21 December 2022
Last week, the Government approved a new coal mine here in the North West, near Whitehaven in Cumbria, and with it nine million tonnes of CO2 emissions each year - equivalent to the cities of Edinburgh, Cardiff and Belfast combined.
The Campaign to Protect Rural England says: “Nothing says ‘out of touch’ like a government that has just become the first in more than 30 years to approve a new deep coal mine in the UK. This absurdly retrograde decision will shackle us to the past at the precise moment the steel industry is transitioning to an environmentally sustainable future.
“Instead of grasping the opportunity to lead the world in a clean and green industrial revolution, here we are clinging onto the dirty coal that powered and poisoned the Victorian era. This shameful decision beggars belief. It will degrade the countryside, pollute the atmosphere and makes a mockery of the government’s legally binding climate commitments.”
Environmental campaign group Friends of the Earth adds: “Particularly bizarre is the government’s claim that the mine will have a ‘broadly neutral’ effect on climate change. And the market for coking coal in the UK and Europe is fast disappearing as manufacturers switch to greener steel. Coal from this mine certainly won’t replace Russian imports. It’ll only mean more climate-changing pollution pumped into our atmosphere.” Lord Deben, who chairs the government’s own Climate Change Committee, has condemned the decision, which he says runs counter to the UK’s climate aims.
Green Party MP Caroline Lucas called it “a climate crime against humanity. Because we don't need this mine, we need investment in renewable energy, lower bills, more green jobs and a clear route to net zero.
“We need a fairer, greener country. Not a country stuck in the past with a dangerous addiction to fossil fuels.”
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