As the climate crisis bolts ahead, outcry aimed at governments and corporations to curb their impacts on the climate grows louder. But policies continue to be words on paper, and meaningless without strong action. Nowhere do we see this glaring contradiction more than in the disastrous decision to allow a major extension of the Aberpergwm coal mine in south Wales.
By Carys Hopkins. Cover Image, a protester against the Aberpergwm mine extension outside The Senedd, via CAN
The Wales Act 2017 gave Welsh Government Ministers the duty to authorise coal extraction licences granted by the Coal Authority (CA). But as the Welsh Government continues to pump out statements and policy documents that appear to tackle Wales’ impact on climate change, their actual policies fall terribly short.
“Our vision is for a decarbonised energy system which provides wider economic and social benefits for Wales than the system we see today.” said a Welsh Government Carbon budget report in 2021.
In the report, they also stated that: “From 2021 there will be no new build unabated fossil fuel generation in Wales”. Yet here we are in 2022, with fossil fuels being extracted from the ground until at least 2039 and a new licence granted for a major coal mine extension.
How did we get here?
In September 2020, Energybuild Mining Ltd submitted two applications to the Coal Authority for a full underground mining licence. While one application was withdrawn in March 2021, for unknown reasons, the other application for Aberpergwm was approved by the Coal Authority at the end of January 2022.
As already mentioned, the Wales Act 2017 gave Welsh Ministers the duty to authorise coal extraction licences granted by the Coal Authority (CA), so why didn’t they exercise this duty over Aberpergwm?
Afterall, Lee Waters, Wales’ Deputy Minister for Climate Change, has stated that the Welsh Government has a “clear policy of stopping using fossil fuels”. And a Welsh Government Coal Policy statement from March 2021 stated that “It is the Welsh Government’s policy objective to avoid the continued extraction and consumption of fossil fuels.”
But where was this opposition from Welsh Ministers over Aberpergwm?
The Coal Authority has stated that it had to legally give Energybuild the licence, since there were no objections from the Welsh Government. In fact, Welsh Ministers declined on multiple opportunities to halt the mine expansion.
Aside from the worry of the CO2 that the coal present at Aberpergwm mine contains and emits, the Global Energy Monitor estimates that the mine “could emit anywhere from 200,000 – 1.17 million tonnes of methane over the life of the mine expansion”.
In the 2021 IPCC report, scientists found that methane emissions due to human activity are higher than ever recorded. Methane is 80 times more potent than CO2, so is cause for serious alarm.
And in November 2021 during the COP26 Climate Summit in Glasgow, the UK signed the Global Methane Pledge to drastically reduce methane emissions by at least 30% by 2030.
By extending Energybuild’s licence, to extract millions of tonnes of the anthracite coal — which will emit an estimated 100 million tonnes of CO2 and 1.17 million tonnes of methane — in the Aberpergwm mine, would mean breaking the pledge hardly before the ink is dry.
The latest IPCC report, released in April 2022, has further focused on methane emissions, whereas in previous years, CO2 has been the main focus of the group’s reporting.
Climate scientist Drew Shindell, and Chair of the Climate and Clean Air Coalition (CCAC) Scientific Advisory Panel, has been raising the alarm on methane emissions for decades. He commented:
“Unlike CO2, which stays in the atmosphere for hundreds of years, methane lives for about a decade in the atmosphere. When we reduce it, we can rapidly slow warming. It’s urgent to get going quickly on methane, because the impacts of climate change are accelerating.”
Whilst there are options for removal of carbon from the atmosphere through Carbon Capture and Secretion (CCS), albeit not very reliable methods, the relatively easy fixes to reducing methane emissions are completely disregarded by the fossil fuel industry.
Of course, the most effective method is to stop using fossil fuels altogether, but the lack of action on methane emissions from existing operations is telling.
Most methane emissions come from escaped emissions during the process of extracting fossil fuels, such as gas that is leaked, accidentally burned during the process or accidentally lost. It is essentially wasted during the process, that in turn has a dire impact on the environment and climate change
This latest IPCC report states, that existing technologies can be used by fossil fuel companies to drastically reduce those types of emissions. And it would actually benefit the industry from doing so — as less product is lost, so profit can be retained.
Whilst we have monitoring, reporting and verification (MRV) in place for carbon in Wales (noted in the Carbon Budget report 2021), we do not have one for methane.
Instead Welsh farmers have been ordered to heavily reduce methane emissions from their business practices, which have relatively low emissions. But at the same time, fossil fuel company Energybuild has been granted permission to extract millions of tonnes of coal for it to release tonnes of carbon and methane into the atmosphere.
Energybuild Mining LTD
In 2014, a report was conducted for Energybuild for a proposition for a 25 years (and beyond) mining licence by a company called Wallden Armstrong. They call themselves a consultancy company, but in real terms they are a Public Relations (PR) company.
Unsurprisingly the report fails to mention climate change.
As we know, PR companies have been aiding fossil fuel companies to greenwash their image, and craft brilliant propaganda, for audiences for over a century.
Energybuild have been proposing the reopening of Treforgan colliery near Aberpergwm to aid with their expansion since 2014. This information is only from documents we have access to – talks may have been going on prior to this date.
The aim of the plans was to aid the mines’s underground expansion, meaning existing mine shafts in the nearby Treforgan colliery would need to be reopened. This was so that the firm could access and extract the over 70 million tonnes of coal estimated to be within the application area.
The report also states the company’s goal of output for the mine is of “2.5 million tonnes, (of coal) from 2020 onwards”.
In an area where there are high levels of poverty and unemployment, the prospects of the extension of the licence and increase of extraction has been sold one of job creation. This narrative is also perpetuated by local councils, MPs and Energybuild themselves. However, this is not necessarily true.
This is how Energybuild gains their social licence — through their promise of job prospects and community outreach, a practice we see across fossil fuel companies.
They propose that “if the mining plan is allowed to reach full fruition, [it] will eventually culminate with the employment of 529 employees.”
We have yet to see any of these promises met and as their website currently states “Aberpergwm currently employs over 160 staff at its site in South Wales.” This is a long way off what the 529 promised in their 2014 report.
The job creation myth perpetuated by the fossil fuel industry, is just that – a myth. A watchdog group, Food and Water Watch, found that the fossil fuel industry does not actually create more jobs, but instead causes job losses.
Little has been mentioned in Energybuild’s report in 2014 — a further environmental report has not yet been conducted by the company since — of the effects of their business on the environment. Carbon capture and steps to reduce methane emissions are also absent.
Further failures from Energybuild can be noted through their lack of up to date environmental impact reports, which is a requirement under Welsh law when submitting planning applications for mining.
A study published in 2019 on Elsevier, a leading science journal, which includes authors employed by Energybuild, on the geochemical makeup of the mining field in Aberpergwm, provides an insight into the chemical makeup and extraction possibilities of gas and coal from the Aberpergwm mine.
A number of scientific reports have been conducted and published by Elsevier, which is a widely used tool that is praised for research. However, Elsevier are known for publishing reports commissioned by big oil that often provide results in favour for extracting fossil fuels and the burning of fossil fuels.
They promote their platform as being essential for the oil and gas industry. The company have been scrutinised for their marketing attempts, to increase profits by attracting the fossil fuel industry to use their documents and boasting stats of their industry users.
Some of the most shocking documents they have published include the Shale oil and gas handbook and the Strategies for Optimising Petroleum Extraction handbook.
In 2019, Wardell Armstrong, — PR company providing clients with the scientific backing required to go ahead with their projects — created a report commissioned by the Welsh government about coal extraction in Wales. It considers and proposes recommendations to the Welsh government on granting coal extraction licences in the future. When is enough enough? How can we continue to let companies continue to create government reports about issues they are inherently biased on?
Wardell Armstrong have also wormed their way into creating science activities in techniquest for educational purposes.
“I think it will be some really dodgy accounting”
I spoke with Anthony Slaughter — leader of the Welsh Green Party — who has been outspoken about the issue with the extension of Energybuild ltd’s licence to extract more coal for the coming years.
He commented: “the UK government’s targets, and the Welsh government’s climate targets, you can’t extend coal mining and hit those targets, you are making a mockery of those targets”
He noted that: “The Coal Authority asked the Welsh government for direction (on the licence approval) and hadn’t got an answer from them [by some time in January.]”
This is further proof that it could have been possible for them to stop the licence from being granted, or to at least delay it, whilst it was debated upon.
I asked Anthony what we can expect from the next Welsh Government Carbon Budget Report that is due to come out later on this year, and he commented that “I think it will be some sleight of hands, some really dodgy accounting” because “they cannot meet their targets” with this licence extension.
Coal Action Network (CAN) has taken legal action against the Welsh government, and the Coal Authority about the decision to grant Energybuild’s licence for extraction of coal. CAN have also pressed for application documents to be made public.
The Well-being of Future Generations Act 2015 was landmark and progressive legislation to protect future generations not just living in Wales but globally from harms such as climate change. Yet, the Welsh government has done nothing with it. Could this act not be evoked to prevent further extraction of millions of tonnes of coal from the mine at Aberpergwm?
Since the Welsh Government failed to hold up a hand to Energybuild or the Coal Authority, it once again falls back on the public to push back and challenge the Welsh government on their gross failures. Failure to deliver has become a pattern all too familiar from a government claiming to have strong and progressive policy on climate related issues.
If the Well-being of Future Generations Act 2015 is anything to go on, then the word of the Welsh government cannot be trusted or taken as golden. We must continue to push and challenge the government into acting on policies. The mine in Aberpergwm must not go ahead, for the well-being of future generations not just here in Wales but globally. And support must be given to opposition groups like CAN who are fighting for social and climate justice in judicial settings.
Julie James MS and Lee Waters MS were contacted for comment, but declined the request.
