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The latest cautionary tale: Halton Lea Gate opencast coal mine

Overview

Between 2008 and 2012, communities fought against the threat of an opencast coal mine on the edge of their picturesque rural Northumberland villages. Northumberland Local Planning Authority sided with the local communities and rejected the application in 2011. But that rejection was appealed by the applicant, HM Projects Developments Ltd. The planning inspectorate sided with the applicant and overturned the communities’ and Local Planning Authority’s rejection, based on the misplaced faith that their additional ‘section 106’conditions would prevent negative impacts on the local environment and community. Those conditions and promises were, of course, broken with damage to the local environment by HM Project Developments Ltd. as it proceeded in 2012 with permission to extract 140,000 tonnes of coal just 50 metres from the closest residence over the next 8 years. As the opencast coal mine neared the end of its profitability in 2020, HM Project Developments Ltd. declared bankruptcy, thereby abandoning the opencast site on the edge of the Halton Lea Gate village and breaking its promise to pay into the promised community fund or for environmental remediation. The joint administrators appointed to tie up the loose ends of the company’s finances and responsibilities decided to leave remaining coal reserves, restore the farmland, and market it for sale to finance some of the company’s debts, with finance from ExWorks, a US credit company.

A debt to the community

HM Project Developments Ltd. bankruptcy means that the £75,000 pledged to a community fund is unlikely to materialise. In retrospect, the Northumberland Local Planning Authority noted that it’s ‘section 106 conditions’ should have required HM Project Developments Ltd. to pay into the fund in a staged way throughout the project, rather than a lump sum at the end to avoid this scenario in the future. The bankrupt company’s joint administrators—Benjamin Wiles and Steven Muncaster of Kroll Advisory Ltd.—were appointed in 30 April 2020 and are apparently still in discussion with Northumberland Local Planning Authority on the community fund, but the outlook is not good as debts exceed £11 million, over 5x the predicted worth of the company’s remaining assets.

A debt to the local environment in 2020

Coal Action Network visited the site in July 2020 after it was abandoned by the company. There we were confronted with a hole in the landscape of rolling hills, toxic-looking pools that had wildlife tracks leading to them, large mounds and jagged cliffs of excavated soil and coal, and machinery left around the site. Overall, a poorly fenced dangerous place. All this in a North Pennines Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty, and just 50 metres from someone’s house.

A debt to the local environment in 2021—partly repaid

The complexity of established flora and fauna sacrificed around the UK at sites of opencast coal mining is lost for the long-term, and possibly forever. So-called ‘restoration’ cannot recreate these ecosystems, and doesn’t even attempt to offset the impacts that burning the coal will have on climate change. When we revisited the site of the Halton Lea Gate opencast in June 2021, the toxic-looking pools were gone and the restoration effort was underway with funding from ExWorks, a US credit company, to the tune of £653,422 (less than the fees of the joint administrators so far). ExWorks relationship to the coal mine and HM Project Developments Ltd. isn’t clear. The works began in February 2021, and a chat with an employee on the site confirmed most of the soil had been put back, and the restoration works were expected to be completed by September 2021. Already the impact of simply putting back the soil on the local landscape—though insufficient—was profound and underpins why this baseline must be adhered to for the sake of nearby communities and fauna.

The Halton Lea Gate opencast coal mine—history repeats… unless we do something about it

Before the coal mine in Halton Lea Gate was abandoned, Margam opencast coal mine was abandoned with just £5 million of the £56 million restoration bond in the pot, making for an even poorer quality restoration that remains a scar on the landscape. This is a story repeated across the UK, largely because:

  1. companies are not held to planning agreements which were inadequate to protect local ecosystems anyway.
  2. material climate considerations are unclear in national planning policy.
  3. local communities lack the resources, compared to developers, to input into decision-making on coal mining applications in their area.

Although coaling in the UK will hopefully continue to wind down, we must not repeat the same mistakes as excavation for lithium and other minerals ramps up.

National planning policy must give a clear and strong steer to screen all planning projects for their climate change consequences, not least coal mine applications. And the voices of impacted communities living around the sites of proposed developments must be centred in decision making by Local Planning Authorities, as it represents the main means by which local communities can democratically shape what happens around them. Only then can we prevent history repeating itself, with communities living locally and in the Global South bearing the brunt of climate-trashing projects.

Dongria - gone too soon

Today (10th July 2021) we gather to say goodbye to our friend Dongria Khond, also known as Penny Eastwood. Her life was remarkable in the amount of people she touched, the things she did and the places she protected.

Dongria has been a big force in the environmental movement, especially with her work with others in Treesponsibility in addressing the flooding of the Calder valley. Often her actions were local, but with an eye to the bigger picture.

Treesponsibility was set up by Dongria and others in 1998. Treesponsibility's aims are to educate people about the need for action on climate change, to involve local communities in tree-planting, and to improve our local environment and biodiversity for the benefit of local people and future generations. In recent years Treesponsibility has been focussing attention on tree planting for flood mitigation. The organisation has planting hundreds of thousands of trees across Calderdale.

Demonstration against Drax powerstation 2017. The banners were Dongria's idea

Around 2001 there was a proposal for a new opencast coal mine in the Calderdale and Rossendale watershed, between Bacup and Todmorden in Lancashire and West Yorkshire councils. Dongria was involved in fighting against this application. At a planning hearing she gave evidence of how Treesponsibility had planted trees up Midgelden Dean as part of their project and that this would capture carbon as part of a 25 year project. If the opencast were to start it would make their work to reforest the valley and the wider area irrelevant.

Following the rejection of the application Dongria met with the landowner and told him that although he could appeal the decision that she and others would keep fighting against it and so there was no point. No appeal was lodged.

This is just one example of Dongria's steely determination to make the world a better place.

Coal Caravan 2009 at Lodge Moor opencast, Nottinghamshire. Dongria is holding the banner, front left

In 2009 Dongria was part of an eight woman team who organised The Coal Caravan, a cycle ride between Nottingham and Blyth, touring opencast mines, proposed opencast mining sites, existing and demolished coal power stations. Her involvement ensured that we were well fed and had a support vehicle, thanks Treesponsisbilty, enabling more people to participate. It turned out Dongria couldn't ride a bike. It was Dongria's idea to write and distribute a newspaper to people we spoke to along the way. To introduce ideas about system change and climate change in a format people were used to reading from. It worked much better than I expected it to.

“Me and Dongria often disagreed, and then it would turn out that she was right. Probably more than 9 times out of 10. It was infuriating.” Keith, a close friend and colleague.

Dongria saw the big picture and had a big impact through the campaigns she was involved in and her compassionate, but firm manner.

She is credited with having invented the idea of using super glue to attach oneself to things in direct action, and was known as Super Glue Penny before she changed her name. She was involved in Climate Camps and Reclaim the Power. In 2007 as part of a Plane Stupid action she super glued her hands to the front door of lastminute.com's head quarters, protesting against 'bing flying' Prior to the 2010 Climate camp in Edinburgh at the Royal bank of Scotland changed her name by deed poll to Dongria Khond to highlight the plight of a tribe in India whose sacred mountain was threatened for mining for bauxite.

The tribe had a sophisticated international campaign but Dongria wanted to bring their battle to a European audience. She dressed up smartly walked into the head quarters, got into an office with hands covered in super glue, and glued herself to an important individual and said something like, "I'm Dongria Khond, I'm your accountability agent" explaining to them the issues with Royal Bank of Scotland's involvement with the company and what it needed to do to rectify the situation. The name change ensured that in a court case the name of the affected tribe would be central.

She had planned to keep the name until the campaign was won, showing that the actions of Vedanta affected generations of lives not just rocks and mineral. Later the Dongria Kondh tribe inspired millions when they won a 'David and Goliath' battle against mining giant Vedanta Resources, an Anglo-Indian multinational. The tribe vowed to save their Niyamgiri Hills and their self-sufficient way of life.

More recently Dongria was a force in the Ban the Burn campaign. She invented the name and worked alongside many other great individuals.

Ban the Burn targets the Walshaw moor estate, which is owned by a man called Richard Bannister. When Richard Bannister bought the estate it was used for grouse shooting which he intensified. He carried out lots of unapproved changes to the land, for example he built tracks, failed to respect laws on driving over peat, drained the land and burned large areas of heather. Shooting estates burn heather to provide food and shelter for the grouse, the process damages the peat, an important carbon sink, the peat is also drained. See more here.

In 2012 Natural England were taking the estate to court over 45 breaches of environmental legislation, although more were suspected. Before the case was completed at court, Natural England dropped the charges and paid the estate around £4M of public money including paying the estates legal fees.

Why did this happen? It appears that the Minister for the Environment, Richard Benyon, who owns lots of moors where grouse shooting happens, knew that if the prosecutions against the Walshaw estate had been successful the case would have set a new precedent about how these moors are managed across the UK. It is thought that Benyon got Natural England to drop charges and Walshaw to continue its inappropriate management.

Amongst other activities Dongria organised a tour for 94 people onto Walshaw moor. There she talked about the ecology and mismanagement and importance of peat moorland in relation to climate change.

The campaign has had some success in raising awareness of the ecological damaged caused by grouse shooting estates and this has resulted in some policy changes but all are too slow, with existing agreements being allowed to be carried out before change happens and with exemptions of the Walshaw Moor estate.

The case had wider implications, everyone knew that Walshaw was a test case. You can read George Monbiot's guardian article, and Mark Avery’s excellent book 'Inglorious - conflict in the uplands.'

Ban the burn is still an active campaign. The RSPB made a formal complaint to the European Commission about Natural England’s allowing of damaging actions at Walshaw and giving consent for burning on other areas of blanket bog that should be protected. The RSPB still has concerns about the way Natural England is dealing with peat moorland.

Dongria was like a dark fairy she wore black and dark grey with long grey hair. She told the truth, and the truth is often quite dark. This is what we are facing. There was something magical and fairy like about her presence.

Although Dongria was amazing, she - like all of us - couldn't do it on her own. With her passing we need to celebrate our life. We encourage you to look at the Dongria Khond tribe, look to the local things we can do which have impacts on a global arena. We need to find our inner Dongria and step up. Her dying isn't the end, our fight continues.

#StopAdani Power Hour

Recently, there has been so much progress, and many victories in the fight to stop the insurance of climate-destroying projects. Only last month, Lloyd’s of London insurer Ascot ruled out renewing their policy for the Adani coal mine once it expires in September after months of pressure. This shows us that the pressure is working. With Adani looking to renew its insurance soon, we need to make sure the last few insurers rule out insuring this mega mine.

At Coal Action Network, we’re determined to keep this momentum up. We’ve organised three Power Hours scheduled in the upcoming weeks, aiming to connect people within the movement, create a space for learning new skills, and take action that we know works. We’ll be targeting Hamilton, one of the last syndicates at Lloyd’s of London still willing to insure the coal mine.

If we’re going to win big and avoid climate breakdown, we need to learn from each other's experiences and knowledge. We’re excited to be joined at these Power Hours by Australian activists from the #StopAdani movement, who have a track record of successfully convincing insurance companies to rule out the Adani Carmichael project. Together, we’ll take action to pile the pressure onto Hamilton - let’s stop Adani in its tracks.

Learn more, and RSVP to one (or more!) of the Power Hours:

Indigenous Leaders in Permanent Assembly Against Coal

Through the Wayuu-led NGO Nación Wayuu, indigenous Wayuu elders and community leaders are gathering in a 'Permanent Assembly' - an ongoing dialogue, which can involve peaceful action to demand justice from the coal company Cerrejón, which operates Latin America's biggest coal mine in the northernmost state of Colombia, La Guajira.

This is a powerful step by communities next to the railway line where open-top carriages take coal across the state to the port. They were not included in the recent UN investigation but also suffer devestating impacts.

Cerrejón is owned by three mining multinationals who are all listed on the London Stock Exchange: Anglo American, Glencore, and BHP. They have recently been ordered to stop expanding the mine and as a result Anglo American and Glencore are now suing the Colombian Government.

PRESS RELEASE by NACIÓN WAYUU

(English Translation. Spanish here)

According to their legal and constitutional rights, the Traditional Authorities of the Indigenous Wayuu Movement (located in the municipalities of Maicao, are Manaure and Uribia, ancestral guardians of the territories which have been robbed and desecrated by the train track belonging to Cerrejón Limited) inform the national and international public that from 1st June 2021 they will declare a PERMANENT ASSEMBLY* for the following reasons:

For more than 40 years, the indigenous territories located in the municipality of Albania, Maicao, Manaure and Uribia, were desecrated and divided by the construction of the train line belonging to the Cerrejón company, which gave passage to an immense iron-clad long-tailed animal: a train.

The passage of this immense animal changed the lives of the Wayuu people, who now are feeling death which initially came to them slowly, and now is gathering pace. The most affected are women and children, but also the workers who go to the mine.

The situation is so critical that recently, the UN urged the mine to suspend operations in the municipality of Barrancas, near to the Wayuu reservation of Provincial, for reasons of pollution, water scarcity, and the prevention of transmission of Covid-19 in the communities who live there.

The UN High Commission in Human Rights urged the suspension of some of Cerrejón's opencast coal mine operations, located in La Guajira, Northern Colombia.

UN experts insisted the pollution that the mine produced has caused serious damage to the health of the indigenous Wayuu community who reside in this region, bordering on Venezuela.

David Boyd, UN special rapporteur for Human Rights and the Environment, said “at least during the pandemic, the operations in the Tajo Patilla site near to the Provincial reservation should be suspended until they can demonstrate that it is safe.”

He added that the Cerrejón mine had not done enough to comply with the orders of the Colombian authorities, which in December demanded the company improve air quality and limit the damage to the area's inhabitants.

According to UN commission experts, the residents suffer headaches, breathing and nasal problems, dry coughs, burning eyes and blurred vision as a consequence of the exploitation of the Cerrejón mine.

The pollution produced by Cerrejón does not only affect the communities near to the Tajo Patilla or the Provincial reservation, but also the indigenous communities, ancestral guardians of the territories located along the length of the train line and the banks of the Rancheria River. In this second wave of infections in this pandemic that threatens to exterminate humanity, these communities have been seriously affected, leaving countless people dead and many more infected, but this does not matter to the Cerrejon company, who continue their mining operation regardless.

It has been five years since the sentence was handed down which ordered urgent action to benefit the indigenous people of La Guajira, but this judicial order has not been followed through.

The justice system has placed at least 17 sanctions on Cerrejón Coal Limited for the effects that opencast coal mining has brought to the indigenous Wayuu people who live in the immediate vicinity of the mine in La Guajira. The last decision was handed down by the Constitutional Court on 13th December 2016, which included an order to compensate indigenous Wayuu communities for the severe environmental, social and cultural damage, but to this day they have offered nothing but a half-hearted semblance of compliance with this sentence.

As ancestral guardians of territory exploited by the company Cerrejón, we demand the following:

1. Suspend the train operation which transports coal to Puerto Bolivar at the weekends for 24 hours each day (Saturday and Sunday)
2. Urgently reinitiate dialogues which were unilaterally suspended by Cerrejón under the false pretext of the pandemic.
3. Comply strictly with the Constitutional Court order T-704/16

This communication is signed on 1st June 2021 by the Traditional Wayuu authorities, ancestral guardians of this territory.

*Language note: Permanent Assembly refers to an ongoing or recurring gathering to protest and/or engage in dialogue to further a campaign

Get Involved

We will be taking actions in solidarity with Nación Wayuu, and the affected communities. To be involved in this, and other, actions against coal, sign up to our mailing list.

You can read more about Cerrejón's devestating impact on communities in the region in this recent UN report. London Mining Network has a lot of information about communities fighting back against the mine.

Lloyd's Feeling the Pressure over Coal

As they reopened after lockdown, Lloyd's of London and companies involved in their marketplace opened their offices to find local people demanding that they rule out insuring the West Cumbria and Adani coal mines immediately.

It was a great day with actions in 13 locations across the UK. This was the first time that the regional offices of insurance companies have faced coordinated action demanding action on climate change. We stood in solidarity with the communities campaigning gainst the Adani and West Cumbria coal mines.

Helen from Gateshead said: We all have a responsibility to care for our planet and that’s why we’re here today. To show that we need to say no to fossil fuels, to turn our backs on coal. And that’s why we’re calling on Lloyd’s of London to stop insuring all coal mines around the world now.

Zoe, a 50 year old Mum and small business owner from Warrington said “I took part in this local action to be part of giving a bigger national message to Lloyd’s of London, that in 2021 with the planet on fire, it is no longer OK to be insuring fossil fuel projects. Insurance seems such a dry and mundane thing, but when you realise it is crucial to any coal, oil or gas extraction going ahead, then you realise what power these people have. They can literally decide to turn off the emissions tap if they wished to! That means they hold the power of life or death – over many millions, if not billions of people, in the keystrokes of their keyboard, or the flurry of their pen. Imagine having that much potential to do the right thing – they could literally be the world’s greatest climate heros if they chose to be. What a legacy for them to leave their kids…”

 

Chris from Manchester said "We think that insurance companies , by the nature of their business about future risks,  have the resources and motivation to understand the practical implications of the climate emergency and the role fossil fuels play in causing and worsening that emergency. But we don't think they are being open about those risks. We need them to Tell the Truth and my being here demonstrating in Manchester, is part of holding them to account"

We got some great coverage in the insurance press with this journalist calling it how it is!

 

Thanks to everyone who took action on the campaign so far, we are pushing the insurance industry out of coal! This week Adani's biggest contractor revealed it couldn't find an insurance provider that would cover the project 💖

The action we are taking is making a massive difference to keeping the coal in the ground and protecting local communities from mining impacts.

A key to these massive victories has been keeping constant pressure up on the insurance industry. Help keep up the pressure by writing to Lloyd's, and it's 10 biggest insurers to demand they rule out the West Cumbria mine. If you've written before, keep on writing till they rule out the mine.

You can also spread the word by sharing this great video about Lloyd's on Facebook or Twitter

Thanks again for all your brilliant support,

Lloyd's of London marketplace & coal insurance - FAQs

Making the confusing world of insurance a little clearer

What is the Lloyd’s of London?

Firstly, it’s nothing at all to do with Lloyd’s PLC, the bank – they’re not great either, but that’s another story.

Lloyd’s of London is a large insurance corporation with an HQ in London but trade insurance globally. In its own words, Lloyd’s of London “oversees and supports the Lloyd’s market, ensuring it operates efficiently and retains its reputation as the market of choice for specialist insurance and reinsurance risk.” You can watch Lloyd’s of London’s very corporate video explaining what they do.

What is “Lloyd’s marketplace”?

Insurance companies use Lloyd’s of London’s marketplace much like sellers use eBay’s website. Just as eBay supports bidding between buyers and sellers, so does Lloyd’s of London, employing over 200 brokers to match insurance customers with insurance companies. And just like eBay, Lloyd’s of London offers some form of guarantee for insurance bought via their marketplace, encouraging trades through to be made through it.

What is Lloyd’s of London's connection to Adani and West Cumbria coal mines, and fossil fuels

Lloyd’s of London marketplace is in the top 4 for insuring climate-wrecking fossil fuel projects around the world. Lloyd’s of London’s marketplace is particularly attractive to large fossil fuel projects as Lloyd’s has a reputation for getting high-risk projects insured that other insurance companies won’t touch. One way it does this is by splitting an insurance policy, and spreading the risk, between insurance companies using their marketplace. This amounts to an insurance for climate chaos as it’s only with insurance that companies can take the financial risks to dig new coal mines, build new tar sand pipelines, and explore new gas and oil fields.

Lloyd’s of London has refused to rule out allowing Adani’s Carmichael coal mine in Australia or the West Cumbria coal mine in the UK to obtain insurance via their marketplace. If Adani’s Carmichael coal mine gets insurance and goes ahead, it would open up one of the world’s biggest coal deposits contributing to a climate catastrophe.

What is Lloyd’s of London doing to prevent their contribution to climate change?

Not much, and definitely not enough.

Lloyd’s of London have only committed to a policy of greenwash that is incompatible with our climate crisis, continuing to insure risky projects that no one else will touch. So far Lloyd’s of London has committed to asking insurers operating in their marketplace to stop insuring tar sands, thermal coal mines, and Arctic exploration, phasing this out by 2022. But ‘reinsurance’ for these worst offenders is allowed up until 2030.

This also leaves a huge range of climate-wrecking projects free to continue insuring their risk via Lloyd’s of London marketplace with no policy at all to discourage it. In practice, this means the planned West Cumbria mine could be insured via Lloyd’s of London marketplace as it intends to mine ‘coking coal’, not ‘thermal coal’, although both are eventually burned, producing similar emissions.

What more could Lloyd’s of London marketplace do to prevent their contribution to climate change?

Lloyd’s of London could most simply ban all fossil fuel insurance trading via their marketplace. Their own statement clearly indicates this would be possible; “Lloyd’s publishes minimum standards and monitors compliance with those minimum standards. Lloyd’s by-laws also set out a number of rules with which market participants are required to comply”.

Fossil fuel projects only amount to around 5% of Lloyd’s of London’s marketplace insurance trades, so the company would still have a future without selling out ours.

What would be the impact if Lloyd’s of London ruled out fossil fuel insurance?

Some of the fossil fuel projects would source insurance from other providers and marketplaces, but many using Lloyd’s of London marketplace have failed to secure insurance elsewhere—Lloyd’s of London is sometimes their last chance. Let’s not give it to them.

Insurance providers also look to one another in setting their policies, so if Lloyd’s of London drops fossil fuel insurance, it is likely other insurance traders and providers will too—with a bit of encouragement.

Insurance might not be the sexiest subject, but it is a very vulnerable link in the chain needed to start and continue these huge climate-wrecking projects. It’s time Lloyd’s of London take responsibility for the role its insurance marketplace has in our collective future.

What is an insurance policy?

A contract that a company or individual takes out with an insurer to protect them against specific risks in ways that are agreed and noted in the contract.

What is ‘claims made’ insurance?

Type of insurance policy that will cover insurance claims made whilst the insurance policy is in force – even if the event leading to that insurance claim happened before that insurance policy came into force.

What is ‘claims occurring’ insurance?

Type of insurance policy that will cover insurance claims for events that occurred whilst the insurance policy is in force – even if the claim for it happens after the insurance policy stopped being in force.

No related insurance:

They don't insure coal mines e.g. they just cover travel insurance.

What is ‘run-off’ insurance:

AKA: Not 'live' insurance. Type of insurance policy that comes into effect when a company stops trading. So, any claims made under it will relate to events that happened before the company stopped trading and the policy started. This is used by companies that had ‘claims made’ insurance, and want insurance in case anyone takes action against them after the company for the period of time after they stopped trading but are still liable.

Want to know more?

Coal Roundup May 2021

Opencast coal extraction

The last opencast coal mine in England should now have closed, as has East Pit in Neath Port Talbot Wales. This leaves two operating in Wales and none in Scotland.[1]

The existing mines, by company are:

Celtic Energy: Nant Helen, Powys (due to close December 2021)

Merthyr (South Wales): Ffos-y-fran, Merthyr Tydfil (due to close in 2022)

Other former opencast sites are being put back. Banks Group is expected to vacate the Pont Valley, Durham in June 2021.

There are currently no planning applications for new opencast coal mines in the UK after Banks Group had three proposals refused in 2020 thanks to incredible campaigning by local groups.

Power Station Closures

Drax power station has stopped burning coal after decades of importing coal from the USA, Russia, Colombia and UK mines. Drax has dropped plans to convert the coal units to gas. Much of the wood for its biomass comes from the clear-felling of biodiverse forests in Europe and the Southern USA which are home to many rare and endangered species.

EDF are closing their West Burton coal power station in September 2022. West Burton burns coal from Banks Group’s opencast mines in the North East of England, as well as imported coal.

Kilroot coal and oil power station in Northern Ireland is going to be converted to gas. It has recently been announced that Kilroot will stop consuming coal in September 2023.

At Ratcliffe on Soar power station the owner Uniper plans to turn the power station into an incinerator for household waste and produce heat and electricity. There is no planning permission for this yet. It is the only UK coal power station without an date announced for it to cease using coal.

Coal phase-out in the UK is expected by October 2024. Given that coal consumption in power stations is very low in the summer, the last generation could be April 2024.

Underground Mining

There are currently no underground mines operating of significant size.

Proposed Underground Mines

West Cumbria Mining had their proposal for a new underground coking coal mine off Whitehaven, Cumbria called in by the Secretary of State. This means that the council's previous decisions to approve the application will be thoroughly investigated by the Planning Inspectorate in September 2021 before the Secretary of State decides whether the mine will be stopped.

New Age Explorations (an Australian company) are applying for licences for an underground coking coal mine at Lochinvar, on the border between England and Scotland. If constructed the company hopes to be producing coal until 2044.

UK Steel producers

There are four major UK steel producers:

Tata Steel
Port Talbot steel works, in Neath Port Talbot, Wales, is the second biggest UK single site emitter of carbon dioxide.[2] The plant uses coking coal to make steel in blast furnaces.

Liberty
Liberty Steel, which has sites in Newport and in Tredegar, has said it aims to become a carbon-neutral steel producer by 2030.[3] The site currently uses Electric Arc Furnaces and recycles scrap metal so does not use coking coal.

British Steel
Currently British steel's Scunthorpe plant can use a maximum of 25% to 30% recycled content using Basic Oxygen Steel making.[4] It currently uses coking coal.

Celsa
Celsa's Cardiff steelworks uses 100% recycled scrap steel in its products and so does not need coking coal.[5]

Want to help in the fight against coal?

  • Donate to South Lakes Action on Climate Change's legal team crowd funder.

  • Follow the Coal Action Network on social media. Twitter and facebook for updates.

  • Join the Coal Action Network email list and find out all the ways you can get involved!.

    • References

    [1] The Coal Authority, Production and Manpower returns for three month period January to March 2020 and other sources.

    [2] Ember, Coal Free Kingdom (13th November 2019) and Drax Group, Enabling a zero carbon, lower cost energy future page 39 (2019)

    [3] https://www.walesonline.co.uk/news/wales-news/steel-carbon-emissions-port-talbot-19927484

    [4] https://britishsteel.co.uk/who-we-are/sustainability/

    [5] http://www.celsauk.com/

    Queries and media contact: info @ coalaction . org .uk (without spaces)

    Europe is Still Burning....

    Russia is the biggest exporter of coal to Europe supplying 41% of the coal imported into the European Union in 2017. 76% of Russia’s coal is mined in Kuzbass – an area in southwest Siberia and most of the coal produced there is shipped to Europe and Asia.

    Valentina Bekrinova, a native Shor person living in the village of Chuvashka, Kuzbass, Siberia says, “In front of the house is the Sibirginsky mine. On the other side of the house there is a waste tip from another mine. Our village is surrounded by coal mining, and the dust which blows from the mines and waste heaps coats everything…I’m afraid that Shor people will soon become extinct. This is why the most important thing is the protection of our ecology, our rivers, our taiga for the protection of our nation. We cannot live without [them].”

    While the impacts of burning coal in power station on our climate receives some attention the human and local ecological consequences are almost always overlooked. But the consequences are dire:

    “I wish that people became more aware of where their coal comes from. And about the consequences” says Luz Angela Uriana Epiayu, mother of Moisés Daniel, a young child who is seriously ill with lung disease living next to the Cerrejón coal mine, owned by foreign interests.

    The giant open-pit Cerrejón coal mine in La Guajira, northern Colombia. The mine is the biggest of its kind in the world and is jointly owned by Anglo American, BHP and Glencore. The Cerrejón mine is in Wayúu indigenous territory and when mining began over 30 years ago, local people were not consulted. Instead their lands were seized, and communities were forcibly displaced, violating their constitutional land rights. The Colombian government has failed to adequately compensate any of the affected communities. Pollution and dust from the coal mine has caused the contamination of water supplies and the air.

    Narlis Guzmán Angulo a human rights defender from Cesar in Colombia living near the Drummond coal mine says, “In La Sierra we have always been able to feed ourselves with our agriculture, but that is over... Opencast coal mining ruined everything. It has brought us all this: the collapse of the social fabric, unemployment, death, missing persons, displaced persons, political corruption, the loss of the vocation of our ancestors, the loss of our roots, environmental pollution, disease, prostitution, the sexual commercialisation of children, drug addiction, and poisoned water...”.

    The answer to these problems is not to open more coal mines in Europe. True solidarity with people at the front-lines of coal extraction means closing all coal mines globally and to move rapidly away from technology which relies on coal and produces vast emissions.

    Read the full report https://stillburning.net/book/ and also see films about these issues by Still Burning here.

    STOP PRESS: Public inquiry called into West Cumbria coal mine!

    In a surprise decision, the West Cumbria coal mine application is going to a public inquiry called by Robert Jenrick (Secretary of State), announced late yesterday (11.03.2021). Climate change will never be a local issue.

    Why now?

    1. ‘Public controversy’ (this is literally your efforts!).
    2. The Sixth carbon budget was released in December—this coal mine alone would exceed the sub-allocation for active and old mines. You've since made it impossible for the Council and government to ignore that.
    3. Legal challenges (last week West Cumbria Mining Ltd applied for a Judicial Review of the Council’s decision to reconsider the application – a decision that again you helped make happen).

    What now?

    A public inquiry is a formal process started by a Minister (Robert Jenrick in this case) and run by The Planning Inspectorate where the facts of the case are examined more closely than in a council hearing. We now have another opportunity to expose the falsehoods within justifications for the West Cumbria coal mine and highlight the reasons it must never go ahead. These include:

    1. Over 85% of the mined coal would be exported, maybe more with high sulphur concentrations that are too much for the British steel industry – how does ‘domestic demand’ justify that?
    2. There’s nothing ‘neutral’ in new coal – it’s time to put that industry myth to bed.
    3. Jobs will be limited in time and number, and lower paid compared to what’s possible with investment in skilled green jobs.
    4. Approving new coal mines is incompatible with UK’s decarbonisation targets – and the Climate Change Committee has our backs on that.
    5. Approving a new coal mine during the same year the UK hosts the G7 and the COP26 summits, and as co-hosts the Powering Past Coal Alliance would signal to other countries they can pay lip-service to their climate change commitments.

    As a grassroots supporter group, Coal Action Network will do what we always do, and that’s to fight for front-line communities to get their knowledge and voices heard in spaces like this public inquiry. We’ll keep you updated—but follow-us on Twitter if you use it, we'd like to share things with you there.

    Victory - Brit will never insure Adani coal mine

    Major Lloyd’s of London insurers Brit and Hiscox are the latest firms to rule out insurance for Adani’s controversial Carmichael coal mine project.

    Brit was the sixth insurer to stop underwriting risks directly related to or associated with Adani’s Carmichael coal mine project, joining AXA XL, Liberty Mutual, and HDI Talanx, who were insuring the coal mine before ruling out further involvement, and Lloyd’s insurers Apollo and Aspen Re, who committed to stop underwriting the project when active policies expire. Hiscox not only ruled out insuring Adani but brought in policy to stop future insurance for all new coal mines.

    Brit and Hiscox’s commitments are major blows to Adani’s disastrous Carmichael coal project. Lloyd’s of London was one of the last places on Earth that Adani could turn to find insurance, and they were one of the largest remaining insurers. Now, Lloyd’s doors are just inches from being closed to Adani, for good.

    These announcements came after 750 Coal Action Network supporters flooded the inboxes and phone lines of Brit and Hiscox.  This pressure was in solidarity with the ongoing action taken by the Australian Stop Adani movement. Locals in Coffs Harbour and the Gold Coast (Australia) had been hounding Brit and Hiscox for months and our combined pressured worked. Now we’re uniting the voices of community members in West Cumbria resisting the Woodhouse Colliery and Australian Stop Adani protesters to push Lloyd’s even further. That's why on the 16th March we're holding an online rally to take action together and plan big bold action for 2021.

    Liisa from Stop Adani Coffs Harbour describes the campaign: "For months we got no formal response from Brit. We were getting worried – but we kept at it, sharing our stories, adapting our tactics, and trying new things. We were buoyed by conversations with some Brit staff in London, who were also concerned about the Great Barrier Reef, bushfires and the role of coal in fueling these climate impacts.

    Our unrelenting phone calls, emails and calendar reminders, combined with the actions of other #StopAdani groups and our allies in UK, made ripples which grew to a wave that Brit could not ignore."