mining - grim future
WORKERS, DECEMBER 2003 ISSUE
The 4,500 miners left in Britain are facing a grim future. Government support to the industry over the next 3 years will be £60 million. A modest figure of £140 million has been identified by UK Coal, Coalfield Communities Campaign, mining unions and other business analysts as being a realistic figure.
One wind farm experiment in the North West - the blighting of Morecambe Bay - is to get £59 million alone.
The Selby complex, with over £1 billion in investment, is to close in April 2004. Only Kellingley pit will be left in North Yorkshire with a workforce reduced by nearly 75% to 550 miners.
The European Union's Large Combustion Plant Directive will threaten the closure of all Britain's coal-fired power stations. A conundrum - wrong type of coal, hence no coal burn means no coal power stations, no coal burn means no mining - hence everything is closed.