Shropshire going back to the industrial era it seems...

http://www.shropshirestar.co.uk/2007/03/co...g-plan-revived/

:rolleyes:

Sorry, I don't understand what you mean

Doesn't it surprise you to hear that new coal mining operations are proposed to begin in Shropshire, when generally across the country coal mining has come to an end?

Not really - it's deep mining which has been finished in most of the traditional places (Yorkshire, South Wales, Black Country, etc) but there's still plenty of open-casting going on. After all, we're still using lots of coal from Poland, Russia, etc, and let's face it, we've still got quite a bit of coal left in the ground.

Of course, New Labour said in their 1997 manifesto that they would advise that new applications for open-cast mining would be refused, seeing as it causes maximum environmental damage but doesn't create all that many jobs, but they seem to have abandoned that promise.

Coal isn't exactly the cleanest form of energy around either, is it?

As a fully paid-up tree-hugging, head-in-the-clouds, brown-rice-and-sandals Friend of the Earth, you would expect me to agree. :D

However, I believe it would be preferable to use British-sourced coal, supporting British jobs and British communities, rather than relying on imported gas and dirty coal for the bulk of our electricity generation as we do now.

This open-casting proposal for The Wrekin is just about making a quick buck though.