Opposition to Lignite Mining

Speech by David Ford delivered to Assembly on Tue 3rd Jul 2007

I thank Daithí McKay for securing this Adjournment debate. I assure him that the lignite mine proposal is not only opposed by the four parties represented in the Executive, but by the five groups in the Assembly.

During a previous election campaign, I had the opportunity to meet representatives from the Just Say No to Lignite campaign, and I congratulate them on their extremely effective lobbying, the evidence that they produced and the key way in which they addressed the issue. It is therefore a matter of considerable disappoint­ment that the threat of the mine is still floating around. Although the proposal was said to have been abandoned three years ago, it has not yet been seen off. I am concerned that the proposal is protected under the guise of a planning policy to protect a resource when, in fact, it is preserving a threat.

The exploitation of lignite was considered in the 1980s in the Crumlin area - a short distance south from where the present threat exists - and I remember the extent of the planning blight that existed at that time, over what was a smaller area than the area from Ballymoney to Stranocum, which is currently threatened.

As the intruder from the next-door constituency, I do not intend to repeat all the arguments that have been made. Mervyn Storey highlighted the economic problems - in particular the threat to tourism - that would arise if lignite mining were developed. If Members refer to the statistics that show how much tourism contributes to the Northern Ireland economy, they will see that it is a key area that must be considered.

Rev Coulter discussed the general problems that arise from the use of fossil fuels, including global warming and various other environmental difficulties. Acid rain would be a problem, not just in the immediate locality, but potentially over a wide area from Donegal to Ayrshire. The environmental damage that would be caused in the immediate area by the digging of a huge opencast mine can scarcely be exaggerated.

A proposal for harvesting alternative energy on the north coast attracted suggestions that to put wind turbines out at sea would destroy the landscape forever. Those who used such language need to get real. There is absolutely no doubt that a 500-foot-deep hole, infringing on seven townlands, would destroy that landscape forever.

To consider the problem seriously, we must - as Declan O'Loan did in the last part of his contribution - identify appropriate alternative environmentally friendly energy resources in Northern Ireland. It is not enough to say simply that there should be no lignite mine in North Antrim. We must consider the contribution that we can make. The wind in Northern Ireland is a better resource than is available in virtually any other part of Europe. We should use it to play our part in reducing the threat of global warming.

I hope that the Minister will address the threat of lignite mining to the north Antrim countryside and give us an assurance that, in the execution of her wider environmental responsibilities, she will co-operate with the Minister of Enterprise, Trade and Investment to ensure that we develop relevant environmentally friendly energy sources, rather than persist with lignite mining.

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