Concerning foreign cheap coal:

An argument used quite frequently is the German hard coal's price. This means that the German hard coal sometimes costs - before the subsidies - about 140 Euros per ton and by that it is in no way competitive so that there is no justification for a further going on of German mining.

For being able to agree or disagree, different aspects of the price need to be analyzed. An interesting report about this topic can be ordered at www.revierkohle.de. The chairman of the Revierkohle, Mr. Blach, has treated this aspect in the report called "cheap imported coal - is it really cheap ?". The figures and facts on this page are taken from this report. (Annotation: The title of the report is just a translation of the German one - as far as I know it cannot be bought in English, yet.)

By clicking on the names of the different regions you will get an overview of the situation in the corresponding hard coal mining industry and get some pieces of information about the future of mining and it's effects on humans and the environment in these areas. As examples I chose South America, Eastern Europe and China, because they show very dramatically, what the differences in prices result from and which consequences for whole generations of humans and the environment are coinciding with that.

The mining is not organized and this can be seen very clearly in the fact that there are more than 1.200 collieries. This is underlined by the fact that only 15 million tons of coal is exported per year. The lack of organization is dramatically visible when looking at the working conditions, being marked by a heavy burdon on the human body. At the same time labour force is nearly unorganized, so that the workers are delivered to their employers' will without any protection and, additionally, as monthly wages they get less than what has to be payed for a craftsman's working HOUR in Germany. Often children have to start working in these collieries at the age of six.

The reason for the low price of Columbian coal is the high national debt in this country and coinciding with that the need of foreign exchange. Most coal is produced under very simple conditons. This means that the easily reachable coal seams are exploited and the whole overburden is left collapsing, without preparing other coal seams for future production. As a consequence, the costs are much lower than in Germany, for example, but it has to be pointed out that the coal production will have to be finished very soon, because the simple mining causes a loss of the chance for a future mining for ever.

This shows that the higher prices in Germany partially result from money invested today in order to have the possibility of a future coal production.

Today there are 65 collieries in Poland. When looking at it today - if there is no investment into the future of the mining industry - the coal deposits will be exploited in about 20 years. This example shows very well that - because of the lack of preparation for the future - we cannot count on the so called "safe" suppliers.

The coal is produced under very poor conditions concerning work and environment and it has a very poor quality so that it does not cost more than 40 dollars per ton. This shows us that the costs are higher in Germany, but that the coal's quality is much better and more constant.

The environmental aspect may not be forgotten, as well. The CO-2-emissions in the coal regions of Silesia are nearly 200 times of the countries average and several hundred thousand cubic metres of water from the collieries are led into the rivers without being cleaned. The children's mortality rate of about 55 % should not be possible in a central European country at the beginning of the 21^st century.

This example shows very clearly that a total neglect of the future and of environmental aspects makes coal seem very cheap at first sight, but the consequences for future generations cannot be compensated with the whole world's money.

This uncoordinated mining supports the miserable situation in Southern China, as well. Even the easiest measures for safety are not present in these collieries, the miners sometimes work with a pocket lamp and a pickaxe, measures in order to aviod firedamp explosions are not taken. The average payment for a miners who works under these conditions is about 30 Euros per year (!).

The following annotation has to be done: The collieries of this report are in private ownership. The German hard coal mining company cooperates with some other collieries in public ownership , where the corresponding measures concerning safety etc. are taken.

Based on what I mentionned before I am brave and predict that if only the follow-up costs that can be estimated today are considered the German hard coal will be cheaper than the one from some other countries, because just the predictable consequences show us a bad future: The environment will be devastated for years. Because of this fact the people will not be able to live there and get their food from there. The residents of these areas are not sick just because of their poor working conditions, but also because of their surroundings. Additionally there is a high children mortality rate, weakening future generations, as well. The situation concerning apprenticeship will not get better in these regions, so there is no future.

Finally it can be said that it is more sensible for the residents of these areas, if "wealthier" industrial countries do not buy their coal. The only way out are good projects supporting education and apprenticeship in order to offer a future to the people living there. I want to emphasize once again that it cannot be an argument to give the people employment and "wealth" by buying their coal - there are too many negative aspects compensating the very low wages the workers get.

And finally please do not forget: The environment being devastated by that kind of mining is the same we are living in !