In January 1993, John Major's government enacted the British Coal and British Rail (Transfer Proposals) Act 1993.

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Similarly, when Margaret Thatcher broke the British coal miners' unions in 1985, Britain was able to switch to cleaner-burning natural gas.

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Mr Ball joined the armed services at 15 and spent 10 years in the Royal Navy before starting work for British Coal in 1964.

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British coal even had a Hubbert.

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In the days ahead, our train will pass a succession of monstrous eastbound freight services, groaning with raw materials: Albertan oil and yellow sulphur, British Columbian coal and lumber, but mostly grain from the prairies.

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Most of those eventual transitions were fueled by the abundance of cheap energy, either in the form of abundant natural resources, slave labor, or the advent of fossil fuel beginning with coal in the British Empire after 1850.

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National Power has secured 90% of its coal from 20 different British companies.

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That led to one of the most bitter industrial disputes in British history, her standoff against striking coal miners in the 1980s.

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Indeed, coal would be the main fuel of the British economy for the next 350 years.

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British women have struggled to find an appropriate way out ever since toxic coal gas was phased out in the early 1970s.

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