The Heritage Railway Association has written to the Minister for Energy Security and Net Zero, after the department announced that they are planning an effective ban on UK coal mining.
The letter from HRA Chief Executive, Steve Oates, urges the Minister, Michael Shanks MP to fully consider the long-term impact upon heritage rail that a ban on coal mining could have.
The announcement, which came on November 14, said that the government would ‘restrict’ the licensing of new coal mines ‘as the government commits to bringing in legislation which will prohibit new coal mining projects.’ However, the announcement makes no reference to any users of coal beyond electricity generation.
Heritage Railway Association Chief Executive, Steve Oates, said: “We have grave concerns that the governments’ aim to end the use of coal for electricity generation has become mixed up with other remaining uses for coal that are not linked to large-scale pollution in any way, including users like the UK’s 170-plus heritage railways.
“That’s why we’ve written to the minister requesting a meeting so that he and his department fully understand that heritage railways need coal – and that the best quality and most environmentally conscious option is UK mined coal.”
Although there is no indication that imports of coal would be banned, making the heritage rail sector permanently dependent upon imported fuel is widely considered to be a worrying step. Far from reducing emissions, a ban on coal mining in the UK would permanently bake in higher emissions for those residual users of coal now forced to import the raw material from thousands of miles away. Shipping coal to the UK produces up to five times more Co2 emissions than using domestically mined coal.
The letter to the Minister for Energy Security and Net Zero states: “The Heritage Railway Association believes that the use of coal by heritage railways can be totally compatible with the net-zero agenda ... the minimal emissions caused by the sector are already offset by its social, cultural and environmental benefits.
“There is an urgent need to ensure that wider net-zero policies such as this one do not have unintended consequences for heritage rail.
“By ignoring the needs of those remaining coal users and conflating them with policies designed for electricity generation, the future of heritage rail is being placed in wholly unnecessary jeopardy while not delivering any benefits for the environment.”
The HRA is also working to engage with MPs and members of the House of Lords with interests in heritage rail, to ensure that they too understand the long-term problems that the proposed legislation could cause the sector. The HRA is also contacting all of its member organisations, urging them to make their own MPs aware of the matter and how it could impact their constituency.
“While this proposed legislation is unlikely to create an immediate cliff edge scenario for steam locomotive fuel, it is clear that in the long-term this would leave heritage rail much weaker and permanently more dependent upon lower quality, imported fuel that would do the opposite of the stated aims of this policy,” Mr Oates concluded.