From the beeb http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/wales/south_east/7323963.stm 

Demonstrators have chained themselves to excavation machinery at the site of an opencast coal mine near Merthyr Tydfil, stopping work.

South Wales Police confirmed about 30 protestors at the Ffos y Fran site.

They said protesters arrived at the site at around 0630 BST, and climbed on to machinery.

One of the main entrances has also been blocked. Police say they are currently supervising the situation. It is the second time protests have halted work.

The demonstrators say they are highlighting the "hypocrisy" of government claims it is tackling climate change.

Residents have already protested about the mine which will become one of Europe's biggest opencast sites.

In an e-mail sent to the BBC, the protestors said they intended to remain on the site for "several days".

They said coal had the biggest impact on climate change of any fuel and that the government was "supporting an outdated and dangerous technology that has no future".

Residents have claimed there will not be enough protection from noise, dust and pollution from the site and AMs debated plans for a 500m (1,640ft) buffer zone between houses and new opencast mining developments last month.

There has been anger that the opencast site had been allowed to go ahead with a buffer of just 40m (130ft) to the nearest homes.

Opponents of the scheme previously halted preparation work at the site in December by "occupying" two large excavating machines.

Developer Miller Argent (South Wales) has said the site will reclaim derelict land and bring benefits to the area.

Ffos-y-Fran will mine 10m tonnes of coal over 17 years.

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There is a classic work written by Charles Mackay entitled :
Extraordinary Popular Delusions & the Madness of Crowds.

http://www.amazon.com/Extraordinary-Popular-Delusions-Madness-Crowds/dp/051788433X 

I strongly recommend this book to anyone who wants a true insight into the modern hysteria of 'Climate Warming' and 'Green Issues'.

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I have real problems with this sort of thing.... surely all the usual enquiries went a head and all the usual precaution re dust and noise followed....
Around here we have had continuous open cast working for 30 years and in every case process is followed and people have had a voice stopping 2 sites where even I as a protagonist of creating local jobs agreed that the environmental damage outweighed the need for jobs. Overall people here have seen the bigger economic picture and even with the prospect of 5 years open cast next door the benefits to the community on aggregate where good. Plus they have ended up with a beautiful park, nice farm land, good industrial parks and higher value houses.
My point is the time to complain is at enquiry and from experience with enough belief you will win if the panel has any doubts.... we did twice, but locals here also understand that thanks to open casting some serious industrial eyesores were removed, property prices went up and their businesses thrived on the new industrial parks that followed.
Balance is everything!

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I'd like nothing better than to live right next to a whopping big mine or quarry.

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This area of over a thousand acres of derilict land was at the very heart of the iron making industry in Merthyr Tydfil, there are over 100 mine shafts and adits open on or very near to the surface and in a very dangerous condition this land reclamation scheme for that is what is! will also recover coal, reclaim 13 Ash rubbish tips, which when they were open were never regulated properly, one tip known as the hoover ash tip was never covered properly less than six inches of soil, when the wind blows this contaminated waste gets blown all over the place. the site will also provide work for over 300 people in the merthyr area for the next 17 years, some employed directly and others by sub contractors (206 by Miller Argent). Much needed jobs in this end of the valley.
I do have a vested interest in the site i am branch sec of Unite Union on site 😉
http://www.cwmbargoed.com/ 

Here is the rest of the quote from the BBC of an interview with Steve Tillman of Miller Argent as the first poster deemed to omit it,

Extremely disappointed'

Developer Miller Argent (South Wales) said as well as the break-in and seizure of heavy plant, police had also been told of an incident of suspected sabotage to a water treatment area last night.

Stephen Tillman, of Miller Argent, said: "Our primary concern is for the safety of our workforce on site. The protesters have once again potentially put lives at risk, and not just their own.

"Because this is a site of former quarries and coal workings we are uncovering former deep shafts and trespass, potentially encouraging others including local young people to do the same, is not just irresponsible behaviour but a criminal offence."

Miller Argent said it had called on police for assistance and was considering what further actions to take.

"We are extremely disappointed on behalf of our workforce and the people of Merthyr who want this reclamation to be completed, that protesters have tried to disrupt work once again."

Ffos-y-Fran will mine 10m tonnes of coal over 17 years.

Friends of the Earth Cymru said residents had been "badly let down" by the planning process and "peaceful protest is an inevitable consequence." :surrender: :surrender:

If I might make so bold 😉 The article appears to have been appreciably re-written since I originally posted the article. Comparing the quoted article with the current linked article they are very different. I wasn't making any political point, I just thought people might be interested to read it and might otherwise have not found it on the BBC site.

🙂

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Glad someone explained the waste land bit and the local benefits.... can't wait to see Friends of the Earth's job creation scheme for 300 jobs !!

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If I might make so bold 😉 The article appears to have been appreciably re-written since I originally posted the article. Comparing the quoted article with the current linked article they are very different. I wasn't making any political point, I just thought people might be interested to read it and might otherwise have not found it on the BBC site.

🙂

Thanks accepted,
My point being a lot of quotes are edited cut so that you do not get a fair picture of what is going on 😉

I'd like nothing better than to live right next to a whopping big mine or quarry.

It won't be a big whopping hole! its cut and fill method ::)

How has this apparent conflict of what was agreed and what has happened been allowed?

"Residents have claimed there will not be enough protection from noise, dust and pollution from the site and AMs debated plans for a 500m (1,640ft) buffer zone between houses and new opencast mining developments last month.

There has been anger that the opencast site had been allowed to go ahead with a buffer of just 40m (130ft) to the nearest homes."

130 feet from homes does seem a tad on the close side compared tp 1,640 feet.

I'd like nothing better than to live right next to a whopping big mine or quarry.

It won't be a big whopping hole! its cut and fill method ::)

Ahh shame .... but then even the big quarries get levelled off and made boring when they're done these days. Why they cant leave a few decent rockfaces and allow them to flood when they're done is beyond me..... instead folks queue up to get into the lake district to look at a bit of exposed rock and water.

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Appears to be a problem in Derbyshire as well.

http://www.indymedia.org.uk/en/2008/05/399727.html 

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Talking about opencast coal mining I've just Plonked Hambach, Germany, in the data base. Google map won't load for some reason but what I wanted to say is I can't believe the size of this machine.

The Hambach opencast coal mine has recently been brought to full output capacity through the addition of the No. 293 giant bucket wheel excavator. This is the largest machine in the world; it is twice as long as a soccer field and as tall as a building with 30 floors. To uncover the 2.4 billion tons of brown coal (lignite) found at Hambach, five years were required to remove a 200-m-thick layer of waste sand and to redeposit it off site. The mine currently yields 30 million tons of lignite annually, with annual capacity scheduled to increase to 40 million tons in coming years.

Edit
Some info and photo here.

http://www.pakkotoisto.com/vbulletin/showthread.php?t=18877&page=15 

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Thanks Carnkie. I've sorted the Google map out, a bit of an oddity, it didn't like a leading zero on the lat/long. Will have to have a look at that to prevent it happening again.

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I'm getting quite good at this. First the apostrophe (mind,that's caused trouble over the years) and now the zero. 🙂

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I'd like nothing better than to live right next to a whopping big mine or quarry.

It won't be a big whopping hole! its cut and fill method ::)

Dai

PM sent

Cheers

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I'd be protesting too if someone wanted to open an open cast mine at the end of the road...dust lorries noise lights blah blah blah...thankfully i'm not stupid enough to have bought a house near a potential site...but if i had i'd think about chaining myself to a JCB too!

Ffos-y-Fran in the news again in Wales. 20,000 tonnes a week extracted, but they can't deliver 3 lorry loads by road ;)

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/wales/8260010.stm 

A steam railway says it is being forced to import coal from Russia because an opencast mine three miles away is not allowed to supply them.

The Ffos-y-Fran opencast mine said planning conditions preventing them from delivering coal by road mean they cannot supply Brecon Mountain Railway.

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Its a crazy situation they wont let 3 lorries travel from the site a matter of 3 miles to the customer. but they will allow the same number of lorries travel from the docks with coal, which has traveled half way around the world, what idiots! :devil: :stupid: