Coal power should be Britain’s buried treasure

WE have treasure buried under the ground here in the North of England. To get the benefit of this treasure would require the greatest U-turn our nation has seen since the retreat from Mons. It would also call for the biggest act of will since the decision was taken to build the Channel Tunnel.

Barrie Frost is right (Yorkshire Post, June 12): our British coal could solve our national energy crisis. Mining our coal would also help rebalance our balance of payments. Our IMF creditors would be delighted, I am sure. It is a fact that the burning of coal causes some global warming. However, through our foreign aid programmes, we might pay for new forests to be planted in parts of the world now denuded of vegetation. The trees would compensate for our additional C02 emissions. By photosynthesis, they convert “greenhouse gases” into water and oxygen. This is nature’s ‘carbon capture’.

Our national energy policy at present is Quixotic. Let’s get back to reality, please. Our Government has a duty to look after the interests of the British people, as well as an obligation to take care of the natural world.