Britain’s conservative government has given a go ahead to a new coal mine, the first in some 30 years, causing anguish among green advocates in the UK. But it may turn out to be less than meets the eye, a tempest in a miner’s lunch bucket.
The Guardian, Britain’s leading left-leaning publication, reported this week (Dec. 8), “The government has given the green light to a new coalmine in Cumbria, the first in the UK for more than 30 years, but already moves have begun to challenge the decision before construction work can start.” A key to the decision is the claim by the mining company that the Whitehaven mine will create 500 high-paying jobs in rural England’s Lake District.
Tory Michael Gove as Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities made the decision to approve the long-pending application for the mine. That agency is essentially a local economic and planning office, originally created by Labour Party Prime Minister Tony Blair in 2006 as the post of “Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government.”
Conservative Prime Minister Boris Johnson grandiosely renamed it in 2021 to reflect “levelling” language in a Conservative political manifesto, naming Gove to run the agency in September 2021. Johnson sacked Gove in July 2022 for alleged disloyalty. When Rishi Sunak became prime minister this year, he reappointed Gove to the “levelling up” position. Sunak had supported Gove for prime minister in the 2016 Tory election that picked Theresa May to lead the nation. Gove finished third in the voting.
Opponents of the mine in Cumbria in northwest England charge that it backtracks on the UK’s pledge in 2021’s UN “Conference of the Parties” or COP26 in Glasgow, Scotland. At COP26, the UK pushed the world to “consign coal to history.” Last week, during the pendency of the decision on the mine, The Guardian reported, “Alok Sharma, whose presidency of Cop26 ended last month, made clear his opposition to any move to approve the venture.”
“Over the past three years the UK has sought to persuade other nations to consign coal to history, because we are fighting to limit global warming to 1.5C and coal is the most polluting energy source,” Sharma said. “A decision to open a new coalmine would send completely the wrong message and be an own goal. This proposed new mine will have no impact on reducing energy bills or ensuring our energy security.”
John Selwyn Gummer, Lord Deben, chairman of the government’s Climate Change Committee, denounced the government’s decision to allow the mine to go forward. Sky News reported he denounced the decision. He said it “runs counter to the UK’s stated aims as COP26 President and sends entirely the wrong signal to other countries about the UK’s climate priorities” and undercuts the UK’s “hard-fought global influence on climate is diminished by today’s decision.”
Tony Bosworth, of Friends of the Earth, told The Guardian, “The evidence against this mine is huge. It will have a significant impact on UK climate targets, while the market for coal is already disappearing.” Labour, the Liberal Democrats, and the Green Party all vowed to oppose the new mine, in the country set off the Industrial Revolution of the 19th Century fueled by coal.
Yet the mine, if it comes into production, may not have much impact on the environment. A BBC rundown of the facts about the mine detailed some facts about the mine. The BBC explainer was headlined: “Cumbria coal mine: Will it threaten the UK’s climate target?”
Among the BBC’s points:
“The coal from the mine will not generate electricity, but make steel.
“It takes about 770kg of coal to make one tonne of steel – and the UK produces 7.4 million tonnes of steel a year.
“UK steel-makers currently get nearly half their coal from Russia.
“But after the country’s invasion of Ukraine, the UK pledged to stop using Russian resources.
“However, the government’s advisory Climate Change Committee (UKCCC) points out that 85% of the coal produced in Whitehaven is likely to be exported, which may limit its benefit to the UK.”
Neither British Steel nor Tata Steel have expressed interest in the Whitehaven project. Former British Steel CEO Ron Deelan told Sky News the project is a “completely unnecessary step for the British steel industry” as there is already a plentiful supply of coking coal on the world market. Tata said it will shift away from coal in 10 years.
On Twitter, clean energy consultant and founder and former CEO of BloombergNEF Michael Liebreich said, “The important thing is to ensure that there is no future bailout if and when it becomes clear the mine is not viable, and no compensation paid if regulations are introduced that eliminate the market for its coal.”
–Kennedy Maize
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