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CLIMATE ILLINOIS DEEP MINES MOUNTAIN TOP REMOVAL SITES IN APPALACHIA ALABAMA OPENCAST AND DEEP MINES CERREJON, DRUMMOND & PRODECO MINES, NORTHERN COLOMBIA Anne Harris reports on the people being made homeless because of mining to feed the UK’s coal-fired power stations 26 red pepper apr | may 2016 Forced out in Russia Rocks fall from the sky and dust coats houses, gardens and streams. Homes crack, sacred sites are destroyed and the wildlife is driven away. This was the reality for the residents of Kazas, a village of predominantly indigenous Shor people living in the shadow of enormous open-cast coal mines deep in the Keremovo Oblast, Siberia. Kazas was destroyed in 2013 and at least eight other villages have met the same fate. Mining companies wanted the village and its inhabitants gone so that they could extract the rich coal seams underneath. Checkpoints controlled the village, restricting movement. The spirituality of the Shor people has been totally disregarded, with the sacred Karagay-nash mountain being desecrated and destroyed by mining. Life in Kazas was made unbearable for the residents and when most agreed to move, the companies claimed that they did so voluntarily. For those who didn’t consent to leave, the situation became more threatening. The director of a subsidiary of Sibuglemet said, ‘If they don’t sell their houses and estates to Yuzhnaya, then the houses might burn down.’ Within a month of threats being made, arson attacks began on the houses of the families who had refused to leave. The crimes have never been investigated. The UK imports more coal from Russia than from any other country. Our electricity demand causes their suffering.
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OPENCAST MINES IN NORTHUMBERLAND, SOUTH WALES AND, TO A LIMITED EXTENT, SCOTLAND, PLUS ONE REMAINING DEEP MINE IN ENGLAND NOW CLOSED OPENCAST MINES IN KUZBASS REGION, SIBERIAN RUSSIA USA 4.2 MT COLOMBIA 7.3 MT TOTAL COAL IMPORTS SEPT 2014 AUG 2015 RUSSIA 9.7 MT UK 9.9 MT TOTAL COAL MINED OCT 2014 SEPT 2015 SOURCES: HMRC TRADE STATISTICS, COAL AUTHORITY QUARTERLY REPORTS ‘Company killers’ in Colombia ‘The companies talk about voluntary displacement, but it is forced displacement,’ says Nubia Maria Florian Ditta. ‘We are worried. We are fighting to get land titles for our collective land. This will help us protect our ecosystem as they push to expand the mine.’ Ditta is a member of Las Cruces Community Council, and their village is threatened by the expansion of a coal mine worked by the US company Drummond, which supplies the UK. In addition to forced relocation, companies exporting coal from Colombia to the UK have been allegedly implicated in paramilitary mass murders, executions, and disappearances. Hernando Figueroa Pallares has evidence of Drummond dumping 500 tonnes of coal at sea after problems with a barge transferring coal to an international ship. He planned to go to the authorities about the incident, but before he did an assassin came after him. As Hernando describes it, ‘He was in the entrance of my house with a gun in his hand . . . He had the gun ready. I thought if I leg it he is going to kill my wife, so I decide to see what God’s will is. Without my shirt on, I shout and run at him. The first bullet enters me in the lung.’ Hernando was lucky to survive, though he still lives in hiding. Many others have been killed in similar incidents. Ditch coal Imported coal is not the only problem. Around 31 per cent of coal burned in the UK is still produced here. In Britain the main coal mining issues include a planning system biased towards companies in preference to community needs, noise, dust and traffic, as well as sites being abandoned without restoration (in Scotland there are around 20 such sites). Wherever there are coal proposals in the UK there are communities fighting applications. Since the announcement of an intended coal phase out, County Durham residents have had the shocking news that a mine application by Hargreaves has been successful after an appeal, at Field House. Another five applications for new open-cast coal mines are still pending. Wherever coal is mined the conditions are unacceptable. We need the government to announce a complete and legally binding phase out of coal, whether imported or UK-mined, as soon as possible. But we can’t just wait for the government: the Coal Action Network also calls on those of us who consume electricity supplied from unsustainable fuels to stand in solidarity with those most affected and take action against mining, coal infrastructure, and power station operators. Now is the time to ditch coal. n These examples are taken from the Ditch Coal report. Anne Harris is a campaigner with the Coal Action Network, coalaction.org.uk red pepper apr | may 2016 27

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CLIMATE

ILLINOIS DEEP MINES

MOUNTAIN TOP REMOVAL SITES IN APPALACHIA

ALABAMA OPENCAST AND DEEP MINES

CERREJON, DRUMMOND & PRODECO MINES, NORTHERN COLOMBIA

Anne Harris reports on the people being made homeless because of mining to feed the UK’s coal-fired power stations

26 red pepper apr | may 2016

Forced out in Russia

Rocks fall from the sky and dust coats houses, gardens and streams. Homes crack, sacred sites are destroyed and the wildlife is driven away. This was the reality for the residents of Kazas, a village of predominantly indigenous Shor people living in the shadow of enormous open-cast coal mines deep in the Keremovo Oblast, Siberia. Kazas was destroyed in 2013 and at least eight other villages have met the same fate.

Mining companies wanted the village and its inhabitants gone so that they could extract the rich coal seams underneath. Checkpoints controlled the village, restricting movement. The spirituality of the Shor people has been totally disregarded, with the sacred Karagay-nash mountain being desecrated and destroyed by mining.

Life in Kazas was made unbearable for the residents and when most agreed to move, the companies claimed that they did so voluntarily. For those who didn’t consent to leave, the situation became more threatening. The director of a subsidiary of Sibuglemet said, ‘If they don’t sell their houses and estates to Yuzhnaya, then the houses might burn down.’

Within a month of threats being made, arson attacks began on the houses of the families who had refused to leave. The crimes have never been investigated.

The UK imports more coal from Russia than from any other country. Our electricity demand causes their suffering.

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