German miners stunned by end of subsidies

Kamp-lintfort (Germany)Feb 12: A tidy German town that has long flourished above its underground treasure of subsidised coal is struggling to cope with the shock after the government decided last week to shut down the mine.

Rising global energy costs which have sparked talk of a revival for coal mining in Wales and France had kept alight some local hopes for German mines, but Chancellor Angela Merkel's government has pulled the plug on subsidies.

''It's a rotten shame that will destroy the town and a whole way of life in Germany,'' said coal miner Mark Halenkamp, 32, heading into a pit more than 1,000 metres under Kamp-Lintfort near the Dutch border, one of eight German mines left.

''Coal is a part of Germany. It's our only energy source. I thought this was a job for eternity. We're all stunned.'' A key component of West Germany's post-war ''economic miracle'' and before that a vital energy source behind Germany's arms industry -- the Ruhr belt had 607,000 miners working in 150 pits at the peak in 1957. That number has now shrunk to 28,000, including 3,400 in Kamp-Lintfort.

The reason is simple: Germany has the world's most expensive coal production, and its government is finally facing that fact.

High German wages and benefits as well as strict safety and environment standards mean it costs three times more to get coal out of German mines than in China or Australia.

German governments have spent 130 billion euros in total since subsidies began flowing in 1961 to keep coal alive, but last month Merkel's government decided to halt its yearly 2.5 billion euros in subsidies by 2018.

The mining industry, closely aligned with the centre-left Social Democrats, has wielded enormous political influence, especially in this state of North Rhine-Westphalia.

For most of the post-war era, their political clout kept subsidies flowing. But they lost control of the state to the conservatives in 2005.

Way of life

Job cuts over the last five decades have been made mostly through natural wastage, early retirement schemes and generous retraining programmes not layoffs.

Coal, a powerful symbol of Germany's post-war recovery, is Germany's only significant fossil fuel resource and mining is a way of life in towns like Kamp-Lintfort.

''A country is lost without its own source of domestic energy,'' said Ralf Gorczewski, 48, after his shift deep below the town's clean pavements, handsome red-brick houses, and bustling central market square.

The whites of his eyes shone through a layer of coal dust.

''It's madness to shut this down; it will just raise our dependence on foreign energy,'' said Gorczewski, who like his father and grandfather went to work in the mine as a teenager.

''The pay was good. I thought this was a job with a future.'' Andre Thissen, 42, said he still cannot see the world's third-largest economy ever voluntarily giving up coal, which fuels electricity plants. For him, it is a question of national security.

''It's our last and only energy reserve and we're giving it up,'' said Thissen, shaking his head in disgust.

''We already saw Russia turn off the natural gas pipeline to Europe. Killing coal will only make us more dependent on imports like that. It's just madness.''

Coal revival abroad
Thissen and his mining mates are unsure what they will do once the Friedrich Heinrich mine, built in 1907, shuts in 2018.

''I'll wait and see,'' said Ralf Konnert, 49, who also followed his father and grandfather into the pit. ''Maybe I'll take early retirement. Maybe politicians will wake up and realise Germany does need coal. Maybe they'll keep a few mines open.'' Hopes linger that the decision could be reversed: rising energy prices are helping spur revivals in coal mining in Wales and France, which closed its last mine in 2004. The SPD, junior partner in the coalition, has inserted a possible requirement to review it based on Germany's national energy needs in 2012.

British-based Horizon Mining is aiming to open five coal mines in Wales and generator RWE has some plants designed to take Welsh coal.

In France, some companies have been looking at reviving mothballed coal mines but industry sources say high operating costs and limited reserves may hinder their plans.

''The world is wonderful underground,'' said Halenkamp, who retrained as a computer specialist five years ago but quit to return to the mines. ''That wasn't my world. Life is better underground. No bosses. No prejudices. Everyone is equal. And everyone I know hopes the closures will still be pushed back.'' The miners all greet each other with the warm ''Glueck auf'' (good luck) rather than stiffer ''Guten tag'' (good day) used in the rest of the country.

''The people around here have lived in fear that the end was coming for decades,'' said Friedhelm De Beyer, 62, who worked in the mine for 30 years before taking early retirement 10 years ago. He now drives a taxi part-time to help make ends meet.

''It was a tough job but the pay was great,'' he said.

Reuters