IT’S A burning issue – setting seams of coal deep underground alight to produce a range of combustible gases like methane and hydrogen. Now Brian Wilson, the energy minister, tells me that the Department of Trade and Industry is to assess the environmental impact of underground coal gasification (UCG). It seems to me that with the once much-vaunted Selby coalfield due for closure because of “geological difficulties” UCG could yet help Britain to meet its need for a plentiful energy source.
According to the British Geological Survey, there is far more coal untapped beneath the British sector of the North…
