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To: Welsh Government/Llywodraeth Cymru

Don't expand UK’s biggest opencast coal mine/Peidiwch ag ehangu pwll glo brig mwyaf y DU

Wales is about to decide whether to expand the UK’s largest opencast coal mine by nearly 4 years and 2 million tonnes of coal. This will drive climate change by almost 6 million tonnes of CO2 and 16,000 tonnes of methane.

The climate-trashing Ffos-y-fran coal mine in Merthyr Tydfil extracts up to 50,000 tonnes of coal every month – coal that the European Court of Justice ruled was too polluting to be burned in the old Aberthaw power station, and is now burned mainly at steelworks. This locks TATA steelworks into being the UK’s 2nd most polluting site!

Enough is enough!

Petitioners demand that the Welsh Government:
1. 'calls in' the decision if the local Council considers granting planning permission to expand the Ffos-y-fran opencast coal mine, in recognition of the wider impacts.
2. acts on climate science, listens to local residents, and follows its own laws and policies, such as the Well-being of Future Generations Act, to swiftly reject expanding the UK’s largest opencast coal mine
3. includes workers on a Universal Basic Income pilot, and invests in jobs with a future.
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Mae Cymru ar fin penderfynu a ddylid ehangu pwll glo brig mwyaf y DU gan bron i 4 blynedd a 2 filiwn tunnell o lo. Bydd hyn yn gyrru newid hinsawdd gan bron i 6 miliwn tunnell o CO2 a 16,000 tunnell o fethan.

Mae pwll glo Ffos-y-fran ym Merthyr Tudful sy’n chwalu’r hinsawdd yn echdynnu hyd at 50,000 tunnell o lo bob mis – sef glo y dyfarnodd Llys Cyfiawnder Ewrop ei fod yn creu gormod o lygredd i’w losgi yn hen orsaf bŵer Aberddawan, ac sydd bellach yn cael ei losgi’n bennaf mewn gwaith dur. Mae hyn yn rhwymo gwaith dur TATA i fod yr 2il safle mwyaf llygredig yn y DU!

Digon yw digon!

Mae deisebwyr yn mynnu bod Llywodraeth Cymru:
1. ‘galw’r penderfyniad i mewn’ os yw’r Cyngor lleol yn ystyried rhoi caniatâd cynllunio i ehangu pwll glo brig Ffos-y-fran, i gydnabod yr effeithiau ehangach.
2. gweithredu ar wyddoniaeth hinsawdd, gwrando ar drigolion lleol, a dilyn cyfreithiau a pholisïau ei hun, megis Deddf Llesiant Cenedlaethau’r Dyfodol, i wrthod ehangu pwll glo brig mwyaf y DU.
3. yn cynnwys gweithwyr ar gynllun peilot Incwm Sylfaenol Cyffredinol, ac yn buddsoddi mewn swyddi â dyfodol.

Why is this important?

When permission was granted by the Welsh Government in 2005, the local community in Merthyr Tydfil, who had fought the proposal fiercely, were promised that mining would end after 15 years, on 6th September 2022 and that restoration of the land would be complete a few years later. Yet it’s reported that coal mining hasn’t stopped, ruining the long-awaited peace for the local community who can see and hear the coal mine from their homes. And now the mining company has applied to expand the coal mine by 9 months, and has said it will apply for a further 3 years of coal mining, (and who knows what beyond that...?).

This will not only fuel climate change by nearly 6 million tonnes of CO2 and 16,000 tonnes of methane, but inflict further explosive blasting, noise and dust pollution on nearby residents. On top of this, the long-awaited restoration of the land, will be pushed back by years, with concerns that it will never happen.
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Pam mae hyn yn bwysig?
Pan roddwyd caniatâd gan Lywodraeth Cymru yn 2005, cafodd y gymuned leol ym Merthyr Tudful, a oedd wedi brwydro’n ffyrnig yn erbyn y cynnig, addewid y byddai mwyngloddio’n dod i ben ar ôl 15 mlynedd, ar 6ed Medi 2022 ac y byddai’r gwaith o adfer y tir wedi’i gwblhau ychydig flynyddoedd yn ddiweddarach. Ond adroddir nad yw mwyngloddio glo wedi dod i ben, gan ddifetha’r heddwch hir-ddisgwyliedig i’r gymuned leol sy’n gallu gweld a chlywed y pwll glo o’u cartrefi. Ac yn awr mae'r cwmni mwyngloddio wedi gwneud cais i ehangu'r pwll glo am 9 mis, ac wedi dweud y bydd yn ceisio am 3 blynedd arall o gloddio am lo, (a phwy a ŵyr beth y tu hwnt i hynny...?).

Bydd hyn nid yn unig yn hybu newid yn yr hinsawdd gan bron i 6 miliwn tunnell o CO2 a 16,000 tunnell o fethan, ond hefyd yn achosi dioddefaint i’r trigolion cyfagos trwy’r ffrwydradau pellach, llygredd sŵn a llwch. Ar ben hyn, bydd y gwaith adfer hir-ddisgwyliedig ar y tir yn cael ei wthio yn ôl gan flynyddoedd, gyda phryderon na fydd byth yn digwydd.

How it will be delivered

This petition will be delivered to Julie James, Welsh Minister for Climate Change.
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Sut y cyflwynir y ddeiseb
Bydd y ddeiseb hon yn cael ei chyflwyno i Julie James, Gweinidog Newid Hinsawdd Cymru.

Merthyr Tydfil CF48 3HG, UK

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2022-12-21 23:52:41 +0000

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