Spain and Coal, the Environment and EU Law

Abstract

Mining of indigenous Spanish coal has been heavily subsidized ever since 1986, and recently, the European Commission authorized a further amount of State aid of 2.3 billion in order to facilitate the closure of uncompetitive coal mines in Spain by 2018. These subsidies are paid regardless of the facts that: the indigenous coal is of minor quality and not needed to ensure safe energy supply in Spain; the combustion of coal is causing excessive greenhouse gas emissions and most coal-fired Spanish power plants are widely exceeding regular EU emission limit values; considerable investments will have to be made, in order to eventually comply with the requirements of EU law. However, supposed that these investments are made, there is no reason for the plant owners to participate in a coal phase-out. The present article provides a detailed analysis of these critical aspects of Spanish and European coal policy.