Coal is king, declares Salmond as deep-mine revival signalled

The First Minister has given his backing to "clean-coal technology" which is being introduced to Scotland's two coal-fired power stations as well as a bid to open a new deep coal mine in Dumfriesshire.

Together, he believes these two developments could resurrect traditional coal mining in Scotland, which came to a halt in 2002 when the last deep mine shut at Longannet in Fife.

With energy at the top of the political agenda and the Scottish Executive opposed to any new nuclear power stations, Mr Salmond believes a new generation of coal mines could help meet Scotland's energy needs.

Mr Salmond's first official duty as First Minister was to welcome the decision by Scottish Power-Iberdrola to invest in new clean-coal technology at its two coal-fired stations, at Longannet and at Cockenzie near Edinburgh.

Deep-mined Scottish coal has always had a high sulphur content and this contributed to its downfall. Strict European rules banned using high- sulphur coal in power stations but clean-coal technology, which extracts 90 per cent of the sulphur, makes it viable again.

The clean-coal technology not only extracts the sulphur, curbing sulphur dioxide emissions, but it also cuts carbon dioxide emissions by a fifth.

Mr Salmond said: "Coal is king. I have called an old energy technology into existence to redress the balance of nuclear. If you can use clean-coal technology, coal has a dynamic future.

"It means coal, from being environmentally unacceptable, is becoming environmentally attractive. What people forget is that we have roughly 10 per cent of Europe's coal reserves."

With deep-mined coal now close to becoming viable again, Scottish Coal wants to open a new deep-coal mine at Canonbie in Dumfriesshire which is said to have reserves of 400 million tonnes, enough to run Longannet for 80 years.

Dacre Purchase, chief executive of Scottish Coal, said: "They're building a power station every week in China. We're thinking we did a good job building a wind turbine. We're completely missing the point.

"If we can't demonstrate to the rest of the world first-class clean-coal technology and sequestration, and be able to export that skill and knowledge, then frankly, we're paying lip service to the issue of greenhouse gases.

"I think Alex Salmond has got the right idea. Let's hope Westminster assists in the process."

Since 2002, when Longannet closed, all of Scotland's coal has been taken from open-cast sites.

After strong local objections, the Labour-led Scottish Executive began to tighten planning rules on open-cast mines and introduced a presumption against granting planning permission for any more open-cast applications - effectively halting the expansion of this form of mining.

But if Scottish Coal's plans for deep mines - at Canonbie and elsewhere - proceed as intended, and the clean-coal technology works as it should, there will be no need for companies to seek any more open-cast mines in Scotland.

SNP'S PLANS FOR GOVERNMENT

ALEX Salmond has started to reveal what the new SNP administration is going to do. In a series of areas, it will be radically different from before.

• Sex offenders: The SNP wants to work with the Tories to bring in tough restrictions, involving naming and shaming, satellite tracking and lie-detector tests.

• Free personal care: The SNP will commission an inquiry into free care for the elderly. This will be the first step in what ministers hope will be a successful campaign to retrieve 23 million a year in attendance allowance payments which, they believe, have been wrongly held back by the Treasury.

• Airborne Initiative: Kenny MacAskill, the justice secretary, is looking to see how a new, improved version of the project could be set up. The Airborne Initiative, which ran residential courses for repeat offenders aged 18 to 25, closed in 2004 after the Executive withdrew funding.

• Transport: Mr Salmond hinted the planned Edinburgh tram system and airport rail link could be far costlier than expected and might have to be dropped.

• Council tax: The SNP is to press ahead with plans to freeze council tax rates for two years before eventually scrapping the charge and replacing it with a local income tax.