We’re in a hole, so let’s stop digging

Feb 5 2009 by Ben Guy, The Journal

INTERNATIONALLY-renowned health expert Wales-based Dr Dick van Steenis is stepping in to help a North East community in its battle to stop an opencast mining site being built nearby. Ben Guy talks to him.

DR Dick van Steenis, an expert in industrial air pollution and its effects on health, has spent 15 years studying the effects of opencast mining on nearby residents.

He claims it is practically impossible to carry out the practice safely above ground in the UK.

Dr van Steenis is working with opponents of an HM Developments-proposed mine close to Halton Lea Gate, Northumberland, and said that any opencast site could have serious health implications for those living nearby. And his comments could have implications for a number of other controversial sites across the North East, including developments near Morpeth and Bedlington in Northumberland and Tow Law in County Durham.

Dr van Steenis claims that research shows that no opencast mining should be carried out within three miles of a population, making it almost impossible for development firms to find potential sites in England. The doctor, a former GP, said that tiny dust particles called PM1 and PM2.5 given off by opencast sites have been shown to have a detrimental effect on health.

He said: “The first problem is the bulldozers and the emissions they put out. Problem number two is the stuff that’s thrown up by the bulldozers – it is when these particles get into the breathing tubes that they start up an inflammation which causes asthma.

“It can also lead to health problems such as heart attacks, strokes and clinical depression.

“The fact is that it can only be done safely underground or three miles from a population – in Wales they now have a 500-metre barrier, which is still inappropriate but at least it is a start. In Australia and America they do it about 20 miles away from towns – it is only in England that it is such a free-for-all. The barriers need to be wider.”