The Scotsman - Two little words could kill king coal

This article ran Saturday:

IT SOUNDS like a quibble over a two-word change in Scotland’s planning law but, say coal industry leaders and trades unions, the words are casting a shadow over one of the last Scottish heavy industries.

Changing the general "presumption for" in the planning legislation for new developments to "presumption against" threatens the remnants of a once-mighty Scottish coal industry, and with it 2,800 remaining jobs.

David Brewer, director general of the Confederation of UK Coal Producers (CoalPro) told the Scottish Parliament’s communities committee last week, the adoption of the "presumption against" planning consent for new opencast mines in England has "driven the industry to extinction" south of the Border.

Because opencast accounts for roughly half of Britain’s coal supply, the proposed weighting would necessitate a drastic rethink of UK energy security...

Today's update: http://thescotsman.scotsman.com/business.cfm?id=260872005

FEARS remained for the future of Scotland’s coal mining industry last night as industry and trades union leaders declared themselves unappeased by reassurances over the effect of controversial new planning guidelines on opencast mining jobs, and vowed to continue their opposition.

Speaking in response to comments to Holyrood’s communities committee by deputy minister for communities Johann Lamont, David Brewer, director general of the confederation of UK Coal Producers (CoalPro) accused the minister of "missing the point" of their objection to the rule change...

Holyrood is the Scottish parliament building. Like the White House, or 10 Downing Street, 'Holyrood' is often used to mean the occupants instead of the structure.