Coal extraction company told to ‘come clean’ about mine remediation plans

The company behind plans to extract coal at a former colliery site have been urged to reveal further information about their intentions.

Energy Recovery Investments Limited’s (ERI) wants to remove around 500,000 tonnes worth of coal and spoil from tips at the abandoned Bedwas mine over the next five to ten years as part of a remediation scheme.

Two Plaid Cymru MSs, Peredur Owen Griffiths and Delyth Jewell MS, who both represent the South Wales East region, said plans to remove coal from the site have caused worry and anxiety for communities on either side of the mountain.

Mr Griffiths said many questions around the project remain, including how much money is set to be released for the community to compensate for any disruption and pollution.

“ERI are expected to submit a planning application later this year to extract the coal at the former Bedwas colliery site,” he said.

“The application will then be subject to the scrutiny of the local authority. Plaid Cymru councillors will be ensuring that there is full scrutiny of the plans when that happens.

“In the meantime, there has been little said about how much the communities around the site will benefit. In the past, coal has been extracted from our hillsides along with the vast profits that were made.

“Our communities paid a heavy price during the coal mining years but were left with little benefit. We cannot allow that to happen again.

“I am calling on ERI to release more detail about how much they intend to donate into communities and how they plan to direct that money.

“From the millions of pounds of profit set to be made from this project, there needs to be a substantial financial offer for the people that live around former Bedwas colliery. If the project is approved, these financial benefits must deliver a lasting, positive legacy for the communities.”

Reassured

Plaid Cymru’s spokesperson for the environment Delyth Jewell MS added: “I urge the company to come clean with the community about their plans for the Bedwas site, so the communities that surround the site are reassured and all local councillors can have their say on any developments.

“Coal tips, of course, are a legacy of our nation’s industrial history—which predates devolution.

“We cannot rely on private firms solely to clear up the mess, we must have public money from the UK Government to make the tips safe and make sure they are not a risk to the public.

“With the likelihood that the costs will increase with the impact of climate change, and the potential to further destabilise these tips, it’s clear that this far more that a safety issue: it is a matter of historical, social and climate justice.”

Tips at Bedwas are classified as Category D which is defined as “a tip with the potential to impact public safety” and are required to be inspected at least twice a year.

The main risks associated with Bedwas is of tip fires and contamination of local watercourses, including the Rhymney River. Land stability is of a lesser concern.

ERI has indicated its plan is to sell on coal from the site to heavy industry, the cement manufacturing industry and potentially energy production industry. The steel sector and brickworks are also understood to be potential customers.

It estimates an average of 90 hauls by HGVs per week to occur over the seven years operational period, approximately to 18-20 HGVs going to and from the site every day.

Amenity activities

On the company’s website, Managing Director Piers Thomas says the ERI project, aims to remove the lower tips at Bedwas, completely “restoring the land for agriculture and amenity activities”.

He said: “The 2 million cubic metres of spoil will be processed to remove the coal, and the remaining spoil will be deposited on the safer mountain ridge, alongside the current upper tip.”

Mr Thomas also claimed the proposal removes, the potential risk to local communities, offering “a tangible solution at no extra cost to the local Authority or taxpayers”.

During a Senedd debate before the summer recess, Labour MS Hefin David urged fellow members to keep an open mind to the plans to remediate coal tips in Bedwas, which is in his Caerphilly constituency.

Dr David said: “We need to keep an open mind about any opportunity or avenue we have to remediate, but at the same time we must ask sceptical questions.”

He stressed: “This isn’t Ffos-y-fran, this isn’t ‘leave it as a disaster zone and exploit the land’.

“This is a company that is saying, ‘Yes, we’ll take the coal as a by-product and we’ll make a profit, but we are there to remediate the land.’”

Dr David also added his voice to a chorus of calls for the UK Government to urgently provide additional funding for proper long-term remediation of disused tips.

The UK Government has yet to contribute funding for long-term remediation of disused coal tips, an issue which predates the Welsh Government.