THE Scottish Wildlife Trust is calling for the damage caused by opencast coal mining to be paid for by the companies that make profit from coal mining, and not by local communities and the taxpayer.

The Cowdenbeath-Lochgelly area suffered the biggest dereliction issue when the Westfield site, between Kinglassie and Ballingry, was left virtually unrestored when coaling ceased 20 years ago.

There was also concerns about the St Ninian’s opencast site at Kelty and Muir Dean, at Crossgates, when the coaling companies went into administration but Hargreaves has taken on these two sites.

The Trust, in its response to the Scottish Government’s Consultation on Opencast Coal Restoration and Effective Regulation, is calling for better financial regulation to ensure mining companies pay the full cost of the environmental restoration work to avoid a Westfield situation happening again. The Scottish Wildlife Trust is pressing for changes so the environmental disaster that followed the bankruptcy of two opencast coal operators in Ayrshire cannot be repeated.

When the coal operators went bust it emerged that there was not adequate financial provision to pay for the compensatory environmental work needed. Living Landscape Policy Officer for the Scottish Wildlife Trust, Bruce Wilson, said, “The Scottish Wildlife Trust wants to see cast-iron guarantees so that taxpayers will not have to bear the burden for the environmental clean-up of opencast coal extraction.

“It is clear that the ‘polluter pays principle’ should be applied to coal companies so that local communities and wildlife don’t have to put up with natural habitats being trashed and dealing with contaminated land and water. Unfortunately, there have been some recent cases that in all honesty are truly shocking.

“The proper safeguards have not been in place to ensure that the environmental damage caused by coal mining is paid for by the mining companies”.

These habitats will now not be restored as per restoration agreements. “The Scottish Wildlife Trust wants to see robust, transparent safeguards put in place in the future to put the cost of cleaning up damage on those that profit from it,” he added. Hargreaves’ involvement in the Muir Dean and St Ninian’s sites will ensure that these sites will be properly restored but the Westfield issue continues to be a problem.