Dear Sirs, Energy and Climate Change Committee – Deep Mining in the UK

was grateful to have the opportunity to give oral evidence earlier this week to the Energy and Climate Change Committee during its session on deep coal mining in the UK. During the session, witnesses were invited to submit any additional information, which may be helpful to the Committee’s deliberations. I am pleased, therefore, to make this additional submission on behalf of CoalImp, the Association of UK Coal Importers. Please note that this submission is not confidential. CoalImp represents major coal users (including most of the coal-fired generators in the UK), rail companies, ports and other infrastructure and service providers in the coal supply chain. The twenty two members (listed on the CoalImp website i) account for the handling, transportation and use of the majority of imported supplies into the country, in turn representing the majority of all coal supplied to the electricity industry. I am attaching CoalImp’s new report Coal – a manifesto for affordable energy, also available from our website www.coalimp.org.uk. This document provides a comprehensive overview of our thinking on a broad range of policy areas, as well as including information and graphics which the Committee may find helpful. It also touches on a number of areas discussed in the evidence session, which I have highlighted below. Coal is a secure and affordable resource 1. Coal resources are super-abundant and are spread across all continents. Proven world coal reserves amount to around 1,000 billion tonnes, equivalent to 130 years supply at current rates of usage ii, with the largest reserves in the USA and China, which are also the largest users. 2. Coal-fired electricity is the most secure and flexible low-cost capacity on the system; and with coal generally less than half the price of gas it is a key element in managing energy bills, fuel poverty and UK energy competitiveness. Even given a short term fall in the price of gas, in the long run, over-dependence on any one commodity increases both financial and geopolitical risk