UK underground coal gasification would cause pollution
Plans to allow underground coal gasification (UCG) – a process through which coal under the seabed is set alight – in the UK would cause pollution, toxic waste and groundwater contamination according to a report by environmental group Friends of the Earth. The UK’s Coal Authority has granted licenses for UCG at 19 sites around the country. Cluff Natural Resources, led by oil entrepreneur Algy Cluff, is expected to use its licences to develop nine potential underwater coalfields. However, the Scottish and Welsh government have imposed temporary moratoriums on UCG due to the perceived risks.  
Plans to set fire to coal under the seabed at up to 19 sites around the UK would cause significant climate pollution, groundwater contamination and toxic waste, according to a report by environmentalists.

The UK government’s Coal Authority has granted licences for underground coal gasification (UCG) covering more than 1,500 sq km of seabed off north-east and north-west England, Wales and east central Scotland.

The Scottish and Welsh governments have put temporary moratoriums on the technology because of concerns about the dangers. Scottish ministers are awaiting an independent review in September, which is likely to be critical of UCG.

But a company led by the veteran oil entrepreneur and former owner of the Spectator, Algy Cluff, is pursuing major developments near the shores of northern England.

Cluff Natural Resources has licences for nine potential undersea coalfields amounting to 640 sq km, valid until 2018-2020. Two are off the coast near Durham, two off Cumbria, two off Wales and three in the Firth of Forth in Scotland.

The company said that progress in Scotland “has been delayed due to local politics”. But it is continuing “to evaluate the development options for its acreage in England, particularly the north-east of England, which shares many of the commercial advantages of the Firth of Forth projects”.

The Coal Authority The Coal Authority

Another 10 licences for UCG around the coast, valid until December this year or January 2018, are held by Five Quarter in Newcastle. Though the company ceased trading in March this year, there are fears that its licences could still be assigned to others.

UCG involves drilling boreholes up to 1km deep, setting fire to underground coal seams, and extracting the resulting gas to heat homes. But according to the new report by Friends of the Earth International, it has “left a trail of destruction in its wake across the world”.

The report says that UCG has caused groundwater contamination, subsidence, accidents and toxic waste where it has been deployed in Australia, South Africa and the US. Its total potential carbon dioxide emissions – 1,650bn tonnes globally, or 46bn tonnes in the UK – would wreck efforts to cut climate pollution, it warns.

Flick Monk, the report’s author from Friends of the Earth Scotland, said: “On climate change grounds alone there is no way these plans can possibly make sense.

“Given what we know about this technology’s terrible history around the world, Cluff’s plans to burn coal seams off English coasts are utterly reckless. The UK government should stop this industry now before Cluff gets his foot in the door.”

But Andrew Nunn, the CEO of Cluff Natural Resources, accused Friends of the Earth of having a predetermined position on fossil fuels.

He said: “We fully expect that this new report will continue to perpetuate that position by ignoring those UCG projects which have proceeded without incident and focusing purely on a small number of projects, which fall well short of the standards that would be required to operate a UCG project in the UK

“This is a blatant attempt to influence the public and other stakeholders prior to the publication of the Scottish government’s independent report on UCG.”