German plan to close coal mines (BBC) {misleading title!! ending subsidies}

[eppur_se_muova]

Germany has agreed a deal to phase out the heavily-subsidised coal mining industry in the country.

No date has been set yet for ending the subsidies to the industry, but they are widely expected to finish in 2018.

German coal mines have been receiving up to 2.5bn euros ($3.2bn; £1.65bn) annually in subsidies from the federal and regional governments.

Germany's eight coal mines employ 36,900 people, and produced about 21 million tonnes of coal last year.

'No redundancies'

The deal to phase out subsidies was agreed by the Social Democrats and Christian Democrats, and the heads of the two parties will discuss the proposal later.
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more: http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/business/6309841.stm

This is not a plan to close the mines, but a plan to allow those mines that can't operate without subsidies to close. As the price of oil climbs, the incentive to keep the mines operating will increase, at least partially compensating for the withdrawal of subsitides, and postponing the closing of some mines. The good news is that this should lead to *some* decrease in GHG emissions, as Germany will be forced to intensify its pursuit of other energy technologies. They are certainly allowing themselves plenty of time to accomplish this, given the *speculated* ending date of 2018.

[NickB79]

1. Germany will just import fossil fuels from Russia

More natural gas, most likely.