Studies on mining methods have demonstrated extraction of coal as an incredibly expensive project which often fails to bring actual development for the people and environment of the region. As time passes and the pressure increases on government for coal mining, it seems essential to bring the discussion of sustainable alternative to coal mines in Bangladesh forward. Although GCM resources and its agents have been vaguely arguing that Bangladesh has no alternative than open-pit coal mining, recent studies on mining and environment explicitly demonstrate there are alternatives available which Bangladesh should go for.  In the recently announced budget the present government has also acknowledged the need for a sustainable alternative to energy production. Now the question is which method can be taken up as sustainable alternative to coal mining in the over-populated land of Bangladesh.

After Roger Moody’s eloquent critic on Asia Energy proposed ‘parlous project’ in Phulbari, Dr Mark Muller recently carried out an independent technical review of Bangladesh's coal reserves. His research advises Bangladesh could easily avoid coal mining through adaptation of the Underground Coal Gasification (UCG).

Having held 20 years of experience in mining work, the South African geophysicist, currently based in UK , has studied the potential value of using coal for energy without mining it that has struck many chords in India. The research articulates coal gasification as an alternative extraction technology that can ‘significantly green the power sector’ and is particularly suitable for Bangladesh.

In our neighbour country India, where it was hard to replace the need for coal and where 70 percent of electricity is produced from coal, the government proposed a pilot project of Underground Coal Gasification (UCG) in Jharkhand. The Indian Government has recognised the fact that it is essential to develop and promote alternative technologies for producing cleaner fuel from the abundant coal deposits in the country.

In April 2009, the Indian magazine Tehelka reported, ‘a good beginning is already on the cards, with power sector reform initiating the new paradigm of extracting fuel in ways other than conventional coal mining’. Surveys are carried out and a pilot plant is under construction by an ONGC-state consortium in Gujarat. As a part of the Indian alternative energy policy, an Indo-Australian collaboration in UCG was announced in January 2009. Coal blocks in India are being allotted for UCG pilot and commercial projects to foreign and Indian companies, reports Tehelka.

 Arguably, coal gasification is greener in every way than any mining. A big advantage of the UCG technology is that conventional mining can continue at shallower deposits, while UCG can be applied to deeper portions of the same field. The technique has been incorporated in the research and development phase by Indian energy firms like Reliance Industries Limited (RIL) and Oil and Natural Gas Corporation (ONGC).

After multiple phases of R&D in UCG, other countries like Australia, Vietnam, Japan, Indonesia, China and Mongolia are also moving on to commercial installations of pilot projects of UCG. Uzbekistan is successfully running UCG coal-fired Angren power plant that operates a dedicated 100MW steam turbine. As Tehelka reports, UCG was originally a development in the oil and natural gas industry for the production of synthetic natural gas. Major breakthroughs in coal gasification techniques have proved that it’s a viable alternative technology.

 An article by Dr Muller and Roger Moody elaborating on alternative technologies to coal mine was also published in the Daily Star earlier this month (June 2, 2009). In the passionately argued constructive article, the authors have articulated there is no need for coal extraction through mining in Bangladesh. The Bangladesh Government should rather follow Coal Bed Methane (CBM) or Underground Coal Gasification (UCG) as sustainable methods for energy production in the country.

As history demonstrates, there would always be agents to advocate ‘killer multi-national companies’. They would cry for open-pit mining as it allows them to get commission out of ‘ill motivated development projects’. But the present government being elected by the people’s vote must not let these agents to dictate coal policy and issues related to sustainable development of the country.

Indeed, any mining in an over-populated country like Bangladesh is destructive to its nature and humanity. In 2007, some agents of Asia Energy having had the opportunity to travel in Europe advocated for open-pit mining with no knowledge about the context that largely varies from one country to another. The ‘ill-motivated corrupted business’ consultants argued, as Germany is running open-pit mine, Bangladesh should also go for it’.

Apparently, these journalists were unexpectedly unaware about the fact that Germany cannot be a comparison to Bangladesh. In my five and half year life in Germany, I have learnt that one has to wait for at least 15-20 minutes in a bus stoppage to see one living human. Set in contrast, it is hard to find a street in Bangladesh which is free from crowds for 5 minutes. The scenario in Phulbari seems to be even worse. I met 80, 000 people on the narrow street of the Thana just in one afternoon.

 However, there is no ground to compare Germany with Bangladesh. There is no point of arguing that Australia being a rich country and having miles and miles of bare fields can be an example for Bangladesh. While talking about development and energy resources in Bangladesh we need to remember that this is a location where billions of people are found homeless.

To conclude this talk, I must admit when the centre of business US declares there is ‘no need to build new US coal ’, when the US President himself recognises the need for immediate tackling of the climate (Energy and Environment Publishing, 22 April, 2009), when our neighbouring country India being fully dependent on coal for energy production has already started to follow UCG as sustainable alternative for energy production, it is merely bizarre to think of open-pit mining in Bangladesh. In this alarming climate of the globe, GOB must not take any risk to worse the hazardous condition of environment in Bangladesh enabling any mining than coal gasification.