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UK Government makes it official: coal mining no more

Massive campaign win!

Coal Action Network has been campaigning for a ban on new coal mining for years, and met with numerous MPs in the lead-up to the 2024 UK General Election. Together with our supporters, we celebrate this clear win for us and for all the communities that won’t now suffer noise, dust, and traffic pollution from nearby coal mining. As the first G7 country to ban coal mining, it also sets an example to other G7 countries to follow.

How will the Government ban new coal mining

The UK Government has laid a Written Ministerial Statement confirming that it will introduce legislation to “restrict the future licensing of new coal mines”, by amending the Coal Industry Act 1994, “when Parliamentary time allows”.

The UK Government’s press release is entitled “New coal mining licences will be banned”. We thinks it’s great that the UK Government is following through on its historic manifesto pledge to rule out new coal mining throughout the UK. Following on the coattails of the UK’s exit from coal-fired power generation, this commitment bolsters the UK’s international reputation in leaving behind the world’s dirtiest fossil fuel. We hope to work with the UK Government to ensure no loopholes are carried into the final wording, and to leverage similar commitments in other G20 countries

What might still slip through?

  • The UK Government’s press release is caveated in the Notes to editors with “Limited exceptions to the ban may be required for safety or restoration purposes.” – many opencast coal mine proposals for the past 10 years have dressed up their coal mines as restoration projects claiming they’ll restore old deep mine shafts or land they brand as derelict and degraded. The notorious sprawling Ffos-y-fran opencast coal mine site is called the ‘Ffos-y-fran Land Reclamation Project’, for example.
  • The ban won’t affect projects that seek to mine coal from disused coal tips – such as ERI Ltd’s proposal to mine two Bedwas coal tips of some 400,000-800,000 tonnes of coal. That’s because it doesn’t require a Coal Authority licence as the coal’s already been extracted from the seam. With hundreds of thousands of tonnes of waste coal contained within thousands of coal tips across South Wales alone, a potentially huge area of coal extraction is entirely unaffected by the UK Government’s proposed ban.
  • The ban won’t affect the large and currently operating Aberpergwm deep coal mine, which has planning permission to operate until 2039 to extract 42 million tonnes of coal. Moreover, the proposed ban won’t affect the mine’s ability to apply for a time-extension after 2039, because it’s licence from the Coal Authority is until 2099.
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