Tamar Hallerman
GHG Monitor
08/31/12
Workers in Italy’s last remaining coal mine have barricaded themselves underground inside the mine, demanding that the government move forward on a carbon capture and storage operation that would extend the lifetime of the facility. According to local media reports, more than 100 miners have trapped themselves more than 1,000 feet below the surface in the Carbosulcis mine on the Mediterranean island of Sardinia with more than 750 pounds of explosives since Aug. 26. They are demanding that the government greenlight a €200 million ($251 million) per year CCS project that would provide a pathway forward for the mine, which faces an uncertain future come the end of the year. Production has been winding down at the mine for years, according to Italian media reports, and the CCS project, which is still in its very early phases and has remained largely stagnated, could multiply the workforce and create up to 2,000 jobs, proponents said. The miners want the government to call for an international tender to move forward with the project, a required first step under Italian protocol.
The lock-in occurred ahead of a meeting set for later this week at the Ministry of Economic Development in Rome, where federal and regional government officials will meet along with union personnel to discuss the future of the mine. Workers piled coal outside the entrance of the mine to barricade themselves in, with one miner slitting his wrists during a live press conference to make the point that the workers feel abandoned by the government. “If someone here has decided to the kill miners’ families, ladies and gentlemen, we’ll cut ourselves, we’ll cut ourselves,” miner Stefano Meletti was quoted as saying by Reuters as he cut his wrist in front of reporters. “We cannot take it anymore. We cannot! We cannot! It’s what we have to do.” The protestors said they would stay underground indefinitely until the government secures a future for the mine.
Workers Push for Sulcis CCS Project
The workers were pushing for the federal government to move forward on what is known as the Sulcis CCS project. Some preliminary technical, economical and environmental analysis work on the project has progressed in recent years, according to several sources in the region, but it has largely slowed as of late, they confirmed. This comes despite the fact that a federal law passed in 2009 mandates the construction of a 300 to 450 MW power generation plant that uses coal mined from Carbosulcis and incorporates a CCS demonstration component. A feasibility study completed by Sotacarbo, a coal research organization co-owned by the Sardinian government and ENEA, the Italian National Agency for New Technologies, Energy and Sustainable Economic Development, settled on the idea of a post-combustion capture plant with an ultra-supercritical boiler. For CO2 storage, the groups have considered sequestration in either an enhanced coal bed methane formation or injection into deep saline aquifers below the Sulcis coal basin, according to industry officials with knowledge of the project.
However, despite the early feasibility work it is unclear where exactly the project is and how much momentum it has moving forward. The project, like many energy—and particularly CCS—ventures in Europe, will likely face an uphill battle due the high capital investments required, rocky public acceptance and the poor financial situation in Italy and Europe. Some additional feasibility work is ongoing regarding the potential storage sites, according to one Italian industry official, with early results coming back “promising.” However, it is unclear whether any utilities or other companies have signed on to help drive the project forward. Peter Keller, a spokesman for Enel, the utility behind the country’s only other active CCS projects, said that the company is monitoring the situation in the Carbosulcis mine. “Enel intends to follow the development of the tender process, once it has begun, aware that the technological complexity and innovative character of the CCS project would also require a clear commitment from the Italian government,” Keller told GHG Monitor. He did not respond to a follow-up question asking for clarification about the utility’s involvement in the proposed Sulcis project.
Italy’s Last Coal Mine
If Sulcis is to move forward, it would undoubtedly be a gift the miners who work at Carbosulcis. Operated by Sardinia’s regional government, the mine has been the site of several similar protests over the last several decades. In 1995, miners blockaded themselves underground for more than 100 days when the mine faced possible closure. In 2006, the mine was estimated to have 600 million metric tonnes of coal reserves, according to Reuters, but has struggled to stay productive in recent years and has been hit particularly hard recently due to stiff austerity measures enacted by the Italian government. The mine produces lower quality coal with high levels of sulfur and employs roughly 460 miners, according to local media reports.
The island of Sardinia, off mainland Italy’s west coast in the Mediterranean Sea, has been hit notably hard by the country’s worsening economic crisis. The Italian government is currently in the process of pushing through €20 billion ($25 billion) in austerity cuts that industry is currently gearing up for, and many public entities will likely be sold off in the process.
Porto Tolle CCS Project Appears Stalled
The action surrounding the Sulcis project is notable given that Italy has largely shifted away from coal in recent years. The country’s only other proposed demonstration project, a $3.6 billion post-combustion retrofit from Enel and Aker Clean Carbon called Porto Tolle, is currently on hold despite winning €400 million ($501 million) in European Union funding. The project, which seeks to store 1 million tons of CO2 year in an offshore saline aquifer in the Adriatic Sea, is a finalist in the European Commission’s New Entrants Reserve 300 CCS competition. However, an Italian court overturned government approval for the project in spring 2011 following a lawsuit from Greenpeace, the World Wildlife Fund and others on environmental grounds, leaving the fate of the project in limbo. Enel is, however, moving forward on a €20 million ($25 million) pilot project in Brindisi, meant as a test venture for Porto Tolle.
