The coal debate
Mushfique Wadud delves into debate surrounding the extraction of coal in the country
Development initiatives in this country are often marred by indecisiveness on the part of the government, shifting between radically divergent views on the same issue. The recent fiasco over the Detail Area Plan for Dhaka, best illustrates the situation. The situation with regards to coal in the country is also not much different.
There is no doubt that coal can be an important source of energy to the country in the years to come. However, issues such as whether coal should be extracted through open pit mining, whether coal should be extracted by foreign companies or whether coal should be exported, have left the country in a limbo with regards to the use of coal.
While power failure cripples the nation with each passing year, coal, according to many experts, could have been an alternate source of generating electricity. Till date, 80 per cent of electricity in the country is produced from gas and at present, there is an acute gas crisis in the country. Many countries in the world use coal to produce electricity. In South Africa, 94 per cent electricity is produced by coal, 93 per cent in Poland, 81 per cent in China, 76 per cent in Australia, 71 per cent in Israel and 68 per cent in India.
In 2005, the then government in power made an attempt for the first time to draft a coal policy. Petrobangla handed IIFC the task to prepare a draft coal policy which they submitted in 2006. The draft was sent to the then prime minister Khaleda Zia, who was also responsible for the Energy and Mineral Resources Ministry at that time. From the prime minister's office, a five member committee was formed, headed by an additional secretary of the Ministry of Energy and Mineral Resources, for expert's opinion and recommendations.
This was the beginning of many such committees to come and go, a stock pile of recommendations being inserted into the draft and yet the policy is still to see the light of day.
On August 9, news agency UNB reported, quoting the Energy Secretary Mezba Uddin Ahmed, that the long-expected coal policy had almost been finalised. The energy secretary also said, after finalising the coal policy at the ministry level, it will be submitted to the prime minister as per her directives.
Many fear that the prime minister's office is where the policy will once again languish.
The draft coal policy suggests some important issues. The policy suggests that the country should ensure energy for 50 years. The policy emphasises on the government sector to extract coal, but there is a provision to take private organisations for the development of coal. The policy also discourages export, saying that the present reserve of coal can best be used till 2035, so there is no option for export. On open pit mining, the draft suggests that there can be a test option in one part of the mine to judge whether open pit mining can be used. The draft policy also advocates creating an organisation by the name Coal Bangla, through which this sector will be developed.
According to sources, government will finalise the new coal policy based on the directions of the previous policy. In the new policy, no method of extraction has been suggested. The other options are more or less the same.
'The coal policy is not necessarily essential for extracting coal,' says M Tamim, former energy advisor to the caretaker government. 'There is a mining law and we can start extracting coal on the basis of that law which can be amended if necessary. We are wasting time by not taking any decision,' he says.
'We had suggested certain initiatives when we submitted our recommendations on the coal policy in 2007,' says Abdul Matin Patwari, the head of one coal committee, also the former Vice Chancellor of BUET. 'Some of the recommendations were within a three-year timeframe. If those initiatives had been started, it would have been done now. But the government did not take any initiatives,' he says.
'We should start the process without any delay,' he adds.
In 2005, when UK-based company, Asia Energy Corporation (Bangladesh) Pty Ltd, wanted to go for open pit mining in the Phulbari coal basin, people of the area begana movement against open-pit mining as they feared open pit mining would harm the environment and their arable land. The movement was under the leadership of the Oil-Gas Mineral Resources and Power-Port Protection National Committee. During the protest, many people were injured while some were killed.
According to Anu Mohammad, the convener of the committee, their movement is against open pit mining, exporting coal and foreign company ownership in coal mining.
'We want a ban on open pit mining, ban on export of natural resources and that the ownership will be ours, that is, we are against any foreign company,' says Anu.
The main controversy, at present, surrounds the mining process. While one group thinks that open pit mining is the best process to extract coal, another group thinks that open pit mining will harm the environment and will create problems for people who earn their livings through farming in the area.
'According to experts, it is clear that open pit mining is not the best option for Bangladesh. Many environmental problems can be caused if we go for open pit mining,' says Anu.
There are, mainly, two processes in which coal can be extracted. One is open pit mining and the other, underground mining. In recent times, some countries convert coal into gas inside the mine and then use the coal, a process called gasification. Open pit mining is a process in which coal is directly extracted from the coal basin. In this process, 90 to 95 per cent coal can be extracted. However, there can be serious adverse effects on the environment because of open pit mining.
On the other hand, through the underground mining process, only 20 to 25 per cent coal can be extracted. At the Barapukuria Coal Mine, a Chinese company is extracting coal. However, according to some experts, only 10 per cent of the available coal can actually be extracted. The mine, despite being underground, has also impacted the environment adversely.
Dr. Badrul Imam, a professor of geology at the University of Dhaka says that open pit or underground, both are unsuitable coal extracting methods for Bangladesh. He thinks that the geological settings of Bangladesh are not suitable for open pit mining.
According to Badrul, the depth of the coal basin in our country is the reason why we cannot use open pit mining. The famous mining company, BHP Billiton, did not start mining in Barapukuria because of the depth of the mining basin.
In 1997, BHP discovered a coal basin in Barapukuria and the company wanted to start open pit mining there. 'BHP estimated that if coal was within 100 metres or less inside the basin, one could go for open pit mining. But in Phulbari, the depth of coal was 150 metres to 250 metres,' Badrul wrote in one of his articles published in a booklet titled 'Jatiya Sampad'.
'After realising that it was not suitable, BHP handed over the coal basin to Asia Energy,' Badrul wrote in the same article.
'If Barapukuria is not suitable for open pit mining due to its depth, then other mines cannot be suitable for open pit mining either as the other basins are deeper,' he wrote in the same article. According to Badrul, in Khalishpur, the depth is 260 to 450 metres, in Dighinala 250 to 350 metres and in Jamalganj, 600 metres.
On the other hand, Zobaer Zaman, a geologist, thinks that for the interest of the country, Bangladesh should go for the open pit mining. 'Some people say that open pit mining should be banned. Why should a proven and widely practicing technology be banned?' Zaman wrote in an article in a reputed Bengali daily. Zaman estimates that after the mining is finished, the land can be used in three to five years.
'No matter which method you follow, there will be some bad impact on the environment. But for this bad impact, we cannot stop mining as we need our natural resources. We should figure out how to lessen the impacts. There can be impact assessment,' says Muhammad Qumrul Hassan, the professor of geology at the University of Dhaka.
'Coal policy should be independent and mine-related,' says Tamim. '"We do not want open mining" is a political slogan. Whether it is open pit mining or anything else depends on technology. You can never dictate technology. The mining method will be selected according to the condition of the mine,' he adds.
Badrul and some other experts think that gasification is the method best suited for Bangladesh. As the country cannot extract coal by open pit mining or by other methods due to the depth of the coal basin, the coal can best be used by gasification. According to experts, South Africa extensively extracted coal through gasification. In 2007, the country started its gasification project with which they made electricity. There are many testing and commercial gasification projects in South Africa, Australia, China, India, Pakistan, Uzbekistan and New Zealand.
'The idea of underground coal gasification has been developing in different countries in a way that this technology might change the idea of coal usage in the future,' Badrul wrote in his article.
'In this method, we can extract coal by not causing harm to the environment. Bangladesh should take up some experimental projects of gasification,' he wrote.
'With the gasification project, we can use coal and at the same time, save the environment from bad effects,' says former director-general of the Power Division, B D Rahmatullah.
'Through gasification, we can extract coal from large and short depths. The method is also suitable if there is a huge underground water reserve in the coal basin as is the case in Bangladesh's coal basins,' he adds.
However, M Tamim points out that underground gasification has some problems. 'In case of gasification, only 20 per cent of coal can be extracted,' he says. He also is of the opinion that this method is expensive.
'This is a very expensive method. We have to think whether it will be viable when we will only get 20 per cent of the coal reserve,' he adds. According to him, there are only two or three gasification projects around the world.
Another objection of the national committee is the provision to export coal. Anu thinks that the Asia Energy project has not yet ended. In the project, there was a provision for 80 per cent coal to be exported.
'Some people say that we need coal to solve the electricity crisis. If 80 per cent has to be exported, then how will you solve the power problem?' asks Anu. 'Sometimes, it seems that the open pit mining is suggested so that foreign companies can export the coal to foreign countries,' he adds.
'The option of export came when the government did not ensure the purchase of coal from the foreign company,' says Tamim. 'But as Bangladesh now needs coal to produce power, the company will not suggest export, because if Bangladesh buys the coal, the company will be relieved of the transportation cost,' he says. 'The issue of export does not come at all, at the moment,' he adds.
Another objection of the national committee is the extraction being done by a foreign company. 'We can employ foreign experts but the ownership should be ours,' says Anu.
'Like the power plant, we can call an open tender and thus take a decision on the extraction of coal,' says Rahmatullah, a leader of the Oil, gas and mineral resource protection committee. 'We should develop the human resources for coal extraction. Our natural resources have to be developed,' he adds.
'Some people do not understand that this task requires a good sum of money. That is why, we need foreign companies in this sector,' says Tamim.
Bangladesh's coal reserve
According to Dr Md Badrul Imam, a coal basin was discovered in Jamalganj, the northern part of Bangladesh, in 1962.
Following the Jamalganj coal basin, four more basins were discovered in Rangpur and Dinajpur. Coal extraction began only in the Dinajpur coal basin, where the underground coal mining method was used. According to the draft coal policy, coal extraction from the Jamalganj coal basin would be out of the question due to the 640-1158 metres of depth of the basin. The rest of the coal basins have around 1,168 million tons of coal. The draft coal policy also says that if open pit mining method is followed, 90 per cent, that is, 1,050 million tons of coal can be extracted.
On the other hand, if underground coal extraction method is followed, 20 per cent, that is, 235 million tons of coal can be extracted. Furthermore, according to the draft coal policy, the Barapukuria (Dinajpur) coal basin was discovered in 1985-1987, where there are 31 drilled wells with depth of about 118 to 509 metres. The proven reserve in this coal basin is at 303 million tons.
The Khalishpur basin at Rangpur was discovered in 1989-1990. The basin has around 14 drilled wells with a depth of around 257 to 483 metres. The proven reserve at this basin stands at 143 million tons.
The Phulbari (Dinajpur) coal basin, discovered in 1997, has a depth of around 150-240 metres. The proven reserve at the basin is 572 million tons.
The Dhighipara coal basin at Dinajpur was discovered in 1994-1995. The depth of this coal basin is 328-407 metres with a proven reserve of 150 million tons.
Open pit mining
Open pit mining is one of the two methods of coal extraction. The mining procedure is preferred usually as 90 per cent of coal can be extracted from basins through it whereas only 20 per cent coal can be extracted through the underground mining procedure.
Gasification is the third method of coal mining, where coal is transformed to gas and the gas is used for energy.
According to experts, the open pit mining method can cause serious environmental problems.
According to a power point presentation by Khalequzzaman, the associate professor of Geology at the Lock Haven University, USA, if not done properly, coal mining can negatively impact landscape, soils, surface water, ground water, air and human health during all phases of exploration and use. He provides the example of Pennsylvania, which has the largest deposit of coal in USA and where mining has continued since 1760. There, the mine area is over 250,000 acres of mined area. Due to open pit mining over the years, the total damage is worth over $16 billion. According to him, high cancer and autism rates are prevalent in Pennsylvania (PA) due to coal-burning power plants. He shows that the water quality in PA was affected following the Coal Mining and currently, there are no fish species in the rivers & streams of the state. 'The AMD affected stream in PA is the number one cause of pollution. The highest number of coal-mining related deaths in the world occurs in China, with official statistics of 6,027 deaths in 2004,' he says in the presentation. He questions: If a country like USA cannot escape the damage to the environment and huge cost to the society, then what assurance is Asia Energy Corporation providing to the people of Bangladesh in general, and Phulbari in particular?
'What environmental regulations, acts, and laws does the government of Bangladesh have in regard to coal mining and clean water-air to protect our environment, ecosystems, and people people's health?' he asks. According to him, Underground mining, Underground coal gasification and Coal-bed methane project can be the adequate solutions to the mining problems.
'There is no scope of open pit
mining in Bangladesh'
Dr Aftab Alam Khan, professor of Department of Geology at the University of Dhaka, tells Mushfique Wadud why open pit mining is not a good option for Bangladesh
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This baseless debate has persisted for quite a while. It is, in fact, an artificially created debate from a vested interest group who want the debate to continue for their own interest. Globally, there is open pit cast mining and the other is underground coal mining. However, underground coal mining is used the most all over the world.
Although some experts are trying to give the example of open pit mining in Germany, Bangladesh and Germany are two countries with marked differences in culture, socio-economy, physiographic, geomorphic, hydro-geologic and, overall, geologic point of views. There are some open pits in India but again the geological setting in the open pit mines there are different from Bangladesh's. There is no density of population there as we have in the coal basins in Bangladesh, where the coal is very much near the surface.
I personally think that there is no scope of open pit mining in Bangladesh. Our geological condition will never support open pit mining.
You said that there is no scope of open pit mining in Bangladesh. What is your logic behind the notion?
There are some definite points behind the notion. We mine in slopes. In such a way, if you mine one metre, you will eventually dig three metres vertically into the ground. Our coal reserve is under around 300 metres. Just for mining, you will have to destroy a large amount of densely populated land.
Some experts can reason that we can manage lands for their resettlement. However, these are problems which cannot be solved easily.
The coal occurs in the Teesta fan in Bangladesh where a water layer exists. In order to ensure coal mining, the area would need to be dewatered. There is also a thick groundwater bearing formation in Dupitila in Bangladesh which overlies direct coal beds.
Firstly, it is not possible to dewater this area. If you dewater this, the water cannot flow from the Artay valley leading to water-logging in the area. On the other hand, withdrawing ground water from the area will decline the ground water level further. As a result, desertification process will be initiated. There are some other environmental difficulties if coal is extracted by open pit mining.
Then what is the option for Bangladesh?
I think Bangladesh should go for the underground mining.
Some people say that in case of underground mining, we can extract only a few per cent of total reserve coal. What is your take on it?
If properly designed, up to 30 per cent coal can be extracted. But there will be less environmental impacts.
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