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 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.

The Scottish Wildlife Trust is pressing for changes so the environmental disaster that followed the bankruptcy of two opencast coal operators in Scotland 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.

As a consequence, it now looks like the taxpayer may have to pay to restore these internationally important peatlands. 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.

SHOCKING “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.

ROBUST “Internationally important blanket bog has been damaged and this provides habitat for species such as golden plover, short-eared owl and merlin.

“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.”