Coal, Climate Change and Community: The Case of Ffos-y-Fran
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the welsh agenda issue 71 | 19<br />
mine operators were legally obliged to deposit reclamation<br />
funds. Despite this, in 2014 the Welsh Government’s own<br />
investigation found that just £15m had been deposited,<br />
warning that this sum fell ‘well short <strong>of</strong> a worst case<br />
restoration cost which could be in excess <strong>of</strong> £50m’.<br />
Nearly ten years on from that report, the local council<br />
revealed that the escrow account balance still st<strong>and</strong>s at<br />
£15m. All the while, estimated costs for restoration have<br />
grown. In their application for an extension, the mine<br />
owner admitted they had not set aside enough money<br />
to fund the restoration work, requesting more time to<br />
mine in order to fund the restoration. If not permitted,<br />
they warned the restoration bill would fall on the<br />
council. This put the local council in a difficult position<br />
– knowing they had to reject the extension while also<br />
aware they cannot complete the restoration relying<br />
solely on limited budgets, <strong>and</strong> would require financial<br />
support. However, local campaigners, along with <strong>Coal</strong><br />
Action Network, argue the local authority <strong>and</strong> Welsh<br />
government should have known this day would come.<br />
And <strong>Ffos</strong>-y-<strong>Fran</strong> is not an isolated example. Littered<br />
across the l<strong>and</strong>scape <strong>of</strong> south Wales are a number <strong>of</strong><br />
ab<strong>and</strong>oned opencast mines. Gigantic holes <strong>of</strong> scorched<br />
earth, full <strong>of</strong> harmful mining waste materials left to<br />
pollute the local environment. Once a mining company<br />
has extracted all <strong>of</strong> their potential pr<strong>of</strong>its <strong>and</strong> taken their<br />
last piece <strong>of</strong> coal no more pr<strong>of</strong>it can be made by continuing<br />
operations. Companies have endlessly relied on planning<br />
extensions to continue mining in order to raise restoration<br />
funds until either the coal runs out, or extensions are<br />
denied. For owners, holding up their end <strong>of</strong> the bargain<br />
<strong>and</strong> restoring the l<strong>and</strong> eats away at pr<strong>of</strong>its. So they<br />
liquidate, syphon <strong>of</strong>f assets <strong>and</strong> avoid restoration costs by<br />
exploiting legal loopholes or declaring bankruptcy.<br />
Infamously, Celtic Energy Ltd owned a number <strong>of</strong><br />
opencasts across Wales <strong>and</strong> transferred l<strong>and</strong> ownership,<br />
along with restoration obligations, to a shell company<br />
they had set up. <strong>The</strong>y walked away with pr<strong>of</strong>its while<br />
their sites East Pit, Margam, Selar <strong>and</strong> Nant Helen were<br />
given a sub-st<strong>and</strong>ard partial restoration, leaving them at<br />
a serious risk to the local environment <strong>and</strong> residents. As<br />
Alyson Austin explains, Merthyr Tydfil County Borough<br />
Council were aware <strong>of</strong> the likelihood <strong>of</strong> this occurring at<br />
<strong>Ffos</strong>-y-<strong>Fran</strong> <strong>and</strong> were even warned at the very beginning.<br />
‘<strong>The</strong>y should have seen this coming, it’s st<strong>and</strong>ard practice<br />
isn’t it… they mine, they leave the hole, then they go onto<br />
the next extension then to pay for that’.<br />
<strong>The</strong> Good Law Project investigation recently found<br />
that Merthyr (South Wales) Ltd have chosen to pay out<br />
£49.89m in dividends <strong>and</strong> royalties, while the restoration<br />
fund faces a shortfall <strong>of</strong> at least £50m. Furthermore,<br />
they also discovered that the parent company, Gwent<br />
Holdings Ltd, which is controlled by the same family<br />
who own <strong>Ffos</strong>-y-<strong>Fran</strong> reported cash holdings <strong>of</strong> £81.7m<br />
in March this year. Despite this, the mine operators insist<br />
they have ‘insufficient funds’ to pay for a full restoration<br />
<strong>and</strong> are reported to be in negotiations with Merthyr Tydfil<br />
County Borough Council for a reduced restoration cost.<br />
Given the harmful legacy <strong>of</strong> opencast mining in<br />
South Wales, <strong>Coal</strong> Action Network argue it is time to<br />
call an end to opencast mining in Wales, once <strong>and</strong> for<br />
all. With the recent refusal <strong>of</strong> Carmarthenshire County<br />
Council to extend the Glan Lash opencast, <strong>Ffos</strong>-y-<strong>Fran</strong><br />
now remains the last active opencast coal mine in Wales.<br />
<strong>The</strong> timeline <strong>of</strong> events surrounding Glan Lash were a<br />
familiar tale. While mining was set to cease in 2016, with<br />
a complete restoration by 2017, the opencast remains<br />
derelict <strong>and</strong> unrestored. <strong>The</strong> owners Bryn Bach <strong>Coal</strong><br />
Ltd had applied for an extension to continue mining in<br />
order to fund their restoration duties. Nevertheless, in<br />
spite <strong>of</strong> this Councillors voted unanimously to reject<br />
the extension citing concerns regarding the local impact<br />
<strong>of</strong> dust pollution on communities <strong>and</strong> protection <strong>of</strong><br />
local ecosystems. While only time will tell if the full<br />
restoration promised will go ahead at both Glan Lash <strong>and</strong><br />
<strong>Ffos</strong>-y-<strong>Fran</strong> opencast mines, the information available<br />
provides a bleak forecast. <strong>The</strong> problem doesn’t only lie<br />
in our gaping, polluted, ab<strong>and</strong>oned opencasts, it is far<br />
bigger than that. <strong>The</strong> issue <strong>of</strong> Wales’ polluted past that<br />
continues to plague us is evident also in the hundreds <strong>of</strong><br />
high risk coal tips that sit above our villages <strong>and</strong> homes.<br />
It is time to think seriously about the scale <strong>and</strong><br />
urgency <strong>of</strong> this challenge. In tackling climate change,<br />
we need to look forwards – to a green energy revolution<br />
– but there is a need too to look back at our industrial<br />
past, <strong>and</strong> to clean up our communities. Repairing the<br />
environmental damage <strong>and</strong> making them safe for today<br />
<strong>and</strong> for future generations needs to be an urgent focus –<br />
because at the most fundamental level, our communities<br />
deserve to be safe <strong>and</strong> to enjoy a clean, green future that<br />
starts at home.<br />
Lydia Godden is Economic Policy<br />
<strong>and</strong> Research Officer at the IWA