The proposed Phulbari open pit coal mine in Bangladesh would divert a river,
 suck an aquifer dry for 30 years and evict thousands of people from their
 homes. Vast machines would dig a series of holes 300 metres deep over a
 total area of 59 square kilometres. The coal would be largely exported via a
 railway and port in the Sundarbans, the world's largest mangrove forest.[1]
 
 The company behind the US$1.4 billion scheme,[2] Asia Energy Corporation
 (Bangladesh), is a wholly owned subsidiary of a UK company, Global Coal
 Management Resources. The largest shareholder in GCM Resources is RAB
 Capital, a London-based hedge fund manager. Other shareholders include UBS,
 Credit Suisse and Barclays.[3] In June 2008, the ADB's board is scheduled to
 decide whether or not to provide a US$100 million loan and US$200 million
 political risk guarantee for the project.[4]
 
During an ADB mission to Bangladesh in October 2007, mission leader Kunio
 Senga told journalists that "coal mining is going to give huge potential
 benefit for power generation." Senga added, "Coal mining is very
 effective."[5]
 
 The mine would displace 40,000 people according to Asia Energy. Activists
 state that the number of people affected could be more than ten times this
 figure.[6] "No matter wherever we are put, if we get evicted from our homes,
 we will lose our traditions, social organisation and businesses. These
 losses are beyond compensation," Nima Banik, a lecturer at Phulbari Women's
 Degree College told the Bangladesh NGO, Society for Environment and Human
 Development (SEHD).[7]
 
The mine would cause noise and dust pollution through dynamite explosion.
 More noise and dust will come from the trucks and trains that would haul the
 coal away from the mine. Coal dust will pollute the air. Water will be
 polluted from washing the coal, risking pollution of surrounding water
 bodies. Bangladesh has networks of hundreds of small rivers, meaning that
 water pollution in one area can spread over a large area.[8]
 
To prevent the mine from flooding, huge pumps would run 24 hours a day for
 the 30 years of the mining project, pumping up to 800 million litres of
 water a day out of the mine.[9] Groundwater in an area covering about 500
 square kilometres would be lowered. Wells would no longer provide enough
 water for farmers. Asia Energy's solution is to distribute the water pumped
 out to farmers. "It is an open question if the water distribution would be
 even-handed," notes SEHD's Philip Gain. Once the mining is finished, Asia
 Energy plans to create a huge lake, providing fresh water, fisheries and
 recreation, according to the company. But after 30 years of digging, the
 water will be toxic.[10]
 
Local opposition against the project is strong. In August 2006, about 80,000
 people took part in protests against the mine. The paramilitary Bangladesh
 Rifles opened fire on the demonstration, killing five people and injuring
 hundreds. On 30 August 2006, the Rajshahi mayor, Mizanur Rahman, signed an
 agreement with the protesters on behalf of the government to kick Asia
 Energy out of the country and to ban open-pit mining in Bangladesh.[11] Well
 over a year later, the government has yet to scrap the deal with Asia
 Energy. Meanwhile the government is working on a coal policy which in its
 current draft form would allow open pit mining.[12]
 
Under the military government which declared emergency rule in January 2007,
 public protest is banned. Nevertheless, in December 2007, representatives of
 the sub-districts of Phulbari and neighbouring Birampur, Nababganj and
 Parbatipur wrote to the president and executive directors of the ADB. The
 project will "increase the poverty of the local population as well as cause
 environmental disaster," they wrote.[13]
 
The Bangladesh government's Department of the Environment has set up a
 Climate Change Cell. "Rapid global warming has caused fundamental changes to
 our climate. No country and people know this better than Bangladesh, where
 millions of people are already suffering," states one of the Climate Change
 Cell's documents. "Development must ensure reducing the risks posed by
 climate change to people's lives and livelihoods," it adds.[14]
 
The Climate Change Cell gets more than 90 per cent of its funding from the
 UK's Department for International Development (DfID).[15] Nowhere in any of
 the documents on its website does Climate Change Cell mention Phulbari.[16]
 Yet the coal from the Phulbari coal mine, if it is extracted and burnt, will
 add a total of more than 1.2 billion tonnes of carbon dioxide to the
 atmosphere.[17]
 
Gordon Brown, the UK prime minister, claims to be concerned about climate
 change. At a recent meeting with Bangladesh's interim head of government,
 Fakhruddin Ahmed, Brown promised that "Britain would continue to work
 closely with Bangladesh bilaterally and internationally to secure an
 effective response to combat climate change."[18] The Phulbari coal mine
 makes a mockery of this statement.
 
 
References
 
[1] Philip Gain "Open Pit Mining for Coal: Horror Feeling Shrouds Northern
 Bangladesh" and "Killings in Phulbari Ignite Unstoppable Protest: Local
 Communities Stand Strong against Open Cut Mining", Society for Environment
 and Human Development, no date.
 
[2] "Bangladesh may re-open 1.4-billion-dollar mine deal talks", AFP, 3
 October 2007.
 
[3] "Annual Report and Accounts 2007", Global Coal Management Resources.
 
[4] "BAN: PHULBARI COAL PROJECT : Bangladesh", Asian Development Bank
 website.
 
[5] "Asia Energy wants to renegotiate deal", The Daily Star, 4 October 2007.
 
[6] "Urgent Appeal by World Organization against Torture: Risk of Violent
 Suppression of Public Opposition to the Phulbari Coal Mine Project",
 Phulbari Resistance, 22 December 2007.
 
[7] Philip Gain, "Killings in Phulbari Ignite Unstoppable Protest: Local
 Communities Stand Strong against Open Cut Mining", Society for Environment
 and Human Development, no date.
 
[8] Anu Muhammad and SM Shaheedullah (2007) "Phulbari Day and the Coal
 Policy",NewAge, 26 August 2007.
 
[9] Engr. A K M Shamsuddin (2007) "Phulbari Coal: Hydrogeological
 environment not favourable for open pit mining", The Daily Star, 29
 September 2007.
 
[10] Philip Gain, "Killings in Phulbari Ignite Unstoppable Protest: Local
 Communities Stand Strong against Open Cut Mining", Society for Environment
 and Human Development, no date.
 
[11] "No step yet to cancel deal with Asia Energy", NewAge, 26 August 2007.
 
[12] " Bangladesh: Resistance against coal open-pit mine in Phulbari", WRM
 Bulletin no 126, January 2008.
 
[13] "Urgent Appeal by World Organization against Torture: Risk of Violent
 Suppression of Public Opposition to the Phulbari Coal Mine Project",
 Phulbari Resistance, 22 December 2007.
 
[14] "From Vulnerability to Resilience: Bangladesh Preparing for Climate
 Resilient Development", Climate Chang Cell, February 2008.
 
[15] "Climate Change Cell . . factsheet". The Climate Change Cell has a
 total budget of US$2.1 million of which US$1.9 million will come from DfID.
 
[16] I did a search on Google on 24 March 2008. The result: "Your search -
 Phulbari site:www.climatechangecell-bd.org - did not match any documents."
 
[17] The coal mine at Phulbari would remove 15 million tonnes of coal a year
 for 30 years; a total of 450 million tonnes. One tonne of coal contains 746
 kg carbon. The molecular weight of carbon dioxide is 3.667 times that of
 carbon: 450,000,000 x 0.746 x 3.667 = 1,231,011,900. (This calculation
 method came from George Monbiot's article, "Rigged", The Guardian, 11
 December 2007, footnote 5.)
 
[18] "Bangladesh, UK to begin 'new strategic partnership'", The Daily Star,
 19 March 2008.

First Published in WRM Bulletin no. 128, March 2008.
Also: http://chrislang.org/2008/04/02/bangladesh-phulbari-coal-mine-losses-beyond-compensation/