Earth Equity News

Spain Wins E.U. Approval to Subsidize Coal for 4 More Years. By James Kanter and Raphael Minder, NYTimes, 9/29/10. "The European Commission on Wednesday gave Spain permission to subsidize its domestic coal industry for four more years, prompting sharp criticism from environmental groups who said the measure risked damaging efforts to transition to cleaner energy. The measure was one of the most controversial decisions made so far by Joaquín Almunia, a former leader of the Spanish Socialists, since he took over as the E.U. commissioner for competition early this year. Spain was seeking to cushion conditions for workers in coal mines that are unprofitable and could face closure. The fate of the coal mines spiraled this month into a major labor dispute, with a group of miners in northern Spain staging a sit-in 500 meters, or 1,600 feet, underground to protest a failure to pay wages, while their colleagues held the third day of a nationwide strike. After news of the Brussels approval, the underground miners called off the sit-in. The Spanish government said the measure was necessary to ensure the security of electricity supply because the country remained insufficiently interconnected with other major European electricity markets, and because the country had a high share of wind and solar sources that deliver power intermittently. Coal is also a sensitive issue for the government of José Luis Rodríguez Zapatero because the prime minister comes from the coal heartland of León."