British Columbia is putting its green face on, but its heart is black as coal.
Members of the Wilderness Committee stood outside the Vancouver convention centre Wednesday -- the venue of BC Mining Week -- to protest the government's duality when it comes to climate change.
"This province claims to be a leader in climate change, yet we're actually ramping up our export in the dirtiest fossil fuel of them all, coal," said campaigner Ben West, flanked by a protester dressed up as a dinosaur. "Coal mining needs to go the way of the dinosaur, it needs to stay in the ground."
According to a PricewaterhouseCoopers report released Wednesday, the province earned $2.3 billion off the mining industry in 2009, though coal exports fell from 22.3 million tonnes to 16.9 million tonnes.
Coal represents the largest mining export in the province -- much of it going to developing nations, according to West.
"If anything, we should be helping the developing world kick the coal habit, not profiting off of it," he said. "It's our job to lead the way, promoting coal mining is a step in the wrong direction."
Matt Kieltyka reports for 24 Hours Vancouver.
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kootenay
2 years ago
Technical Note
I agree that we should be finding other ways to generate energy than by burning coal.
However, a significant percentage of coal is used in the metallurgical industry, steel manufactoring being one of the major users.
Ben West's statement is rather uninformed.
Sask Resident
2 years ago
Coal Exports
This year's coal exports will be over 20 million again and prices are up although no really high. Like Kootenay noted, most of the BC coal goes to make steel, with a portion of the carbon migrating into the iron to produce carbon steel. A little coal isn't exported but is used in cement klinkers (50% of total) such as at Exshaw.
Alberta and Sask mine thermal coal in a number of locations for use at site to produce electricity. Ontario buys all their thermal and coking coal from the US, both from the Appalachians and Wyoming.
max von smartt
2 years ago
bc is for sale
be it raw virgin timber, fish farm squatting rights, coal mining or hydro power for export, bc is 4 sale!! ps we got the most overpriced real estate on the kontinent too.
YCSTS
2 years ago
hypocrisy or corruption
Yep, OK to mine & export that Coal, but won't allow Uranium Mining. Uranium being the Cleanest form of Energy. Coal the dirtiest.
This site compares the environmental footprints of an open pit (worst case) Uranium mine with a Coal Mine. The Uranium Mine produces 9X the energy of the Coal Mine, burnt in an exceedingly low efficiency GenII LWR, from an area 1/3rd the size. So get your priorities straight.
http://enochthered.wordpress.com/2009/01/09/the-environmental-footprints-of-coal-and-uranium-mining/