Horror of Margam Opencast

delph246, on December 25, 2008, said:

i dont think it is that bad considering at least men do not have to go underground and get dust in there lungs to bring the coal to the surface,, ask any old miner it is no place for a man to work underground in the pit,, the lnd will recover ,yes it will be different, but this has also kept men employed for as ong s i can remember it was there near the old tondu junior school next to the old brick works when i was in the school in the mid to late 60s, it is in its self a work in progrese it will in time maybe not our time but it will recover , we need the energy that is below the ground, or would you rather have a nice nucluar power station there instead ,

gballuk, on December 26, 2008, said:

I agree that this opencast has been here for far too long---40 years in fact!! The miners may not be getting dust in their lungs( they work in air conditioned cabs). Instead it blows on all the surrounding communities, polluting them instead! As for the land recovering, no doubt it will in hundreds of years time, but in our life times the quality of the soil will be poor and plant growth slow. This does not replace what was there before. The way forward is to invest heavily in renewable energy, and I don't mean just wind turbines, but also tidal and solar. Fossil fuels will soon run out.