- Title: Norway's last coal miners fight for survival against climate policy
- Date: 19th September 2019
- Summary: GRUVE 7, LONGYEARBYEN, SVALBARD (RECENT - AUGUST 2019) (REUTERS) MINER, BENT JAKOBSEN, WALKING TO COALFACE VARIOUS OF JAKOBSEN PULLING PIECES OF COAL FROM WALL AND BREAKING THEM COAL (SOUNDBITE) (English) MINER, BENT JAKOBSEN, SAYING: "I had a father who had been working for 37 years in the mine. I had brothers working here. I had uncles working in the mine, so I've grown up in a mining family." COAL JAKOBSEN WALKING (SOUNDBITE) (English) MINER, BENT JAKOBSEN, SAYING: "I do hear everything they say about climate change but I know from the past we have had super mild winters, especially on Svalbard. I think it goes in cycles. When it comes to coal? This coal in mine 7, we don't use in the power plant, we use most of the coal in the metallurgic industry which we absolutely need. So we need coal for making cars and cellphones and so forth, but that is the thing that people don't think about. We don't have any good substitution yet." VIEW FROM TRANSPORT IN MINE SHAFT (SOUNDBITE) (English) MINER, BENT JAKOBSEN, SAYING: "You have a lot of jobs, both inside the mine and in the company, and around that are dependant on the coal miners so without us what do you we left? You have tourism? Well, tourism pollutes too, so I don't know." MINER PICKING UP HELMET FROM FLOOD MINER, ODD RUNE SVENNING, PUTTING ON HELMET SVENNING TURNING ON TORCH LIGHT ON HELMET SVENNING SITTING (SOUNDBITE) (English) MINER, ODD RUNE SVENNING, SAYING: "I don't know what this affects the climate, but for us it is sad, because this is one of the best coal in the world. We need coal and for us to get it out is maybe safer or better for both the people working there and the climate." DRILLING MACHINE (SOUNDBITE) (English) MINER, ODD RUNE SVENNING, SAYING: "It's an old tradition working here. We are the last ones. It feels more special I think than it might be before. This is the last opportunity." JAKOBSEN TALKING COAL (SOUNDBITE) (English) MINER, BENT JAKOBSEN, SAYING: "All I ever knew, for me it's super important. That's why Longyearbyen was founded because of coal mining, and we are fading out. We are the last ones." MACHINE DRIVING WITH COAL VIEW OF THE MINE OUT TO BAY STATUE OF MINER IN THE TOWN VARIOUS OF ABANDONED TOWERS FOR COAL CABLE CARS IN LONGYEARBYEN VARIOUS OF COAL BURNING POWER STATION
- Embargoed: 3rd October 2019 20:58
- Keywords: Mining Summit UNGA Svalbard Environment Arctic Climate Change Mine Coal UN
- Location: GRUVE 7, LONGYEARBYEN, SVALBARD
- City: GRUVE 7, LONGYEARBYEN, SVALBARD
- Country: Svalbard
- Topics: Environment,Editors' Choice,Climate Politics
- Reuters ID: LVA001AXCRZGN
- Aspect Ratio: 16:9
- Story Text: Crouching in a space just over one meter high, miner Bent Jakobsen rips pieces of coal from wall and breaks them apart with gloved hands.
"I've been working here for 14 years, and I love it," he says.
Jakobsen works in Gruve 7, the last fully operational coal mine in Norway, in the Arctic archipelago of Svalbard.
"I had a father who had been working for 37 years in the mine. I had brothers working here. I had uncles working in the mine, so I've grown up in a mining family," he says proudly.
Svalbard's main town, Longyearbyen, has a population of slightly more than 2,000 people and is the northernmost town on the planet.
The settlement was founded by American miner John Munro Longyear in 1906, then sold to Store Norske mining company in 1916.
Although it has a rich history of coal mining, the town faces a problem -- it's rapidly feeling the effects of climate change.
Since 1970, average annual temperatures have risen by 4 degrees Celsius in Svalbard, with winter temperatures rising more than 7 degrees, according to a report released by the Norwegian Centre for Climate Services in February. The "Climate in Svalbard 2100" report also warns that the annual mean air temperature in Svalbard is projected to increase by 7 to 10 degrees Celsius by the end of this century.
Statistically, Longyearbyen is the fastest heating town on the planet.
Working in the mine is tough, 8km into the mountainside of Adventdalen, where for almost half the year the sun never rises above it, miners are guided by just small head torches as they operate huge drills.
120-150,000 tonnes of coal is produced at the mine, 20 percent of which is used in the town's powerplant, with the rest sold to the Metallurgical industry in Germany.
Forty-five people work inside the mine.
Following pressure on an environmentally and financially conscious government, the state-owned company Store Norske, which owns the mine, suspended mining at two bigger mines on Svalbard in 2016.
In 2017, the government announced that it would permanently close all sites apart from Gruve 7.
Workers worry that eventually they will be the next to go, as Svalbard concentrates on becoming a tourist destination and moves away from its historic mining industry.
"I do hear everything they say about climate change but I know from the past we have had super mild winters, especially on Svalbard. It goes in cycles," Jakobsen says.
"Around here everything is dependant on the coal miners, so without us, what do we have left? We have tourism, well tourism pollutes too."
Odd Rune Svenning, 26, has worked in the mine for two years.
"It's an old tradition working here. We are the last ones. It feels more special I think than it might be before. This is the last opportunity," he says wistfully in the room where he changes into his mining gear.
"Longyearbyen was founded because of coal mining, and we are fading out. We are the last ones," Jakobsen says.
(Production: Alex Fraser) - Copyright Holder: REUTERS
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