Publication Laka-library:
Energy for a Future
| Author | Simon Roberts, FoE |
| Date | November 1992 |
| Classification | 2.05.0.00/37 (UNITED KINGDOM - GENERAL) |
| Front | 
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From the publication:
I. Introduction The proposed closure within six months of the majority of the United Kingdom's remaining deep coal mines is a logical consequence of the policies which the Government has followed in the energy sector over the last decade or so. Without a change to these policies, such wholesale and rapid mine closures are inevitable. Of course, that something is 'logical' or 'inevitable' does not, a priori, make it 'right'. Indeed, judging from the uproar caused by their announcement, it appears easy to conclude just the opposite in the case of the proposed mine closures. Surely, the argument goes, such a significant and rapid loss of access to a key strategic energy resource, together with the regional social and economic dislocation resulting from the pit closures, must represent a fuilure of Government policy. This argument has been widely used since 13 October when the pit closure plans were announced by the President of the Board of Trade, the Rt Hon Michael Heseltine.1 However, Friends of the Earth believes that such an analysis is too simplistic and superficial. It makes assumptions about the desirable objectives of an energy policy which the Government does not currently appear to share. As this memorandum demonstrates, Government energy policy to date has been narrowly focussed on a mistaken concept of consumer interests, with a misconceived faith in the 'market' as the delivery mechanism. Sound natural resource management, long-term energy security and the avoidance of significant social and economic dislocation do not feature as priority objectives for the policies adopted by the Government in the energy sector. Environmental protection, likewise, does not feature. Unless there is a full reappraisal of the objectives of national energy policy, there is a significant danger that the Government will remain unconvinced that its policies have in some way 'failed' and therefore unwilling to alter its policy objectives so that more pits are kept open. It is not at all clear, for example, that the policies adopted by Government in the energy sector can necessarily be deemed to have 'failed' when they are assessed only on the terms on which the Government was seeking to 'succeed'. Even if the Government does become convinced of the need to change policies, then, without a reappraisal of the objectives of national energy policy, dangers remain. A 'rescue package' for the coal pits could be developed which is as narrowly focussed and incomplete in its outlook as the current 'failed' policies. Social and economic dislocation may be avoided in coalfield communities for a limited period but other desirable policy objectives may lose out instead. This memorandum offers such a reappraisal of the objectives of national energy policy. It shows the coal industry is but one victim of the Government's currently narrow policy focus. Environmental protection, economic efficiency, natural resource management and long-term energy security have all suffered similar, if unacknowledged and, quite possibly, unintended fates.
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