News from Welsh Labour

Labour AM asks: “is North East Wales going back to the future with King Coal?”

Wrexham’s Assembly Member, Lesley Griffiths, believes the North East Wales could be going ‘back to the future’, with its economic fortunes once again being dependent on ‘King Coal’.

Ms. Griffiths was commenting following research she has conducted into levels of methane gas in both disused coal mines or so-called ‘virgin’ coal beds in the region.

Explaining the background to her research, the AM said:

“There has been a worldwide reappraisal of using coal once again, as a major power source. At the same time, technological advances now mean that coal seam methane is also being looked at as an alternative energy source in the UK. In countries such as the USA, Canada and Australia, the methane gas is already well established as a power source.”

Lesley Griffiths says the main reason for this resurgent interest in coal is because of spiralling energy costs across the world. The huge and rapid expansion of the world’s emerging economies like China, India and Brazil, has meant that global coal and oil stocks are high demand. This has impacted directly on our economy in the UK through increased good, services and also our energy needs in the home.

This vicious circle has dictated the need to lessen the UK’s dependence on importing its energy needs. With security of supply becoming increasingly more important – particularly in relation to gas – the focus of UK geologists has turned once again the natural resources that we have underground in Wales.

Lesley Griffiths’ interest in ‘greener’ forms of energy, led her to look at an underground solution to the UK’s needs:

“As a member of the Welsh Assembly’s Sustainability Committee, I have a great interest in looking at alternative and ‘greener’ forms of energy. This has prompted me to look more closely at what resources we have in the Wrexham and North East Wales area to see whether locally, we will have a role once again, in providing energy for our country.

“The attraction of using methane as an energy source lies in its flexibility. It can either be fed into the gas grid for industrial or domestic use or it can be used to generate electricity.

“Through my research and having spoken to geological experts, it is clear that North Wales, is regarded as being ‘rich’ in methane and this gas is present within the coal seams we formerly mined in the Wrexham area.

“The fascinating thing about the processes used to extract methane, is that it does not involve sending hundreds of people underground to physically excavate the resource. Nor does it mean huge environmental damage caused by mine excavation and the subsequent burning of coal at power stations. Today, there is as much interest in the gases that exist underground, as there is in the coal itself.”

Explaining the various forms of gas that exists in North East Wales, Lesley Griffiths said:

“Geological experts believe that there is considerable scope in the UK for developing what is called, abandoned mine methane.

“They also believe that there is a significant amount of virgin coalbed methane or VCBM in North Wales. This involves the recovery of methane gas from unmined (virgin) coal seams using surface boreholes. It is predicted that VCBM could provide for about 29 years consumption of natural gas – so this could be crucial for our future needs.

“Also, North Wales has also been identified as being a suitable area for a process known as underground coal gasification (UCG). This works by injecting oxygen and steam water via a borehole into the coal and then extracting the gas that is then created.”

Looking to the future the politician believes it is important that as energy comes more sharply into focus in the years ahead, local people in Wrexham should be made more aware of the fact that their part of North Wales, could be central in the quest to finding new solutions for the energy needs of our country.

If that were to happen, she sees her role as Wrexham’s AM as making sure the Assembly – who are responsible for creating the planning guidance and policies that would oversee this quest – delivers the right balance in the interests of everyone concerned.

Lesley is anxious that people in the Wrexham area, are made aware of the resources that have been identified locally and that is why she wanted to share the findings of her research:

“This balance here lies between, on the one hand, addressing what our communities can tolerate, if we once again seek to exploit underground resources. And on the other hand, addressing the hugely important issue of meeting our energy needs for the future.

“With some experts predicting power cuts for the UK in the years ahead, we may be forced, as a society, to find that balance sooner rather than later.

“In the meantime, I believe it is incumbent on us all locally – politicians, local authorities and the wider public – to recognise that the Wrexham area could be sitting on a considerable amount of an important resource once again – not coal on this occasion, but the methane gas that emanates from it.

“The subject of our future energy needs could bring with it a great challenge for people of the Wrexham area. Conversely, those needs could also bring huge opportunities and economic benefits locally.

“A large part of Wrexham’s history is founded on its long, proud and cherished association with coal. We may be on the verge of striking up that relationship again. Only time will tell.”

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