The cooling towers of Ferrybridge power station
The decision on a new coal power station at E.ON's Kingsnorth facility in Kent is still expected later this year - the current rumour is around June but as with all government pronouncements you should take that with a very large pinch of salt. Whether it gets the go-ahead or not, it will have ramifications for the other proposed coal developments - including opencast mines - elsewhere in the country.
One of these is at Ferrybridge in west Yorkshire where half of the power station is due to go out of service in 2015. A more immediate threat is the opencast mine planned for the area, which will sit next door to an RSPB nature reserve at Fairburn Ings, and the group Yorkshire Against New Coal (Yanc) is standing in opposition to both plans.
To gauge the public feeling on coal and climate change in general, the good people of Yanc conducted a survey and the results are very interesting. The topline figure is that 71 per cent said that renewable sources of energy should be developed instead of new coal.
In a region where coal is a fundamental part of the industrial and social history, you might think that support for the Yanc campaign from the wider population might be in short supply, but that doesn't appear to be the case. An even larger number, 94 per cent, didn't want energy to be generated at the expense of the climate, and 76 per cent believed that it was the responsibility of everyone - including governments and industry along with individual action - to tackle the problem of reducing emissions.
Yanc have also been contacting the local MPs about the issue, asking for them to oppose new coal developments in favour of clean energy but none of them have so far replied. This includes climate and energy secretary Ed Miliband who is MP for Doncaster North and has previously failed to rule out unfettered coal power stations.
More details about the survey and the campaign are available on Yanc's website.
