Hirwaun Power £200m Cynon Valley power plant plan

Gas fuelled power station, eh? And where will that gas come from? Russia perhaps? It all sounds like great news doesn't it? If it works out I'll welcome it, but I have my doubts about all this.

When they spout about opencast mines in Cynon Valley again, the jobs carrot is dangled in front of the local specimens in the council chamber, who fall over themselves in anticipation. It doesn't work out like that though, as the jobs are filled by outside contractors, and local people don't get a look in. Could this new power station be the same once it's up and running?

Despite the assurances of the energy companies involved with opencast mining, coal is still the dirtiest of fuel, and no matter what the deniers assert, it is responsible for high levels of CO2 emissions that add to the looming crisis of climate change.

Thus when permission is granted for opencast mines, it's clear that the planning committee has no idea whatsoever about the science behind climate change, and that they are going to be responsible for adding to an already dangerous problem for the future. And I don't mean 100 years from now, for it could happen any time from now on. We just don't know for sure, other than that it is going to happen, and we are poking a vicious sleeping monster if we continue on that road.

As to this proposed new power station, I'm wary about the gas supplies that may come from Russia. Even the Middle East is now precarious, so we may end up being blackmailed by errant Middle Eastern states in the near future.

I know it's not popular, not even amongst environmentalists, but for me, nuclear is the only option we have in Britain. The unfortunate thing is that it's an emotive issue, and Chernobyl and Fukushima raise their heads whenever it's mentioned. But it is still the safest and cleanest of energy sources.

I can't go into all the pros and cons here, but suffice it say that I've gone from being very anti-nuclear to realising its great potential in the light of my readings and researches over the years. I'm now a convinced pro-nuclear advocate.

Still, this gas fuelled station seems to hold some promise, but I'd approach it with caution, as the instability of global sources makes it a bit precarious to say the least. It's got to be better than ripping the area apart with dirty opencast coal mining that's for sure. Coal is now yesterday, and has no place left in a world where climate change is becoming a threat to us all due to our over indulgence in this and other hydro carbon fuels.

Like Merthyr Borough Council, if RCT Council follows suit and gives planning permission for another opencast mine at Llwydcoed then it will be glaringly obvious that their view on the looming climate change crisis is one of total ignorance, or gutlessness in the face of pressure from the energy company involved.

Yes, jobs are very important, but that's the short term view, and perfectly understandable in an area like Cynon Valley where poverty and joblessness is the norm. But the long term cost will be astronomic in comparison to what we'll gain from the jobs (which may be fictitious anyway) going in this opencast proposal.

Agree to this site and we'll be handing our children a poison chalice that they'll not thank us for. As to the gas power station, I'm willing to listen, but with deep reservations for reasons I've already given. I just feel very suspicious about a company like this wanting to come here in the first place. What's the attraction? Grants, or a pliable council who won't ask too many questions?

We wait and see.

Well we are importing thousands of tonnes of coal from china and Russia to fuel our power stations and the transport bringing that to the uk added to burning the coal far out dies any harm a gas powered station produces, as I see this provided the environmental assessment shows that locally residents won't be affected then I'm all for this development as the £200 million will be a shot in the arm for construction, the 30 long term jobs will be welcomed and it will be far less harmful than the current coal power stations that import coal

Gibbsy, you forget that Thatcher in her eternal wisdom and foresightedness, closed all our mines. She, and her followers in the Tory and Labour parties also sold off all our assets to foreigners with fat cheque books. Kinda makes you proud to be British don't it? That's if we had anything left to be proud of after the sell off by these treacherous rogues in both parties.

Having said that, we are better off without coal as it's a filthy fuel, and there's no point getting sentimental about it just because we were once a major coal mining area. Its use as a fuel released millions of tons of locked up CO2, that had lain there for hundreds of millions of years, and the result will be something our children and their children will have to deal with.

Of course, our politicians, from the top down, don't believe any of that, which is why they still give planning permission to opencast companies to carry on business as usual, as if there's no tomorrow and no day of reckoning to come. Jobs, you see; the magic word that means good prospects for the short term, but a bloody disaster in the long term.

Still, as we've seen here at local level, long term thinking and what the people themselves want, does not enter into the equation.