Bethan Jenkins AM last night gave a speech to the Siambr to introduce her short debate on opencast mining, following on from a film she showed to AMs that included testimony from people living near opencast sites. This is what she said:
ALYSON Austin shows us how opencast mining has impacted on the community -where families in the area where I grew up have had to live with opencasting – every day.
No campaign stopped Ffos y Fran. No protest prevented this pit from coming within metres of homes in Merthyr Tydfil. The people who live in them have to contend with the noise, the dust – and how it impacts on their health – and the scars on the surrounding landscape. This debate today may be retrospective in relation to this particular development, but lessons can, and must be learnt.
Ffos y Fran is just one of several communities across South Wales living cheek-by-jowl with opencasting.
The Welsh Government finds itself caught between a rock and a hard place here, with the interests of those communities on one hand, and economic concern for the people who work there, often in areas where such work is in short supply.
But what becomes more important? Job creation during this recession? Or quality of life for these former industrial communities? Can we balance both, and can we find long-term economic benefits for the areas in which they operate?
I believe that the way forward comes from this Assembly, from its power to legislate, by ending the loopholes that leave those on the edge of opencast mines so anxious as the pits creep ever closer to their backyards. It is about setting out clear stipulations that allay those anxieties.
The rules we have don’t seem to work for those communities, despite bold claims to the contrary.
Gaynor Ball lives in Kenfig Hill in my region and has fought against open cast mining for many years, most recently against the further extension of Parc Slip site at Margam. She argues that opencasting impacts on biodiversity, rural landscape and health and well-being. She has won this battle – an application to extend Parc Slip was rejected last Friday. But she and others wants a presumption against opencast pits in Wales.
Susan Jordan has been fighting opencast mining at Ochr y Waun, Cwmllynfell – again in my region. She believes that the site is standing in the way of inward investment, property development and tourism. She told me: “The East Pit opencast site workings are now 400 yards from our house and the site boundary is 50 yards. There have been numerous problems with the working of the site – no communications from the site operator, blasting that shakes the house, noise and dust.”
There are two applications for opencast developments in Varteg, near Torfaen. The first would extract 350,000 tonnes and sits within 500 metres of settlements. Local resident Dr John Cox says the developers argue that reclaiming old coal tips is the same as regeneration, allowing them ‘exceptional circumstances’ as outlined in the Minerals Technical Advice Note 2 on coal.
The coal MTAN announced by Jane Davidson in January this year pledged that it: “Will … introduce Health Impact Assessments for coal applications. Together with buffer zones, and with an emphasis on working closely with local communities, it reaffirms the commitment … to a 500m buffer zone”.
How effective are these new policy initiatives? Do they work in practice? Do they live up to the expectations that they created?
According to MTAN 2, a buffer zone should extend to 500 metres. They should minimise disturbance, but…
… for example, the Local Development plan of Merthyr Council recognises that opencasting has been allowed within 500 metres at Ffos y Fran “due to the circumstances surrounding each site” – and because it began in 2005, before the buffer zone was introduced by the Welsh Government.
Open casting is allowed within a buffer zone through ‘exceptional circumstances’. There are plenty of them:
- remediating land damaged by shallow coal workings;
- where there is significance for regeneration, employment and the local economy;
- Where extraction would take place ahead of permanent development.
Campaigners argue that Ffos y Fran would not have required a buffer zone because it would have been covered by at least four of the MTAN’s exclusions.
So how can a buffer zone protect communities if exclusions will almost always override any safeguards? The 500m buffer zone is supposed to help the communities living within 500m of open casting, and thus according to campaigners the “exceptional circumstances” that may be cited to justify open casting must include a real measure of compensation for the actual people living within this zone and discomforted by the open casting.
Economic factors appear to take precedent over environmental and health considerations also. Who decides whether a proposal cam bring regeneration to an area? Is it the developers? The Council? Reclamation without genuine regeneration cannot constitute an exceptional circumstance, and justify open casting so close to people’s homes.
Where buffer zones are failing, Health Impact Assessments need to be implemented. We need to be sure HIAs are truly independent. Campaign groups say they should be reviewed and amended on a three-year basis, while Friends of the Earth Cymru argue that all opencast applications should be accompanied by a HIA, rather than those that “may have significant effects on human health”, outlined in the MTAN. Campaigners in Varteg say that while the Minister pledged in January to introduce HIAs for coal applications – and with an emphasis on working closely with local communities – this has not occurred in their area.
There are further examples where legislation ends in conflict between communities and operators. Much of the anger that arises out of opencasting comes when extensions are applied for. Many people near opencast mines resign themselves to living with them for perhaps seven years, only to then discover that the companies want to continue operating them. If they don’t, then they are hardly compelled to restoring finished sites.
Companies such as Celtic Energy work from extensive British Coal surveys on existing underground reserves. The NUM has estimated that as much as 250 million tonnes still lie in seams in the South Wales Coalfield. We have a good idea about how much is down there.
Yes, mining companies often only discover a seam is exhausted once they reach it, or they will encounter impassable or financially prohibitive obstacles. These businesses must deliver a return – no easy thing, given the volatility of coal prices – while their workers worry about work once a pit’s announced lifetime comes to an end.
For example, the demise of Parc Slip could spell trouble for the wider industry, which employs over 1,000 workers directly and through contracting in South Wales. Margam coal is used as part of a fuel blend for Aberthaw power station, and the Opencast Coal Committee of Wales, which came to see me this week, warns that the absence of this vital “ingredient” could have dire employment consequences at other mines.
But why can we not compel operators to reveal how long they are minded to work these sites? Should we not clear away these vagaries that impact so heavily on people’s lives with robust legislation that is made absolutely clear to all sides and interests what communities can expect? No nasty surprises – for communities, or for workers.
I believe the only way to build such a robust framework of legislation is to introduce a presumption against opencasting here in Wales. In my opinion operators have not proven the case to local communities, councils and to the National Assembly that open cast mining is acceptable, and is the way forward for Wales.
There has to be benefits for, not detriment to local communities, and they must have a say in the future of their communities as this shapes the way for future generations.
