By Nicholas Earl
The Government’s decision to approve a new coal mine in Cumbria has divided experts, politicians and industry groups, as the UK looks to balance its environmental goals with secure supplies of essential materials.
Downing Street has granted permission for to West Cumbria Mining to build and operate the first new deep domestic coal mine in over 30 years.
Levelling Up secretary Michael Gove green-lit the Whitehaven site yesterday, in line with approval from the independent planning inspectorate earlier this year.
The proposed coal mine in Cumbria will dig up coking coal for steel production in the UK and across the world.
This will be used for steel production, rather than as an energy source.
Analysis from environmental think tank Green Alliance reveals the mine would produce the same emissions as 200,000 cars each year.
The Climate Change Committee has separately calculated that 85 percent of the coal from the proposed mine is planned for export to Europe.
The local council has granted permission to dig for coking coal until 2049, with the mine expected to create about 500 jobs.
Andy Mayer, energy analyst at free market think tank the Institute of Economic Affairs, backed the Government’s decision.
He argued the mine would be more environmentally friendly that relying on overseas imports and would boost the West’s energy independence.
He said: “This mine will produce coking coal for blast furnaces of the European steel industry until 2049. It will create over 500 jobs directly and over 1,000 indirectly.
“The proposition is climate neutral or positive, displacing coal produced elsewhere under less stringent environmental controls. It will not delay the transition of the steel industry to electrification, but support the industrial growth required to fund that change.”
Caroline Lucas, Green Party MP for Brighton Pavilion, hammered the decision as a “climate crime against humanity” and predicted the decision will be “challenged every step of the way.”
She said: “When we need a clean, green industrial strategy fit for the future, this Government has backed a climate-busting, backward-looking, business-wrecking, stranded asset coal mine. “
Tom Fyans, interim chief executive at countryside charity CPRE, said: “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.”
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