A contentious land sculpture was brought to life today (30th May) as it joined growing opposition to a new opencast coal mine.
To mark the start of a public inquiry into the controversial Highthorn coal mine at Druridge Bay, a group calling themselves “Northumberlandia Speaks” used the power of art to give voice to Northumberlandia, a public sculpture in rural Northumberland.
The structure, also known as Slag Alice, was constructed by the Banks Group to compensate for the environmental damage caused by the adjoining Shotton Surface Mine. Many local people are angry at this crass sculpture, which is Bank’s version of ‘restoration’ rather than trying to replace the land to as close to before exploitation started as possible.
The mining company’s plans to mine coal near local beauty spot Druridge Bay have attracted widespread opposition, and today’s action vocalised that opposition. Much of this opposition has centred around the Save Druridge campaign, who have funded legal opposition to the mine.
The campaigners used a banner reading “end coal now” to suggest the views of the reclining woman depicted in the sculpture. They also constructed an image of a wind turbine in her clenched right hand.
Rob Noyes, From Northumberlandia Speaks, explained “Northumberlandia is sold as ‘a landscape for the community to enjoy’ and yet the Banks Group want to deprive the Druridge Bay community of the landscape they already enjoy. I’m sure that if the landscape could, it would speak out. And it would say ‘End Coal Now’.”
As well as the dangerous environmental impacts of a coal mine near Druridge Bay, campaigners and local residents are concerned about the threat to wildlife and the local tourism industry, which relies on Druridge Bay’s status as a natural beauty spot.
Although the Banks Group claims the new mine could create 50 jobs, it is unclear what would happen to these after the mine’s five-year lifespan. Local people say that at least this many jobs will be lost as a decline in tourism as a result of the mine.
Jack Marley, a local resident who participated in the protest, said, “I didn’t actually even know there was a new coal mine planned until recently. I don’t understand why anyone would want to open a new coal mine when it’s so obviously a declining industry. The North East has had a great coal-mining past, but it’s not an industry that can bring the growth to our area that we need so much. It makes much more sense to create local jobs in the renewable sector.”
Noyes added, “A new mine at Druridge Bay will create less than 50 short term jobs and bring a daily traffic of 300 HGV vehicles to a calm oasis. While we await the results of the inquiry, we can only reflect on what a beautiful place Northumberland is, at sites like this. Anyone who comes to the area can see how a new mine would completely destroy the bay, and why? So a dying industry can wreck our climate.”
The inquiry starts tomorrow, 31st May, and a final decision will be reached in the autumn. There is to be a public rally before the inquiry opens and at lunch time on the first day. For details see here.
Next Wednesday (31st May) is the first day of a public inquiry which will decide whether 3 million tonnes of coal will be mined from near Druridge Bay in Northumberland.
On the day that the inquiry begins there will be a rallies organised by Save Druridge and Friends of the Earth. The inquiry is being held at Newcastle Falcons Rugby Club, Kingston Park, Brunton Road, NE13 8AF. For the Morning vigil: Meet at Cranleigh Avenue off Brunton Road, opposite the Rugby Club entrance – 8.30am til 10am. Lunchtime Rally: Meet at Windsor Way off Brunton Road, opposite the Rugby Club exit – we’ll be gathering on the grassy area on the other side of the road from the Rugby Club – 1pm til 2pm.
Stewards will be present at both events to show you the way! Coaches: Newcastle City Centre, departing from the layby on Claremont Rd in front of the Great North Museum at 7.45am & 12.15pm we will meet at Cranleigh Avenue off Brunton Road, opposite the Rugby Club entrance – 8.30am til 10am.
There is a facebook event for updates. Bank’s Mining want to extract 3 million tonnes of coal from Highthorn, near to tourist beach Druridge Bay. In 2016 Northumberland County Council granted them planning permission. Then the excellent local community campaign, Save Druridge managed to get the government to Call In the application, meaning that the Secretary of State would ultimately decide if the mine goes ahead.
Local people, Friends of the Earth and Coal Action Network are all preparing to speak at the public inquiry to decide the fate of the area.
The inquiry will last 13 days, members of the public as well as speakers from CAN, Save Druridge and FoE will speak to explain why this application needs to be refused. It is being re-examined to fully consider the impacts of climate change and the UK’s coal phase out.
If this application is refused it will significantly reduce the chances of other applications being approved. There are currently three other applications for new opencast mines in the planning system. The others are at Hilltop, Clay Cross, Derbyshire, which is also being decided by the planning inspectorate; Nant Llesg in Caerphilly south Wales which is at appeal and Dewley Hill on the Newcastle boundary, another Banks Mining application.
Today,we were sentenced to pay £10,000 compensation charges to Miller Argent Ltd, after pleading guilty to aggravated trespass by shutting down Ffos-y-fran coal mine for one day.
by Andrea Brock, Chris Field, Rick Felgate, Kim Turner and The Canary (8th May 2017)
In the early hours of 21st April 2017, under the banner of Earth First! and Reclaim the Power, our group of five blockaded the UK’s largest opencast coal mine to disrupt the ecologically and socially disastrous mining operations of Miller Argent (South Wales) Ltd.
At 5am, two of us blocked all vehicle access to the mine by using D-locks and an armtube to lock onto the cattle grids at the entrance gate. Before long, on-site security became aware of our presence and called the police. Meanwhile, three of us hiked over the surrounding common land and the edge of the mine – sneaking past cows and security personnel. We climbed down towards the bottom of the vast hole that Miller Argent’s operations have ripped into the earth to find their 300 tonne hydraulic excavators. These are used to extract coal from the mine – five million tonnes of coal have already been extracted from Ffos-y-fran, with another six million to go – fifteen to sixteen hours a day. Following a little exploration of the excavator, we used D-locks to attach ourselves to the machine, got books, earphones, sleeping bags and sandwiches out and prepared for a long day in the pit. We were locked on for a total of 10 and a half hours, shutting down all coal mining and transport of coal off the site. After having been cut out, we were arrested for aggravated trespass, disruption of lawful activity and intimidation of mining personnel.
Perhaps the most intimidating of us all was one who was dressed as a bright yellow canary. Historically, canaries were brought down into underground mines to act as warning signals: the death of the little bird indicated toxic levels of gas and told miners to get out of the pit. Similarly, we wanted to highlight the threat that mining poses to neighbouring communities and the global climate – coal mining is causing irreversible damage, particularly to those least responsible, especially in the global South. That’s why the climate crisis is a racist crisis.
However, coal mining is not only a global issue. It’s also an issue of local air pollution, lack of democracy, accountability and environmental justice. For over a decade, campaigners from Residents Against Ffos-y-fran and the United Valleys Action Group have been fighting the mine. With the mine only 37 metres from the closest homes in Merthyr Tydfil, they are suffering from pollution, dust, noise and vibration every day. In March this year, the UN Special Rapporteur On Human Rights & Toxics called for a health inquiry into cancer and asthma rates in the communities neighbouring Ffos-y-fran, criticising the lack of government response to local complaints. Five hundred local residents have attempted to take court action against the mine, but their application was refused by the High Court as they were deemed unable to afford it.
Ffos-y-fran illustrates the failures of environmental regulation in the UK, the dominance of corporate over human interests, and the injustices associated with the system. As local communities continue to suffer, and as we approach runaway climate change, Miller Argent continue their mining at Ffos-y-fran, causing ecological destruction and health impacts under the name of “land reclamation”. In fact, the company is trying to expand its operations and has applied for a permit to open a second mine nearby, which would lead to the destruction of highly biodiverse and unique habitat – supposed to be “offset” elsewhere (as if the destruction of nature could easily be compensated for with the protection of nature elsewhere). Currently, the company is appealing against the council rejection of their proposal. The ongoing ecological and social destruction at Ffos-y-fran mine shows the failure of the current political economic system to deal with the multiple social and ecological crises, and illustrates its structural dependence on fossil fuel extraction.
Corporate fossil fuel interests have become institutionalised as state interests, to be defended at all costs through collaboration between private security personnel, corporations, state forces and police who suppress, co-opt and intimidate resistance. The court’s willingness to deter protesters on behalf of Miller Argent by imposing these ridiculously high compensation payments has exemplified this today. The system is based on and has entrenched our addiction to fossil fuels to the extent that we cannot envision a different system. In fact, some have argued, it is easier to imagine the end of the world than the end of fossil capitalism.
Coal kills!
Until recently, Ffos-y-fran mine supplied coal to one of Europe’s dirtiest and most toxic power stations, Aberthaw, the third largest emitter of nitrogen oxides in the EU and responsible for 17% of Wales’ greenhouse gas emissions. In 2014, the European Court of Justice confirmed that the power station has been in breach of EU air pollution regulation since 2008. Yet, rather than shutting the plant down once and for all, the government is actually paying the operator, RWE nPower, some £27 million pounds to keep it operational. Recently, the power station stopped burning Welsh coal, instead relying on imported coal (most likely from Russia and Colombia where social and environmental mining impacts are even worse). Ffos-y-fran continues to operate, however, supplying other industries – RWE nPower could resort back to its coal any day, and we have no reason to believe that they won’t.
Whilst David Cameron’s government committed to phasing out coal by 2025, this is not soon enough for the communities around Ffos-y-fran, nor is it soon enough for the many people who are already suffering from climate change, and the many more who will in the future. And with Brexit, the reality of this commitment is cast into doubt, especially given Theresa May’s legacy of conducting u-turns in many important policy areas and the commitment to leaving the jurisdiction of the European Court of Justice.
Over and over again, governments have shown that they cannot be trusted to deal with the multiple social and ecological crises we are facing; they are part of the problem, not the solution. Their responses have been driven by corporate interests, further entrenching and institutionalising inequalities and injustices through racist border policies, false solutions and green capitalist fantasies of never ending economic growth, market solutions and private property. The ongoing monetary valuation and commodification of nature is justified by the need to ‘make nature pay for its own protection,’ or ‘selling nature to save it’ and based on the construction of nature as ‘ecosystem services’ or ‘natural capital,’ effectively turning it into a global currency to be traded on markets. This approach only thinly veils the ongoing and intensifying destruction of our planet and the deepening of global and local inequalities along axes of race, gender and many others. Twenty-five years of climate negotiations have laid bare the corporate capture of the international policy processes and exposed the need to take matters into our own hands – to go to where climate change is caused, to reclaim power and to “shut shit down”. The global coal industry is at the forefront of climate change, of biodiversity loss, exploitation and degradation of social and ecological communities.
We need a diversity of tactics and strategies to end coal. In resistance to Ffos-y-fran, local people have fought numerous court battles and a public inquiry, and organised petitions and protests over the last decade, succeeding in having a second mine rejected. By disrupting operations and shutting down the mine, we hit the mine operator where it hurts most – in the first two hours of the blockade alone, we have been told, the company allegedly lost £33,000. Only through continued direct action, and by opposing all types of destruction, authority and oppression can we start to build the world we want to see. Centralising power structures and authority are inherently environmentally exploitative and socially oppressive. We want a socio-economic system run for the needs of people, not for profit; and according to the principles of solidarity, co-operation and mutual aid, not competitiveness. This system is based on sharing, voluntary collaboration, and communal organising and runs on local, decentralised, communally controlled electricity. That’s the world we are fighting for. If you support our action and can help us pay for these ludicrous charges in any way, please donate here. For those who came before, and those who will come after!
A shorter version of this blogpost has been published in the Huffington Post.
On the first day since the industrial revolution in which none of the UK’s energy was generated from coal, I was part of shutting down Ffos-y-fran, the UK’s biggest opencast coal mine.
I decided that we have to take action because governments are not responding to the impact of climate change and air pollution. We need to close all coal power stations quickly and the opencast coal mines which supply them, because of their contribution to runaway climate change which disproportionately affects people in the Global South.
Our action was at Ffos-y-fran in South Wales. Dust from the mine has been blowing over the town of Merthyr Tydfil. Last month a United Nations delegation visited the communities living near the coal mine. Baskut Tuncak a UN representative who met local residents has called for their to be an investigation into incidences of cancer and childhood asthma in the area surrounding Ffos-y-fran.
I was one of 3 protesters from Earth First! who entered the mine and locked on to machinery stopping work. Our action was partly organised by Reclaim the Power who organised the mass trespass at the same mine last year, when 300 people entered the mine and shut down it’s operation for the day. Today a group of 5 of us, including 2 people locked to a cattle grid blocking the only access to the rail terminal used to ship coal out, achieved the same result of stopping work for the day.
Traditionally miners took canaries into underground coal mines. The birds are more sensitive to air pollution than we are. If they died the miners knew that they had to get out of the mine quickly, as the air was toxic. One of our group dressed as a canary to highlight the dangerous dust created by Ffos-y-fran, the toxic nitrogen oxides released when this coal is burnt and climate change impacts. Most of the coal from Ffos-y-fran is burnt in Aberthaw power station. This coal is difficult to ignite and the process by which it is burnt produces more nitrogen oxides than when other coal is burnt. Respiratory diseases as a result of coal burning at Aberthaw power station has been responsible for the deaths of 400 people a year, due to the nitrogen oxides, according to a 2016 report by Greenpeace and Friends of the Earth.
Last autumn the European Court of Justice ruled that the UK government has been allowing RWE npower to breach EU legislation restricting nitrogen oxides. No action has been taken to remedy the situation. RWE is Europe’s largest CO2 emitter with huge coal operations in Germany producing electricity from highly inefficient brown coal. Aberthaw has been reported to say that they will import coal from Russia and Australia, which produces less pollution when it is burnt. This won’t reduce the climate impacts of running the power station.
Coal dust is causing significant concern to the resident’s living near Ffos-y-fran and the nine or so other UK opencast coal mines. In 2015 38% of coal burnt in the UK came from Russia and 29% came from Colombia. No coal was imported from Australia for any of the UK’s eight coal power stations. In Russia and Colombia the situations surrounding the opencast coal mines amount to cultural genocide, with indigenous and settled communities being forced from their land.
While coal extraction is a local tragedy it does not matter where CO2 is emitted, the impacts are always felt first and hardest in the Global South. Not acting to drastically cut emissions will further entrench global inequalities as the costs associated with the burning fossil fuels fall on those least able to bear them. When 7 out of 10 of the countries most at risk from climate change are in sub-Saharan Africa there is no denying that the impacts are being felt by those least responsible for them. Continuing to burn coal is to knowingly disregard the value of black and brown lives.
The government is currently deciding whether it will phase-out coal in 2025. Hearing about the impacts that mining at Ffos-y-fran is having on the people living there, knowing about the situation in Russia and Colombia, and having a world careering toward irreversible show that this is too late for the people at the front line of coal extraction.
It is time that decisive action is taken to close Aberthaw power station which in turn will allow for Ffos-y-fran to close and to be restored.
We need to show strong public support for a prompt coal phase-out. Join our fight against new and existing coal mines. You can get involved in the fight against coal in Wales or support the community which is opposing a new opencast coal mine on the Northumberland coastline. The Highthorn project at Druridge Bay attracted 10,000 signatures objecting to the application and will be decided by the planning inspectorate after a hearing in June.
The shift we’ve seen today away from coal-fired power shows that it is possible to move away from destructive fossil fuel generation. But coal can’t be substituted by gas, which is huge contributor to climate change as it also releases potent methane as well as CO2.
Neither gas nor coal can achieve the type of greenhouse-gas reductions demanded by international bodies such as the IPCC.
The shift away from coal would not be possible without decades of community resistance and action from the movement for climate justice. We must take action to keep all fossil fuels in the ground, and restore theses natural habitats as much as possible. We need to get behind a shift towards renewable energy as well as reduce our demand.
Peel Port, Liverpool
Drax Plc who operate the biggest biomass power station in the world which is also one of the biggest coal power stations in the UK. It receives a shocking £1.5 million a day in ‘renewable energy’ subsidies paid via a surcharge on electricity bills.
On the day of Drax’s AGM (13/04/17) scores of campaigners across the country have protested against Drax Plc. Protests took place in London, York and Liverpool to highlight Drax’s involvement in dirty energy, its contributions to climate change, destruction of communities, deforestation, and its continued reliance on government subsidies – which should instead be going to support energy conservation and genuinely renewable energy.
In York, anti-coal and biomass protesters gathered outside the AGM for a colourful demonstration, with members of the local community, representatives of the Coal Action Network, Biofuelwatch and Frack Free York, and local councillors. If Drax was hoping to have less negative attention drawn to its AGM by doing it in York, it failed.
Andy Hiles, a local Selby councillor who attended the York protest, said “We’re appalled that these forms of dirty energy receive £1.5 million a day out of our bills, when that money could be going to genuine renewable energy like wind and solar, and to home insulation, which would also provide a lot of jobs. We’re also concerned by reports that workers at Drax are experiencing breathing problems from biomass.”
Anne Harris from the Coal Action Network, also at the York protest, said, “Indigenous Wayuu children [near the Cerrejon mine in Colombia, which supplies Drax] are dying as a result of mining coal to supply Drax power station. The dust affects their breathing, and water shortages due to the mine’s water consumption are leading to starvation. Drax needs to listen to the consumers of this energy and understand that coal is only clean when it is left in the ground. Drax and the UK government need to ditch coal now.”
In London, around 40 people gathered outside the offices of Drax’s two largest investors, Schroders and Investec, calling for divestment from dirty energy. In Liverpool, local campaigners unfurled a banner at the entrance to Peel Port, saying “Biomass imports are a disaster, £1.5 million a day subsidy supports US deforestation”. Peel Ports import biomass into a specific terminal built to handle imported wood destined for Drax power station.
Katy Brown, who lives in Liverpool and attended the protest at the port, said, “We see trains leaving the port every day with ‘sustainable biomass’ written on them. Biomass that relies on imported wood from biodiverse ecosystems or from monoculture plantations is in no way sustainable.”
Coal is notoriously one of the worst fuels for the climate, but wood burning is coming under increasing scrutiny as a Chatham House report launched in February, ‘The Impacts of the Demand for Woody Biomass for Power and Heat on Climate and Forests’ revealed that its carbon emissions can equal those of coal. Drax imported nearly all the 13 million tonnes of wood it burnt last year, over half from biodiverse regions of the southern USA where many species are under threat from forest destruction.
Drax recently announced plans to build four new gas-fired power stations, which has angered anti-fracking campaigners. Local members of Unite Community also attended the protest to highlight the need for more green jobs and to raise concerns about local air pollution from Drax, which in 2013 was estimated to cause 590 premature deaths a year.
The protests were organised by a coalition including Biofuelwatch, Coal Action Network, London Mining Network, Fuel Poverty Action and concerned locals in York and Liverpool.
Eggborough and Fiddlers Ferry were all but written off this time last year. So why are they still online? And what’s their next move?
Last year, two power station bosses were in dire straits. Eggborough was set for demolition, while Fiddlers Ferry was going into talks with its workforce about closure of most of its units, blaming ‘challenging’ economic conditions for coal.
That was until the Capacity Market rode to the rescue.
Massive handouts for dirty dinosaurs
The Capacity Market (started by the Conservative-Lib Dem government in 2014, and administered by the National Grid) auctions off contracts for energy suppliers to guarantee energy supply at peak demand. So far, the majority of these contracts have gone to coal and gas-fired power stations.
This February, these failing power stations were handed a combined total of £48 million in February 2017 to provide back-up power in 2017-2018. Both power stations burn up to an estimated 5,000 tonnes of coal per week, mainly from Russia and Colombia.
All this despite the government claiming to be phasing out coal by 2025.
Eggborough announced that the February 2017 auction results ‘mean Eggborough will continue into its 51st year.’ Meanwhile, Fiddlers Ferry said the result meant that they would be able to ‘help keep the lights on next winter and beyond’.
‘Beyond’?
Since Fiddlers Ferry (owned by SSE) was bailed out by the national grid in 2016, and now by the Capacity Market in 2017, it’s likely that it’ll continue this strategy to bid for short term contracts to provide winter capacity year on year.
Lately, SSE has been defending coal’s place in the capacity market, amid criticism that the scheme unduly prolongs coal’s life. Which suggests that Fiddlers intends to bid again and stay open at least another year.
Eggborough is clearer about its intention to milk the capacity market for all it’s worth: “We will review the ongoing operational life of the station on an annual basis following the outcome of future capacity auctions and could continue operations under existing legislation until 2023″
That is, until 2023 when EU legislation restricting NOx emissions comes into force.
So will they have to close in 2023?
In theory, yes. But thanks to Brexit, that’s not clear either. The UK government’s ongoing breaches of EU air pollution limits, and their attempts to get them relaxed, suggests they won’t be in a hurry to self-impose these standards once the UK leaves the EU.
According to Alan Andrews, the ClientEarth Lawyer who sued the government for breaching air pollution standards:
We would be concerned that if we were to withdraw from the EU, a lot of momentum around air quality and efforts finally starting to take hold would be lost, and that would have disastrous consequences for public health in the UK.
What’s to be done?
Clearly coal has to be kicked out of the capacity market this year, before we leave the EU when there will be a risk of the pressure easing on the government to take responsibility for reducing air pollution from power stations.
Calls for the Capacity Marker to ditch coal are coming from all quarters, most recently from Scottish Power.And they’re being backed up by the emerging alternative of battery power storage for renewable generation, which stole some of the 2017-2018 contracts that were expected to go to coal-fired power stations, much to the disgruntlement of SSE.
We need to continue to mobilise against these power stations which are far from written off. That means challenging the priorities of the Capacity Market. It must stop giving massive hand-outs to prop up lethal coal-fired power. If it can grant more contracts to battery storage units in its next auction in Autumn 2017, then there just might be a chance of shutting down these polluting giants before it’s too late.
Activists stop work at SE Asia’s biggest coal plant
Local Fishermen join the blockade. Image: Greenpeace
Environmental protestors today stopped construction for 13 hours at Southeast Asia’s biggest planned coal plant.
The activists, from green groups Greenpeace Indonesia, WALHI and Jatam, are demanding the Indonesian Government cancels the 2,000MW Batang coal power plant project and that the Japan Bank for International Co-operation (JBIC) withdraws its financial support.
Twelve of the environmentalists unfurled giant banners and occupied heavy equipment at the site, supported by a flotilla of about 100 local fishers who joined the blockade.
The action hopes to support local communities which have opposed the project for five years because of its impact on agricultural land and waters – they say the power won’t help them and will be used for industry.
Many of these people have taken legal action, participated in hearings with various government agencies and even sent representatives to Japan to directly meet with investors.
Arif Fiyanto, Energy Campaigner at Greenpeace Southeast Asia, said: “Not only will this coal plant destroy the local environment, it will pollute our air and contribute to the 6,500 premature deaths in Indonesia every year linked to air pollution from burning coal.
“Indonesia must break its addiction to fossil fuels and banks such as JBIC must stop financing dirty coal projects.”
Earlier this week in the UK, protestors blockaded a quarry owned by a fracking supplier in Lancashire.
Cover of this inspiring action comes from Energy Live News click to see the original
Companies from every EU nation except Poland and Greece sign up to initiative in bid to meet Paris pledges and limit effects of climate change. Arthur Neslen in Brussels Wednesday 5 April 2017
Plants such as Boxberg in Germany, seen here, will not be built across most of Europe from 2020 after a moratorium agreed to on Tuesday. Photograph: Florian Gaertner/Photothek via Getty Image
Europe’s energy utilities have rung a death knell for coal, with a historic pledge that no new coal-fired plants will be built in the EU after 2020.
The surprise announcement was made at a press conference in Brussels on Wednesday, 442 years after the continent’s first pit was sunk by Sir George Bruce of Carnock, in Scotland.
Is Cumbria Being Frogmarched into Nuclear AND Coal?
The plan to reopen the Whitehaven coal mine under the Irish Sea has been rumbling along for a few years with no raised eyebrows. Why are alarm bells not ringing out loud and clear? This nasty plan will go before Cumbria County Council in May (date tbc).
This article has been republished from Radiation Free Lakeland, Love the Land, by Marianne Birkby with her permission.) Most Gaseous, Dangerous Pit in the Kingdom
These are strange, confusing days. There is all round praise being heaped on the plans to reopen Whitehaven coal mine on Cumbria’s West Coast, the most gaseous, dangerous pit in the Kingdom. In 1815, Sir Humphrey Davy’s invention of the miner’s safety lamp was first tested in Whitehaven Coking Coal Mine because of its reputation for “firedamp” (methane) and fatal explosions. By 1816 the Davey lamp was in full use in collieries around Great Britain. A letter of gratitude was written by Whitehaven Miners to Sir Humphrey Davy in 1816…. many of the miners signing the letter later lost their lives in the mine. Honeycomb
The West Coast of Cumbria below both ground and sea is a labyrinthine honeycomb of mines. Not only coking coal but iron ore and many other minerals. This vast honeycomb of mines stretches to Sellafield. One of the earliest records of coal mining in West Cumberland dates to 1560, the last pit, the Haig, closed in 1986. There are old mine maps but these are far, far from complete. Understandably so, given the length of time that this area has been extensively mined. Many of the miners are still there in the dangerous honeycomb. Entombed in the same collapsed and sea inundated mine pits that the West Cumbria Mining Company wants to reopen. Infamous Copeland By Election
In the recent infamous Copeland by election the candidates without exception declared themselves to be “big fans” of reopening the West Cumbria Coal Mine. They did this in true Alice in Wonderland style, expressing concerns about climate change while praising the plan to reopen the coal mine. For many years UK citizens have been subjected to a constant bombardment of disingenuous propaganda: ‘nuclear power is the answer to climate change and coal is far worse than nuclear for the climate’. The purpose of this propaganda being that we should welcome nuclear with open arms, while shunning coal. George Monbiot has consistently and aggressively set the pace: “Nuclear scare stories are a gift to the truly lethal coal industry.” Monbiot’s constant mantra in the last several years is that those who oppose nuclear power are uninformed, bigoted idiots. Now it appears that the idiots in Cumbria are being groomed to welcome both coal AND nuclear. Homely Image
A recent article in the Daily Mail paints a homely image of a local mining firm returning to its traditional roots in Cumbria. This image is not quite what it seems. The £14.7m private equity financing for reopening Whitehaven mine has been put up by EMR Capital who say: “We are a specialist resources private equity manager whose team has a proven track record in the three dimensions critical to achieving superior returns:
Successful resources exploration, development, operation and commercialisation
Deep linkages to Asian markets – in particular, with commodity purchasers and end users, resources companies, investors and governments
Private equity investment management”
PR Spin
The PR for reopening the coal mine seems to have worked its charms on the local Allerdale and Copeland Green party for whom the coal mine gets a thumbs up as it ‘will reduce imports of the coking coal necessary to produce wind turbines.’ This argument holds no water as in order to recoup money and make a killing the coal from Whitehaven would be aggressively exported worldwide. The coal and its by-products could end up doing anything from being burnt in coal fired power stations, processed into coking coal, making the vast amounts of steel necessary for a giant geological dump for radioactive wastes. The coal from Whitehaven was first processed into coking coal for the iron industry in 1723. Coke production did not however match local demand and tonnes were brought in from Durham. The Durham coke was superior in having lower phosphorus content, a factor of importance to the local hematite iron industry. Turning the ground to a liquid mess
There are other ways to achieve the high temperatures necessary for steel production but even if processing coal into coking coal was the only way, the close proximity of Sellafield and the proposed Moorside site should knock this dangerous plan on the head. Extractive activities are known to cause earthquakes. There are two contenders for the strongest earthquake in this region a 5.0 ML earthquake on 11 August 1786 had an epicentre just offshore from Whitehaven and a depth of about 16 km; a 5.1 ML earthquake on 17 March 1843 had an epicentre offshore from Barrow and a depth of about 15 km. This may not be unrelated to the escalating mining activities going on the time. The only area in the UK to have experienced a liquefaction event is the village of Rampside, near Barrow in 1865. “High intensity and liquefaction phenomena are usually associated only with relatively large magnitude earthquakes. An earthquake in 1865 in the North West of England suggests that a sufficiently shallow small event can also produce liquefaction. The effects are well documented in historical sources and include sand fountaining. Modern investigation is confined to documentary evidence owing to the tidal environment of the area where liquefaction occurred. Analysis shows that the felt area of the earthquake was probably only about 200 km2; however, heavy damage occurred in the village of Rampside and the maximum intensity is assessed at 8. Liquefaction is not uncommon at this intensity, but such a high intensity is not usually produced by such small earthquakes. The magnitude was probably in the range 2.5–3.5 ML.” pure and applied geophysics November 1998, Volume 152, Issue 4, pp 733–745 Questions
West Cumbria Mining are inviting the public to ask questions so I asked the following:
“How would the mine be dewatered? What is the full carbon footprint for one year of peak production. Including predicted dewatering, mining and export operations? What agreements have been made with St Bees School, Lowther Estate, regarding the mineral rights? How are the vast network of faults and dips mapped? (this would have a bearing on distance to the sea bed) What is the proximity to the proposed Moorside site and Sellafield?” The reply from Communications Manager Helen Davies was: “At this time I am busy preparing for our next major stakeholder event, which is scheduled to run on the 2nd, 3rd and 4th March. It would be much easier to discuss your questions and provide answers from our team of specialists who will be at the event, rather than attempting to answer them in writing now. The event on the 2nd March is by invitation only – please find attached an invite, we would be delighted if you could come along to meet with us. Caroline Leatherdale, our environmental specialist will be there, together with a wide range of our technical team.”
Does your lump of coal feel lucky?”
Marianne Birkby
Radiation Free Lakeland
some more info…
Earthquakes http://earthwise.bgs.ac.uk/index.php/Geological_hazards,_geology_and_man,_Northern_England http://earthwise.bgs.ac.uk/index.php?title=File:P916108.jpg&filetimestamp=20160412172238& http://www.westcumbriamining.com http://www.westcumbriamining.com/local-news/west-cumbria-mining-outline-new-plans-coking-coal-mine-near-whitehaven/
This article was updated on the 28/06/17 to remove content relating to Jason Chang on request of the author of this article.
Drax is the world’s biggest biomass power station, the UK’s biggest coal fired power station, and the UK’s biggest single emitter of green house gasses. Now Drax is even getting involved in gas!
Demos on the day of the AGM
At Drax’s Annual General Meeting (AGM) we will be protesting outside of The Royal York Hotel York where Drax’s shareholders are meeting. Simultaneously Biofuelwatch are inviting you to join them for a colourful protest in London visiting some of Drax’s key investors.
The York demo will take place at from 10.30pm until 2pm. We will be having a photo call at 1pm, so if you can’t make the whole thing, the latter part only is great. 13th April 2017. The hotel is currently in the process of changing its name to The Principle York. It is very close to York train station and we recommend that you travel by train, bike or on foot.
The investors demo in London is starting at 12 noon until 2pm meeting on Gresham Street.13th April 2017. Drax power station is a dangerous waste of bill payers’ money, receiving £1.5 million in subsidies every day to destroy forests and contribute to climate change.
Why are we targeting Drax?
Every year, there are 590 premature deaths due to air pollution from Drax Power Station.
Three units burn coal from UK opencasts as well as opencast and underground mines in Russia, Colombia (including Cerrejon coal mine) and the USA. The other three units burn trees from Canada, the Baltic States and the southern states of the USA.
In return for trashing forests and digging up communities, Drax is receiving massive subsidies when it should have been closed down years ago. Drax received £584 million of public money in 2016 – that’s over £1.5 million every day!
If this wasn’t bad enough, Drax is now investing in four new gas-fired power stations. Perhaps hoping to capitalise on fracking in the North?
Enough is enough!
We want public money to go towards investment in true public services, like the NHS, social care and schools, not this forest, communities and climate-wrecking scheme. The government needs to support REAL renewable energy like solar, wind, tidal and invest in home insulation. We demand decent jobs which will give us a healthy environment and a sustainable future for our children. Dirty energy companies and the government must start a meaningful dialogue with the unions and their workers to ensure they are moved into highly skilled work which benefits their families and the planet.
Most of the coal from Ffos-y-fran is burnt in Aberthaw power station. This coal is difficult to ignite and the process by which it is burnt produces more nitrogen oxides than when other coal is burnt. Respiratory diseases as a result of coal burning at Aberthaw power station has been responsible for the deaths of 400 people a year, due to the nitrogen oxides, according to a 2016 report by Greenpeace and Friends of the Earth.
