MICHAEL HESELTINE'S lying claims that gas can meet Britain's electricity neeas more cheaply than coal are flatly contradicted by top bosses' outfits rang ing from the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development, the International Energy Authority and the Financial Times.
Official OECD/IEA figures prove conclusively that in price to end users in both electricity generation and industry, coal is up to 68 per cent less costly, even at current prices.
The table we reproduce doesn't show the proposed new electricity contract price for coal - £35.35 a tonne - which makes it easily the cheapest fuel on the Tories' so-called free market.
The FT's authoritative International Coal Report, a high-price subscription-only newsletter, says that the most expensive gas generation is 70 per cent more expensive than coal at the new contract price.
Mining Journal adds: 'Already, the surge of gas buying has pushed up gas prices by some 20 per cent.' Yet the British worked long and hard to overturn a legally-binding 1975 EC directive stating: 'Quantities of natural gas are limited. Natural gas should be converted into electricity only when it cannot be used for other purposes!
There were excellent environmental reasons for such a proscription. Even in the most advanced gas-to-electricity power stations, only half the gas burnt results in usable energy.
The rest escapes into the atmosphere, contributing to global warming. Where gas is used directly for heating or cooking, it is almost 100 per cent efficient.
It is true that gas-generated plants produce less carbon dioxide than existing coal-fired stations. But the difference is relatively small.
In fact, readily available 'clean burn' technology can make coal the better bet from the pollution point of view. But this would cost £2,000 million to install across the industry.
The UK's proven reserves of natural gas will run out in 10 years, according to British Petroleum's 1992 Statistical Review of World Energy. British Coal has exploitation rights for 45,000 million tonnes of recoverable reserves - enough to last 300 years. MAJO NOTTH