County Council to reconsider Cumbria coal mine
Cumbria County Council to reconsider coal mine permission following ‘new information.’
Cumbria council granted planning permission to the coalmine last October, and last month Robert Jenrick, the communities and local government secretary decided not to ‘call-in’ the mine for a central government decision.
However, the council has now announced that new information on the government’s carbon budgets had forced a rethink.
The Committee on Climate Change recently wrote to Robert Jenrick to warn that the mine would produce more emissions than any other in the UK, and would give ‘a negative impression of the UK’s climate priorities’ as the government prepares to host a vital UN climate summit, Cop26, this November in Glasgow.
Friends of the Earth climate campaigner Tony Bosworth said: ‘Cumbria County Council is right to review its decision — allowing this climate-wrecking coal mine to go-ahead would completely undermine UK leadership ahead of this year’s vital climate summit.
‘Quite simply there is no place for new coal extraction in the middle of a climate emergency.
‘It’s time to leave coal in the ground and focus on fast-tracking a green industrial revolution. This will bring the new jobs and business opportunities that are needed in communities everywhere, including Cumbria.’
Photo Credit – Pixabay
Coke is essential as an insulator for metallurgical plants, notably blast furnaces of steelworks. Firebricks are not sufficient.
Coke is therefore strategic value to the national economy. Put another way, without coke the UK would have to import it, or close the UK steelworks. Energy would be needed to import the coke, or import the steel. Steel is essential for green infrastructure such as railways, bridges and for reinforced concrete. Steel is also essential for the nuclear industry. If the UK does have a mine for coking coal, the coke will still be mined in other countries in order to satisfy the world’s needs for steel. As an alternative, it is possible to use shungite rock instead of coke, but this rock is not in UK. It is abundant in the Shunga province of northern Russia, and is used as a substitute for metallurgical coke in steelworks in parts of Russia and the Ukraine.
I like this response. Roger Harrabin (no surprise) @ the the BBC poured scorn and vitriol on this initiative recently in one of his customary hysterical articles. He dismissed this mine – without talking to ANY of the people involved in the project in Cumbria, or scientists connected with the project, or those people in Cumbria who are reliant on this plant for jobs and the local economy. It was a hideously one-sided piece written by a journalist who’s recent track-record would suggest he never ventures beyond the circle line. I’m all for sensible, sustainable policies – but not grandstanding that wrecks the national and local economies of this country – just because it “sends out the wrong signals”. Other countries aren’t sacrificing their wealth-creating industries because of ‘signalling’. China being a prime example. What on earth is going on here? Is the media now running the country? When all of our businesses have gone bust – who do we sue? The Guardian? The BBC? Who?