Britains shrinking coastline

I don't live near the coast, my home is not under threat.

I can't afford to live near the coast, or buy a house.

This is why I'm quite pleased to see that the government has finally realised that we can't protect the entire coastline.

What grates is that Lord Smith doesn't take the view that I do.
I can't decide whether or not he understands the problem. I'd like to say that he doesn't, and that he's not spouting short-termism.

Coal power stations take years and years to build. That's the problem.

If we sat back until CCS was technically ready to go there would be (at least) a 6 year lag time between when the power station could go, and when it is ready to go.

With coal power stations being shut down now there is a need to replace them now - or we'll just build gas fired plants in their place, and the UK will move away from Coal and CCS.

As a concequence we'll have higher CO2 emissions (more emissions from gas than abated coal) and we'll loose the chance to be a global leader on this technology.