PRESIDENT of the Board of Trade Michael Heseltine last night warned
MPs that present levels of Government subsidy to the coal industry are
likely to fall.
He was answering questions from the Environment Select Committee after
last month's demands by another Commons body for cash help to prevent
pit closures.
Mr Heseltine insisted: ''The subsidy for coal is, in my view,
extremely unlikely to be as large as the existing subsidy.''
A Trade and Industry Department spokeswoman said British Coal had
received a total subsidy of #17 billion since 1980.
Last month, the Trade and Industry Select Committee called for a #500m
rescue package to save some of the pits threatened with closure.
Mr Heseltine last night stonewalled most of the Environment Select
Committee's questions over the environmental effects of energy policy.
He repeatedly referred MPs to his White Paper on the industry's future
to be published later this month.
Chairman Robert Jones (Hertfordshire West -- Con.) said he might have
to ask him to come back after publication.
Mr Heseltine, pressed about the effect on industry of environmental
measures, warned: ''The moment you move from the October decisions there
will be a cost.''
He also spoke of the ''silence'' of the green lobby on his original
plans to close 31 pits, even though this would have been ''a significant
step forward'' for the environment.
A RIVER from which drinking water is drawn could be polluted if
threatened colliery closures are carried out and underground pumping
operations are halted, a report claimed last night. The National Rivers
Authority called in consultants to work out the possible outcome if
Durham's coastal pits at Seaham and Easington were closed and their
workings became flooded due to pumping being stopped.
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