energy - the end of british coal?
WORKERS, MARCH 2004 ISSUE
The Institution of Civil Engineers has predicted that government energy policy will close coal production in Britain by 2016. It says only one nuclear power station will be operational by 2020 and that the target of 10% energy production from renewables such as wind or wave power by 2020 will not be achieved.
The only way to prevent power cuts will be to rely entirely on foreign energy sources. The nuclear industry, currently bankrupt, is bankrolled and bailed out with subsidies of £200 million a year. To save the coal industry and establish the clean coal technological base that would give continued access to 1,000 years of coal reserves would cost £100 million — a one-off subsidy. Silence from the government.