March 2009 was the twenty-fifth anniversary of the miner's strike against the Thatcher government's policy on the future of coal mining in Britain. Now, the number of coal miners is just a fraction of the once massive workforce. The environmental effects of burning coal to generate electricity are also a controversial issue. However, big cooling towers like these at Eggborough Power Station, opened in 1967 near Selby in Yorkshire, remain a feature of the countryside in Britain. Power output is 2000 megawatts:
See last month's Picture of the Month