Letters to the editor

Ideally placed to revive coal industry

Sir, - It is becoming more and more evident that our politicians are not genuinely concerned about the crucial issues surrounding our future (and increasing) need for dependable supplies of energy.

The latest example comes from Australia, where the government now wishes to cancel closure of the Liddell coal-fired station in New South Wales.

This should be of direct interest to us. Liddell generates almost as much electricity as did Longannet, and both stations were opened at the same time.

Whereas we were daft enough to close Longannet (as well as Cockenzie), the Aussies have decided that Liddell must be kept going.

And the simple reason is they have realised that all the ‘greenie ‘plans for renewables will not even cater for our ever-increasing demands for electricity, far less our existing base-load requirements.

Thus, Australia, like many other advanced countries, has woken up to the simple fact that coal must play a major role in keeping our lights on.

If we had grown-up and sensible politicians, that same thinking would apply; and we are ideally placed in central Scotland to revive our coal industry as a fuel supply for a new power station.

Picture: Press Association. Longannet was once the largest coal-fired power station in Europe.