. 2) and Policy DC25 of the Deposit Draft Minerals Local Plan for West Glamorgan.

CELTIC ENERGY HAVE SINCE WITHDRAWN THEIR APPLICATION!!!!!!!!

One small victory, but beware of celebrating too soon. The company have said that they will submit another application in the spring for the westward side, avoiding the woodland and river.
Do they intend to destroy the lovely village of Pen Y Bryn????
We must continue our fight. The only acceptable plan from Celtic E nergy would be for them to restore our valley, then get out and stay out!!!
It is worrying that health has not been mentioned in the reasons for refusal. This is the most important reason of all.
The Newcastle Study is fraudelent and outdated and yet has ben used as a bible by councils and opencast companies for every planning application to say that there is little effect on health.

SPEAK TO PEOPLE LIVING CLOSE TO THE SITE.
LOOK AT DOCTORS RECORDS.
READ THE HEALTH IMPACT ASSESSMENT ON THE SITE.

ENVIRONMENT Minister Carwyn Jones haswelcomed the withdrawal of a plan for the opencast mine .Reacting to the news that Celtic Energy has withdrawn proposals for the opencast mine Mr Jones said, "The opencast would have had a hugely detrimental impact on people in the Pyle and Margam areas."I have been working closely with local residents and campaign groups to ensure that their quality of life was not adversely affected by the proposal."

Woodland Trust Speaks Out Again Against Opencast Extension

Further to the letter 11 February last year, I am writing to confirm the objection of the Woodland Trust (Coed Cadw) to this application.The Woodland Trust has studied both the initial plans submitted by the developers, and also the additional ecological survey and information submitted earlier this year.The developers freely admit that this application would lead to the destruction of 4.5 hectares (over 11 acres) of Coed Hafod Heulog, a ancient semi-natural woodland which stands on both banks of the River Kenfig. The wood appears on the Countryside Council for Wales’ inventory of ancient woodland, referred to paragraph 5.5.15 of Planning Policy Wales.The same document states clearly, in paragraph 5.2.8:“Ancient and semi-natural woodlands are irreplaceable habitats of high biodiversity value which should be protected from development that would result in significant damage.”To be more specific, ancient semi-natural woodland are home to more rare and threatened species, 232 to be more precise, than any other UK habitat. The ancient woodland inventory defines ancient woodland as land that has been wooded since 1600. But as plantations were rarely created before this date, ancient woodlands sites are likely to have been wooded since shortly after the last ice age, some 9,000 years ago.In short, ancient woodlands are places of inordinate beauty and variety of wildlife. They are irreplaceable, and we simply cannot afford to lose them.It was for these reasons, among others, that the Welsh Assembly introduced firm protection for the small areas of remaining ancient woodland in 2002. If the proposed development was allowed to go ahead, in spite of clear Assembly policy, more ancient woodland would be destroyed as a than has been as the result of any other planning application since.The Woodland Trust has had the chance to inspect both the information submitted by the developer both with the initial application, and also the additional ecological surveys and information submitted earlier this year.All this information confirms that Coed Hafod Heulog is ancient woodland of high ecological value. It contains a rich variety of flowering plants that are typically indicators of ancient woodland, including bluebells, wood sorrel and dog’s mercury, and is also an important habitat for pipistrelle, natterers and long eared bats.New plantingThe Environmental Impact Assessment seeks to justify is destruction of this woodland on the basis that this would increase the quantity of coal that could be extracted, from 1.5 million tonnes to 2.4 million, and that the company could carry out “additional planting along the diverted watercourse, so that the overall loss of woodland would be minimal”. Planning Policy Wales (2), however, makes is clear that, because of its age, ancient woodland is irreplaceable. Newly planted woodland can be no substitute for an ancient wood which has developed and matured over thousands of years, and which has the richness of wildlife to prove it.WayleavesThe additional ecological survey highlights the fact that Coed Hafod Heulog is crossed by two wayleaves, and that the dominant vegetation in these particular areas is scrub. It is worth stressing that scrub is actually a very valuable habitat in biodiversity terms, particularly so when it is surrounded by ancient semi-natural woodland, and especially when it is in origin ancient woodland. This is because the part of ancient woodland that lies under the surface, the soils with their seed bank, fungi and invertebrates, is just as important as what stands above ground level. One can imagine that the developer has been tempted to make the proposed extension as large as possible, sacrificing the ancient woodland of Coed Hafod Heulog. But the role of the Planning Authorities is to implement planning policies, without fear or favour, and so to protect the environment for the sake of the local community. This implies refusing the application as it now stands. Indeed, the Woodland Trust is alarmed that this application has even been submitted, bearing in mind the Assembly’s policy on ancient woodland.Ancient woods are our richest, most important sites for a vast range of insects, birds, animals, flowers and trees and are home to more threatened species than any other UK habitat. Ancient woodlands are one of the glories of our natural heritage; they are places of inordinate beauty, reservoirs of evidence for environmental change, archaeology and economic history. We simply cannot afford to lose them, and new planting can in no way compensate for their loss.The Woodland Trust therefore urges the Council defend the local environment and quality of life, and refuse this planning application.

Yours sincerely
Rory Francis
Public Affairs Officer

End Inequality

People living near opencast sites are not being treated the same as those living elsewhere.Their health problems and opinions are overlooked in favour of allowing the operations of private, ruthless opencast companies to continue.Physiotherapists want to see health inequalities become a feature of the past."To ensure that length of life is more equitable across the UK, the CSP is calling on everyone involved in the delivery of healthcare to place more emphasis on ill-health prevention strategies and put the removal of inequality at the top of the health agenda."

Chartered Society of Physiotherapy (CSP).Source: Life expectancy at birth 2002 - 2004, Office for National Statistics, Mortality Statistics Team. Employment rates taken from Annual Population Survey for GB April 2004 - March 2005

The Message

An article in a local paper just the other day
Informed us of sweeteners Celtic Energy have given away.

“Paltry presents on the local community we will shower
Now give us the countryside to rip open and devour.
We’ll line the Pen-Y-Bryn lanes with pretty golden daffodils
Then block your views with vast mounds and huge spoil hills.
We made the village by-pass wide and straight to last
The people can now watch and dodge the traffic speeding past.
Being our neighbours should be your greatest pleasure
It’s overrated, the use of open country for your leisure.

Floral hanging baskets for Cefn look ever so good
Watch us tear the heart out of the 16th century wood.
Both here and there another token gift---
But from your valley we will not shift.
Aren’t we nice! Our donations get bigger,
Set us loose on the fields with our monster digger.
These handouts we give are for you to share,
What’s all the fuss about needing nice, clean air!!
The fields don’t need to hold any sheep
It’s far easier for you with great, black holes to keep.

We are the good guys, your neighbours so dear
It’s ‘All Within Limits ‘ those noises you hear!
Of course we are full of kindness and generosity.
You don’t need the wildlife or biodiversity.
We would like you all to know about the gifts we bestow
In return don’t expect anymore green grass to grow.
Quality of life, a pleasant environment -are not all their cracked up to be
You’re far better off without them, believe you me.
The cross valley pathways are no longer there
We removed them because we really do care.
So get in your cars if it’s a walk you desire,
Local routes and footpaths would only make you tire.

Don’t worry, the ugly views you need not ever see,
Draw the curtains, get comfy and watch something on T.V.
So that is settled. We are caring , environmental and socially just.
Now let us opencast once more and create even more dust!!!”

No Daffodils, Thank You, Celtic Energy!!!

I WANDER'D coughing through the cloud

That floats around our vale and hills,

When all at once I heard a sound ,

The roar of engines, that birdsong kills;

Beside the wood,

I start to wheeze,

As dust comes flying on the breeze.

So many dump trucks, line on line

Spew out their diesel on the way.

They stir up dust clouds,---Oh! So fine,

We have to suffer, day after day.

Twenty trucks I counted at one glance

Clanking away in their deadly dance.

The woodland trees stand tall and green;

They’d tear the proud trees down with glee!

As tears fall down, now who will pay

From such a ruthless company?

I gazed again and grimly thought

Of farmland they’ve already bought.

When often on my bed I cry

In breathless or asthmatic mood,

They interrupt my peaceful lie

With Screeches, Roars and Bangs!---so rude!

Then does my heart with sorrow fill

To think of the ruin of Kenfig Hill!

---With Apologies to William Wordsworth !!!

Limericks

A truck driver whose name was Keith
Worked in Parc Slip but lived down in Neath.
He talked like a yokel
And said he was local
But it’s 30 miles distance at least!!!

The buffers that squirt out the water
Help neither your son or your daughter.
The bosses don’t care
What floats in air,
And its really not right,
‘cause they aughta!

There was a nice gent called Phil
Who said, “You’re really not ill,
The sickness you’ve got
Is not from that lot,
And the dangers from coal dust are nil”

Buffer Zone Farce!!!

No Buffer Zone Will Give ProtectionWelsh Office studies at Gwaun Cae Gurwen discovered 33% of children in three schools had developed asthma at one mile, based on peak flow readings. West Glamorgan studies found coal particles plus diesel particles at 21cm in the PM10 filters upwind of the opencast, over the top of a large mountain. Peakflows and asthma inhaler use worsened as particulate levels rose in direct proportion, and this happened irrespective of home conditions and social factors.An investigation at three local schools near Gwaun-cae-gurwen affected by open cast coal mining, by the Welsh Office in 1993, revealed 12 percent of primary school pupils to have been taking inhalers to school for asthma, a further eight percent who had asthma symptoms undiagnosed. But when all the pupils were tested with peak low meters before and after exercise the actual numbers diagnosed asthmatic amounted to 33 percent with most living one mile from the centre of the open cast. At Glynneath Dr Temple noted a cumulative rise in weekly new episodes of asthma in his practice following commencement of a new open cast mine, the rise being from 4.4 to 7.9 episodes

Health Impact Assessment---Proposed Extension of Parc Slip/ Margam

The Health Impact Assessment carried out by Cardiff University ,on the proposed extension of opencast at Parc Slip/Margam, is now completed and available at this internet site:-www.whiasu.wales.nhs.uk
.
It is a very powerful document and its conclusion says it all:-
‘This HIA has shown that the likely negative impacts on health and wellbeing of an extension to the Margam Opencast site are far in excess of positive health impacts. In coming to a decision on the future of opencast mining in this area, the HIA Steering Group recommends that the following principles should prevail:
1. Individual health and wellbeing should be the prime consideration and, where there is doubt, the precautionary principle should be applied.
2. The economics of coal extraction should not override the basic human rights of the local population.
3. Sustainable development and a move away from reliance on fossil fuels should be an underlying aim.’
Also:-
The loss of amenity, visual impact, nuisance dust, noise and pollution are strong arguments against further open casting close to this community.
and:-
On balance, there is sufficient uncertainty regarding the negative health impacts to apply the ‘precautionary principle’, which would not allow opencast mining to proceed in such close proximity to residential areas.

Talk Tidy!!!!!!!

Gobbledygook
===========

Geologic spatial void =========is a hole
Enhanced geologic spatial void ==========is a big hole
Non-attenuated acoustic energy=========== is noise
Non ground based particulate matter======== is dust
Unidentified ground based particulate matter========= is not their dust
Unresolved water table sandstone based sump========= is a swamp
Vehicular transportation =========is a truck
Vehicular transport restricted to site =========is a big truck
Water course is a =========(contaminated?)waste water stream
Natural water course========= is a stream

???????

Health Impact Assessment---Proposed Extension of Parc Slip/ Margam

Health Impact Assessment now complete and on line at www.whiasu.wales.nhs.uk.Visit this site and read what people really think!

THE WOODS AFTER THE SNOW.

White Hole !!!

Even a black hole can look better in the snow!!!

No Noise Today!!

The Economic Argument

"An economic case for the development has not been made---quite the reverse, The local multiplier effects claimed by the developers rests on a very weak case and would easily be swamped by the social costs arising out of health and environment externalities.It is clear that matched against sustainable development criteria, the development would fail at properly constructed cost benefit analysis"

Dr. Charles Smith (Bridgend resident)Economist,Swansea Institute Buisiness School,University of Wales.

Newsletter October

BULLYING

‘Anti Social behaviour causes untold misery, corrodes communal life, undermines public services and forces people to live in fear in their own homes.’---Chris Pond, the Work and Pensions Minister

Celtic Energy have continually dismissed complaints and objections from their neighbours in Kenfig Hill and district. They have broken their promise of no more opencast’ in the locality. There is no adequate law to protect the community from this contemptuous disregard. Unfortunately, current legislation protects and endorses continued coal quarrying operations by its inadequate lack of stringency. Nothing is protecting the residents from suffering from the actual on-going impacts. In real terms. This industry breach moral and anti-social codes of behaviour. They are viewed as unacceptable neighbours by the people who constantly endure the consequences.The physical encroachment of the workings is increasingly intrusive and more than just a nuisance. The locality is becoming over dominated by the industry. The semi-rural and rural identity of the area, its role and status are being diminished.It is widely accepted that opencast coal mining is the most destructive and invasive methods of coal extraction. The coal from open casting should never be linked with any recent ’Clean Coal’ publicity as its extraction is far from a clean coal technology.The opencast in this area is a private operation that provides minimum jobs and is not a community asset. The community experience pollution, such as dust, noise, glaring lights, blasting and vibration, diesel fumes and obscene, depressing visual degradation. The amenity, footpaths, countryside features and habitats are being wrecked, as is the flora and fauna. This is a form of cruelty to wildlife!The many people who are living with this on their doorsteps are witnessing environmental vandalism. They are also being subjected to a form of persecution, stress, harassment and bullying, which will worsen with the advancement of the site. Now they are being threatened and made anxious by the prospect of even more open cast extensions and a further loss of amenity. The people of Kenfig Hill, Cefn Cribbwr, Pen Y Bryn, Pyle and Margam deserve and need protection. The termination of this exploitation is already overdue. It is the community who are paying the price of devalued properties and a decline in their health and quality of life. The token gifts and community handouts by the company are patronising to the many people who are in opposition to their local countryside’s destruction. The residents and environment should be set free from this on-going injustice imposed on them by these unwanted neighbours.The opencast extension must not be allowed under any circumstances. Celtic Energy’s unfulfilled promises of sinking a deep mine and stopping all opencast operations were deceitful. This resulted in the present phase being granted under a climate of false intentions and declarations and this must be remembered when the decision is made.‘A book may be compared to your neighbour: if it is good , it cannot last too long; if bad, you cannot get rid of it too early!’----Rupert Brooke

Sunday, October 30, 2005

Parc Slip mine, Friday, 26th August 1892.

At approximately 8.20am a huge explosion occurred, the ground shaking for 4 miles around. 112 men and boys died . The Parc Slip memorial consists of 112 stones - one for every death.I wrote this poem after reading that the long awaited fountain, promised over a decade ago, has finally been switched on. This was funded by Celtic Energy, a private opencast company. It will wash over the stones to represent tears for the dead.

The Disaster

Tears wash down the stone face

Rain upon cold grey,

A reminder of the tragedy

That struck that fateful day.

Standing in the circle,

With tears in their eyes,

Are bosses of a company

That tells a thousand lies.

Stone on stone piled upwards,

Each for one life lost.

Dust filled air, a huge explosion!

Today, who counts the cost?

The price of coal is high

Worth far more than men.

Are we now to see a tragedy

Unfolding once again?

Pollution!--unseen killer,

Poisons all our lives.

Who then will build a pyramid

That reaches to the skies?

Gaynor Ball

Neath Port Talbot Council and 'Quality of Life'

From :
VALLEY VISION FOR NEXT 10 YEARS UNVEILED. . . in South Wales Evening Post4th. September 2005

Quote from council leader Derek Vaughan

"Neath Port Talbot chiefs say they want to improve the quality of life for every man, woman and child living there."

Deja Vue I

Sunday, September 04, 2005


Deja Vue -- Oh no! Not again!

We have read with some scepticism in the newspapers about Corus and Abbey mine Ltd. competing for a licence to develop a mine in Margam ( August 25th).We can only hope their intentions are strictly for a deep mine proposal. This news sounds oh so familiar to us. Why is it that when we are in the throes of a controversial opencast extension proposal, the Margam deep pit project raised its profile once again?When Celtic Energy applied for the last extension to the opencast site at Park Slip/ Margam, they applied for it in order to sink a deep /drift mine. The present phase was promised to be the last phase. All workings were supposed to cease in 2004. The public believed them and, with the promise of many hundreds of jobs, there was little opposition. This was the main reason that planning permission was granted. As soon as the company had permission, it later became apparent that they had no intention of going ahead with the deep/drift mine, and so the opencast continued, providing few jobs in the closest communities to the site. They betrayed us. Are we experiencing the same scenario again? We are not so naïve and gullible this time. We do not want this obscenity on our doorstep any more!Although this area is steeped in mining history, quarrying by private opencast companies was never part of that history. The industry have betrayed, disregarded and shown contempt of the local communities by even applying for this extension.In theory, we at PACT would not oppose a deep or drift mine, providing it was in the right location E.g. on the Corus side of the A48, welcoming the employment and revenue it would bring to Wales as a whole. However, we do oppose any opencast, in whatever location, as :-“Opencast mining is one of the most environmentally destructive processes being carried out in the U.K. The sites are among the most ugly examples of the ravages of industrial exploitation”House of Commons Energy Select Committee(1987 Para. 4)We are concerned that before a decision is made on Celtic Energy’s proposed controversial extension, applications have been made on the Western side of the site for a mining licence also. The only mining we support in our locality is out of the green wedge valley and nearer the steel works itself. This would eliminate the devastation to the valley, amenities, local businesses, leisure and tourism and also eliminate transport problems, whilst helping Corneli’s problems with lorries coming through their village as they do now, as the primary use of the railway line and it’s low bridge is for transportation of coal from the opencast site.We should not be lulled into a false sense of hopefulness at this licence application, as it is still early days, and we cannot be sure that it is good news for us until we see the final planning application proposals. But it goes without saying that in the right location a deep mine would be acceptable and would eliminate, once and for all, fears of any future opencast developers trying to get at the Margam coal reserves.

Deja Vue II - Dukes of Kenfig

Tuesday, September 06, 2005


From synopsis of the new film 'Dukes of Hazzard'. . . . Bo and Luke then get suspicious. They feel something isn’t right about the land grabs Boss Hogg has made. In their search for answers, they find that he has plans to strip mine Hazzard for coal. The only thing that can stop him is if people show up and voice their opposition at the council meeting that conveniently went unannounced . . . .

Carwyn James Statement - 23 March 05

Monday, September 19, 2005


NO FURTHER DRIFT TOWARDS OPENCAST
The Park Slip opencast mine has dominated the western end of the Bridgend constituency for nearly fifty years. Opencast has also been a feature of life in many other communities on the edge of the coalfield.There is no doubt that coal extraction is still needed in Wales, even as we move towards renewable and cleaner forms of energy. Indeed opencasting sustains many jobs, not just in the mines themselves, but in transport and distribution as well as fuelling Aberthaw Power Station, which relies on Welsh coal for its existence.The question I’d like to deal with though is whether there is a need to continue opencasting at Park Slip. The latest application for planning permission to opencast was some six years ago. Part of that application included permission for a new drift mine towards Margam, which would tap the seam underneath the area. It was suggested that this would be the last phase of opencast at the site before drift mining took over.Now we have another application for further opencasting with no end in sight. I don’t believe that this application is justified, and I cannot support it for many reasons.Firstly, the need for jobs is not as strong in Kenfig Hill and the surrounding area as it is in many other parts of Wales. The area has good transport links and has been successful in bringing in investment.Secondly the loss of amenity for local residents. The application involves churning up farmland for the opencast. Nobody is suggesting that this is some kind of land reclamation scheme or that the land will be improved when opencasting finishes. Some people have suggested the imposition of a buffer zone, and there is nothing to stop a local authority imposing a buffer zone, of any distance (not just 500m) as long as it can justify its position. It would be a mistake to concentrate on the buffer zone argument because that would suggest that it would be ok to have the opencast as long as there was a buffer zone. I don’t think that we should have the opencast at all given that there is an alternative.There are also questions about the loss of farmland and of ancient wood land which need to be resolved, as well as decisions over the protection of wildlife and habitats, all of which have to be taken into account.There is a simple answer to all this though, one that would protect residents from the effects of opencast as well as provide the coal that the company says is needed.They already have planning permission for a drift mine. They can sink that and get the coal that they need and provide jobs without upsetting local people. That’s the alternative, and that’s what the company should be pursuing.

23 March 05

Barn Owls

Barn Owls

Along the lane,

not long ago,

There was a sign that read:-

“Beware Low Flying Owls!”

The sign is gone;

The lane is gone;

The owls are gone;

But a gaping, black hole is there

For all to see.

Now there is a sign

That reads-in yellow and black print,

“DANGER-Deep Excavation!”

The trees are gone;

The flowers are gone;

The grass is gone;

But coal is needed

And matters more than life.

Will there be a sign tomorrow

That will read after restoration

“What have we done!!”

For trees are stunted;

Soil is poor;

Species are few;

And the ghost of an owl

Hoots sadly far away!

Ancient woodland

Hafod Heulog Woodland'Ancient woodland can never be replaced and yet it faces so many threats. Securing no further loss of ancient woodland is a vast and urgent task that we take very seriously.By planting new native woodland where it counts, we want to fulfil our vision of a stunning woodland landscape, teeming with wildlife. In doing so, we can create a better future for generations to come.''

The Woodland Trust' magazine.-- Back to the future article---July 2005

Mr.Hare

Their wheels are approaching.

I’m trembling in my bed.

Ive just come back from foraging.

My kiddies have been fed.

Oh God, I hear the diggers!!

I hope that doesn’t mean

That we have been abandoned

Because they don’t think green!

They dig the earth around us;

My heart is in my mouth.

Do I move my family north

West, east or south?

My world has been shattered.

Kids gone---I don’t know where,

And all because of opencast

And I don’t think that’s fair!!

Buffer Zones - Scotland

New guidance on opencast coal
13/07/2005

New planning policies which set out how communities and the environment should be protected from the impacts of opencast coal mining are published today.Scottish Planning Policy 16: Opencast Coal (SPP16) states that applications for new sites should only be approved if they are environmentally acceptable or provide local benefits, such as jobs or land improvements.The guidance also confirms that proposals are likely to be unacceptable where:* the proposed site boundary is within 500 metres from the edge of a community* they are likely to result in a period of disturbance to communities that, including extensions, involves extraction for a period of more than 10 years* they are in an area already subject to other nearby developments that also have environmental impacts, e.g. other mineral extraction operations, landfill sites etc, and the simultaneous or sequential working will result in a cumulative and unacceptable impact on a local community* they affect adversely any natural or built heritage designation or site

Western Mail - Government Hypocrisy

Aug 1 2005
Martin Shipton, Western Mail

A CONTROVERSIAL opencast mine proposal that faces a legal challenge was backed by a UK Government Minister who had opposed a similar scheme on his own patch.Documents released to Plaid Cymru under the Freedom of Information Act show that former Energy Minister Mike O'Brien wrote a letter to First Minister Rhodri Morgan in support of a 998-acre opencast mine at Ffos-y-fran, near Merthyr Tydfil.Yet when an opencast mine was proposed in his own North Warwickshire constituency, Mr O'Brien objected vehemently.The Ffos-y-fran scheme was approved by a National Assembly committee in February, despite objections that it will be just 37m from the nearest homes.Local resident Elizabeth Condron has since been granted legal aid to challenge the decision in the High Court.In a letter written to the First Minister last December, Mr O'Brien, who is now the Solicitor General, said, "I am sure you are fully aware of the potential importance of this site to security of energy supplies in South Wales", claiming that the viability of Aberthaw power station could be at risk if the scheme did not go ahead.Mr O'Brien added that he was "pleased" that another opencast mine project was going ahead in Neath Port Talbot.In response, the Assembly's Environment Minister Carwyn Jones wrote, "I can assure you that the points you make will be considered by the committee when it meets".Plaid Cymru has unearthed public statements made by Mr O'Brien in the early 1990s, when an application was made to develop an opencast mine in the area he represents.In January 1994, Mr O'Brien said in the House of Commons, "May I remind the Minister that 20,000 homes in my constituency are still threatened by the prospect of opencast? Many of the people who live there are former miners and face not only the loss of their jobs but the potential destruction of their environment."Is not it time that he gave local people a veto and a right to say no to opencast despoiling their environment?"Plaid Cymru AM Jocelyn Davies said, "It is obvious that Mike O'Brien wanted to see opencast mining in South Wales and used his position to make his opinion felt to Cabinet Ministers at the Assembly. Mike O'Brien campaigned against opencast mining in his own constituency in North Warwickshire, but doesn't mind South Wales being exploited."It is staggering that a UK Minister can have such a 'not in my back yard' approach to difficult decisions within his own portfolio. What is the difference between people in Merthyr and those in North Warwickshire?"Despite a manifesto pledge by Labour in Wales to introduce a buffer zone policy, we have not seen any commitment from the Labour Assembly Government to do so."It seems that Labour in Wales are perfectly happy to be dictated to by the Labour Government in Westminster, even if it means letting the people of Wales down."An Assembly Government spokesman said, "A letter from Mike O'Brien MP on the subject of Ffos-y-fran, Merthyr Tydfil has been released under Freedom of Information Act."The response to this letter was given by the Environment, Planning and Countryside Minister, Carwyn Jones."There is a current legal process associated with this issue and it would be inappropriate for the Welsh Assembly Government to comment any further."A spokesperson for the Department of Trade and Industry said energy policy is not entirely devolved and the Minister was writing about areas that were his responsibility.

Today - Tomorrow?

Contacts

1. Neath Port Talbot
Geoff White or Neville Morgan or Cliff Pattern
Neath Port Talbot CBC,
The Civic Centre,
Neath,
SA11 3QZ
Tel: 01639 764 353

2. Bridgend
Tony Gore or Martin Hooker
Bridgend CBC,
Civic Offices.
Angel Street,
Bridgend.
Tel: 01656 643 154

Satellite Image

Tuesday, August 09, 2005

Satellite Image - Click Here
The image shows Cefn, Kenfig Hill, Pyle and Margam Village and the scale of current opencasting. Note that it will take some time to load on a slow modem connection.

Wednesday, July 20, 2005

Many residents on both sides of the borders of Bridgend and Neath/Port Talbot are concerned with the health impacts that further extension of the opencast will have.We are at the moment experiencing the hottest weather of the year. The water measures at the opencast site are totally inadequate to prevent dust .Opencast coal dust is not ordinary nuisance dust, but dust that is assigned specific maximum exposure limits due to the nature of its toxicity. There can be any combination of a number of chemicals at any given time where the actual toxicology is determined by topography, dispersal and dilution and climatic conditions. A single tyre on one large item of heavy plant generates 8 pounds of dust travelling at 10mph. Thus 6 tyres on one articulated dump truck has the potential to raise 48 pounds of dust, rising to 300 pounds of dust at 20mph. The potential with a whole fleet of heavy plant is quite unimaginable. Heavy plant labours in low gear under heavy load stress thus emitting substantial amounts of unburned hydrocarbons. These unburned hydrocarbons originate from "off road" diesel that usually contains a higher sulphur and nickel content than on road diesel.There is a wealth of evidence that can directly link dust particles and diesel emissions to cancers, asthma and heart disease, as well as other illnesses.Air pollution can worsen the condition of those with heart or lung disease.Air pollution can aggravate and sometimes cause asthma.In the longer term, air pollution probably has additional effects on individuals, including some reduction in average life expectancy.As for air pollution generally, the evidence that particulates cause people to suffer adverse health effects is similarly incontrovertible. Mortality due to particulates is a major health issue, but not currently fully understood.A recent report from Brussels proves, without a shadow of doubt, that particles, particularly PM2.5’s CAUSE cancer.The EU is beginning to recognise these concerns (over particulates and health issues ) and in the future it is likely that we will see stricter and stricter regulations governing emissions. The fate of the Sint-Niklaas incinerator in Belgium has had a huge impact - although this plant met EU safety requirements, it had to be closed down in 2002 after it was associated with a 480% increase in cancer and a shortening of life-span averaging 12 years.’www.carolinelucasmep.org.ukThe evidence from America and Europe is absolutely unanimous and unambiguous: the particulate matter and pollutants generated by opencast coal mining operations have severe adverse health impacts on any population within a short distance from the site.The proposed site at ‘Margam/Parc Slip’ is so close to large concentrations of habitation, including many sensitive sites such as local infant, primary and comprehensive schools, that there is no doubt at all that the adverse health considerations will certainly apply in this case.There is no apparent threshold for the health effects due to exposure to PM. Therefore no safe level may be defined for which there are no effects.On a final note, the Human Rights Act 1998 now places the impact of the effects of a planning decision into consideration. Third party objections to a planning application must now be taken into account by Planning Authorities, because of the right of the individual to the enjoyment of their property, and to the human rights consequences of not acting against severe environmental damage.It is our belief that an approval of this application would be open to challenge under the Human Rights Act 1998 “ Right to Life.”

For more information contact G.M.Ball (Secretary of PACT (01656 742405) )

Opencasting of Coal and it's Effect on Health

Opencasting of Coal and it's Effect on Health

by Dr D Van Steenis

My work has been peer reviewed by authorities in the UK and USA and describes the health damage and cumulative effects caused by opencast mining.For over four and a half years I have been researching industrial air pollution (including opencasting) and its consequential health damage of illness and premature deaths. Published and recent (to be published) research confirms that opencasting of coal, especially if toxic waste is present due to known or unknown tipping, CAUSES new cases of asthma to develop in children and adults as well as exacerbating those who already have it. There will also result an increased incidence of heart deaths, depression, generalised premature deaths, plus other conditions from any toxic waste contaminating the site which would include cancers, hormones disorders, birth defects, skin rashes, eye inflammation, nausea etc., all due to individual pollutants such as organic compounds, heavy metals, dioxins (rife in North East Derbyshire), even radio active matter.Studies in NE Derbyshire (1994-1998) comprising school medical records, school asthma inhaler use, microscopy of dust outside and within buildings, and PM 2.5 monitor readings with filter analysis, all confirm a rise in asthma to affect 33% of primary school children living within one mile, a cumulative rise to 21% at two miles and even 12% or so, at three miles. Welsh Office studies at Gwaun Cae Gurwen also discovered 33% of children in three schools to have developed asthma at one mile, based on peak flow readings. West Glamorgan studies found coal particles plus diesel particles at 2km in the PM10 filters upwind of the opencast, over the top of a large mountain. Peakflows and asthma inhaler use worsened as particulate levels rose in direct proportion, and this happened irrespective of home conditions and social factors. A Lanarkshire study (1998) proved that hospital admissions for asthma rose with opencasting of coal, again within three miles or so, with cumulative rises year after year, falling when opencasting ceased.A Liverpool University study even showed a rise in asthma in schools within 2km of moving coal at the docks, irrespective of smoking habits and unemployment. Hospital admissions for asthma in the Tinsley area since opencasting began at Orgreave, have risen to 11 per 1000 population as against 3 per 1000 at Sheffield City Centre and 1 per 1000 in Worcestershire. All three areas have motorways. G.P.’s in the area of SE Sheffield, namely Handsworth area etc., have noted a large rise in asthma incidence in their area since Orgreave opencasting began. They are clear of the M1. The rise at Tinsley is not confined only to asthma, also diabetes, probably due to dioxins. In London 0.5 miles away from the millennium dome site, the asthma incidence has risen from 11.9% of school children in early 1996 to some 50% in November 1998, with the only change being the opencasting of that waste site at Greenwich, which contained nickel etc.Findings of microscopy and particle analysis, presented at the Royal Microscopical Society in London in July 1998, revealed that the asthma caused by opencasting is due to three factors:a) Cut quartz particles of which 36% were found to be less than PM0.3, which are second to asbestos in terms of serious effects on the lungs. The body has to wall off these particles, causing fibrosis, which was called silicosis in underground miners, but which equally applies above ground.b) Coal particles around PM1 in size that cause an inflammation in the lungs lasting about seven days after each dose. Repeated doses also lead to fibrosis, called pneumoconiosis in miners. That is why it only needs a weekly dose of ultrafine coal dust from the workings to keep asthma active in the population living within three miles. That is just one day a week, with the weather and wind, determining who breathes the dust.c) Fuel emission particles of acidic carbon with heavy metal contaminants of the fuel, especially nickel sulphate, cause a lung inflammation lasting seven days (maximum effects arising on the fourth day) plus heart problems and even deaths from upsetting the heart’s electrical system, plus cancers years later, of lung, colon, etc. Two organic compounds emitted in the exhaust fumes are also carcinogenic. The particles leaving the engine are as small as PM0.02, and then group together to PM0.2, and some of these further group to PM2 size, all absorbed in the depths of the lung. Even healthy human volunteers revealed significant increases in white cells, histamine etc, in the lungs at 6 hours after inhaling diesel exhaust, with increased white cells and platelets in the peripheral blood. The fuel used by such heavy equipment in the UK is often industrial diesel which contains toxic waste oils and solvents. The solvents can cause brain damage and the heavy metals cause cancers. Contaminants are also carcinogenic. A single earth moving machine could release as many as 145 million billion ultra fine particles per minute, equivalent to some 900,000 Volvo V70 petrol cars.Young babies die of the inflammation set up by raised PM2.5 levels. An American study involving x-rays annually for twenty years, showed 55% of opencast workers had developed lung damage, proven by x-ray by year twenty. The UK government in 1999 will be paying compensation to above ground miners for this same lung damage caused by coal dust inhalation.Local government departments who ignore this evidence could be sued by victims developing asthma who are within a three mile radius of an opencast site. Villages in NE Derbyshire such as Killamarsh, Clowne, Grassmoor, etc are currently implicated.At a public inquiry in early 1997, concerning Shortwood Farm, Nottingham my evidence was tampered with and rewritten with different conclusions in the inspectors' report from the document agreed and accepted when I gave evidence. Furthermore RJB Mining had illegally been allowed to insert in their submission in the inspectors' report an allegation about my map being concentric, which had not been brought up when I was cross examined and hence was added after the inquiry, as admitted by their barrister at the Hoodcroft public inquiry. In fact in the Dolk Report in the Lancet 1998, the graph revealed a concentric critical distance of 3 mile radius around waste sites for a rise in birth defects. The inspector recommended approval of the opencast and public footpath applications, but in early 1999 at a high court challenge, the DETR admitted that decision was incorrect, overturned the approval, and offered costs to the councils involved.All my medical evidence concerns PM2.5 particles and below. These are man-made, and the ones that enter the lung. PM10 printouts in the UK cannot be relied upon to provide actual raw data figures. The DETR has admitted that the figures are massaged down and are not accurate. This is confirmed by the Environment Agency who also admits in their latest document, that their data is not always “accurate, complete, up-to-date or valid.” If PM10s are an issue, then note that Professor Harrison’s latest survey (1998) shows a contribution from the continent of Europe reaching the UK, of PM10s around 1ug/M3 only, certainly regarding NE Derbyshire. Also note that PM10s recorded in January 1997 for this area, showed figures between 46 and 60ug/M3. Later months cannot be relied upon for reasons given. The highest PM10 figures in the UK have been not from the highway traffic but from sites such as the opencasting of brownfield land in Tyne and Wear, at Paddington railway station, around the Castle Cement plant at Clitheroe, Lancashire (recordings of up to 485ug/M3 were found in a school playing field). Health studies undertaken around the last site mentioned, show a sharp rise in asthma, standardised mortality and other conditions.Experience gained at Arkwright proves that the alleged ability to control dust by opencasters is a fallacy. I was present when the television filmed the emissions at Arkwright with separate clouds of coal-dust and vehicle emissions. PM2.5s can rise in the air over 2000 feet, and can stay suspended in the air for up to one week, totally dependent on the weather as to where and when they land to ground level where they may be inhaled into the lungs. Motorways nearby increase the problem, by adding more vehicle emissions and generating heat, which keeps the particles suspended for a longer period, facilitating spread. The alleged developers mitigation measures are almost irrelevant as they do not resolve the real problem. The PM2.5 dust cannot be controlled by opencasters.PM2.5 measurements in the latter half of September 1998 have revealed higher levels at Grassmoor and Hasland, Derbyshire some 2.1 miles from Arkwright opencast than at Tupton and Wingerworth at about 3.1 miles from Arkwright. Levels at Grassmoor were as high as 42.5ug/M3 which is 4.25 times the WHO and US EPA recommended maximum levels. Peaks of PM2.5s in October 1998 reached 80ug/M3 in the Hasland area. This confirms the cause of the higher asthma incidence at Grassmoor and one could now expect those exposed to that sort of level, to have their lives shortened by some six years. Interestingly those in Surrey live some six years longer. Analysis of the filter heads confirmed that coal dust was the main ingredient.The NHS simply has to pay the bill. With cost limited frozen budgets now unified between hospital and GPs, which patients will be denied treatment to pay for those made ill or who die, through opencasting?What knowledge of medicine and toxicology has a Mineral Planning Authority got? What training has an environmental services department in medicine and toxicology? What postgraduate tuition in toxicology have public health directors received and from whom? The government is paying out vast sums of money to miners for compensation. Will named councillors and public health directors who pass unsafe applications be forced to compensate the NHS and new victims of planning decisions.Article 8 of the Human Rights Convention can be used in the courts in the UK from 1 January 2000 to force disclosure of raw pollution data and relevant health authority data, in consideration of public health risks of imposition by government agencies.The evidence is real and proven and I suggest you heed the above revelations.

Copyright 1999Dr D Van Steenis: 2 July 1999

References and data were obtained from Dr D Williams, Mr P Ordidge, Royal Microscopical Society Conference July 1998, Epidemiology July 1995, West Glamorgan HA, Lanarkshire HA, Ken Coates MEP, English Partnerships (and CPL data), USEPA Research, Harvard School of Public Health Research and Respiratory Morbidity in Merseyside School Children exposed to coal dust and air pollution; in Archives of Disease in Childhood 1994;70:305-312 etc. Doctor Salvi et al AM J RESPIR CRIT CARE MED 1999; 159: 702-709.I have also discovered a recent article in Proc R Coll Physicians Edinb 1999; 29;11-15 entitled Health Effects of Respirable Dust from Opencast Coal Mining by doctors Munro and Crompton. This article backs up my research. What Car magazine of June 1999 contains an article analysing vehicle particle emissions from PM0.01 to PM1, which reveals the scale of the problem just from ULSD. How much worse it must be with industrial vehicles using lower quality diesel.

Poem

KENFIG HILL
We are a small community.
We don’t ask for a lot.
We look out over mountains,
And are happy with what we’ve got.

Our valley is full of greenery
And very, very lush.
Celtic Energy comes along
And is giving us the push.

The black hole is growing!
It’s covering the land.
The wild life is leaving.
It’s time to make a stand.
We are sick of decibels

For control of noise and dust.
All we hear from Celtic is“ Well, we could go bust.”
If they want the coal so badly
Then their promises they should keep!!

Let them sink a deep or drift mine
So we all can get some sleep!!!!

E.PARTLOW
PRINCE ROAD
KENFIG HILL

Public Meeting Poster

Current Opencast Operation

Current Opencast Operation Creeps ever Closer to Housing

European Protected Species

European Protected Animals
* Bats, Horseshoe (all species) also see separate bats page
* Bats, Typical (all species)
* Common Otter
* Dolphins, porpoises and whales (all species)
* Dormouse (but not edible or fat dormouse)
* Great crested newt (or warty)
* Large Blue Butterfly
* Marine Turtles
* Natterjack Toad
* Sand Lizard
* Smooth Snake
* Sturgeon
* Wild cat

European Protected Plants
* Creeping Marshwort
* Early Gentian
* Fen Orchid
* Floating leaved water Plantain
* Killarney Fern
* Lady's Slipper
* Shore Dock
* Slender Naiad
* Yellow Marsh Saxifrage

NPT Unitary Development Plan - Draft, 2003

Tuesday, May 24, 2005


Extract from Section 2.11.9 The area east of Margam, which is important in terms of its landscape and biodiversity, will remain largely undisturbed

WHERE NEXT?

Sunday, May 29, 2005

Open Cast - Children's Health Study

Friday, April 29, 2005


Living near opencast coal mining sites and children's respiratory healthExtracts from a paper published in Occupational and Environmental Medicine (Occup Environ Med 2000; 57:145-151 ( March ) )Authors : Tanja Pless-Mullolia, Denise Howela, Andrew King, Ian Stone, John Merefield, Jan Besselle, Ross DarnellRESULTS---Patterns of the daily variation of PM10 were similar in opencast and control communities, but PM10 was higher in opencast areas (mean ratio 1.14, 95% confidence interval (95% CI) 1.13 to 1.16, geometric mean 17.0 µg/m3 v 14.9 µg/m3). Opencast sites were a measurable contributor to PM10 in adjacent areas. Little evidence was found for associations between living near an opencast site and an increased prevalence of respiratory illnesses, asthma severity, or daily diary symptoms, but children in opencast communities 1-4 had significantly more respiratory consultations (1.5 v 1.1 per person-year) than children in control communities for the 6 week study periods. Associations between daily PM10 concentrations and acute health events were similar in opencast and control communities.CONCLUSIONS---Children in opencast communities were exposed to a small but significant amount of additional PM10 to which the opencast sites were a measurable contributor. Past and present respiratory health of children was similar, but GP consultations for respiratory conditions were higher in opencast communities during the core study period.