Just goes to show that P.T. Barnum was right.... there's a sucker born every minute.
Thatcher became a major hate figure for the Welsh in the 80s somewhat unfairly. The miners held successive governments to ransom and the electricity generators finally had enough. They stockpiled at least six months supply of coal and increasingly bought in cheap coal from overseas mainly Australia. The miner's leader Arthur Scargill also called a national strike without a ballot in the summer, not very bright. To be fair though, it did have a profound effect on the Welsh Valleys and indeed Yorkshire where I live.
I live in South Yorkshire boyo, so spare me your bullshit for somebody else. I've also seen Brassed Off many times.
UCG can be used to extract methane and hydrogen from coal seams, the hydrogen to provide clean electricity using alkaline fuel cells of the type being developed by AFC or to power the cars of the future. The methane can be used to produce power or as a feedstock for the chemical industry. This is a fledgling technology which could become massive in the future, predictably the usual suspects are against it.
