‘Carbon Border Tax’ Report Author is Coal Mine Lobbyist

 

Old King Coal Dug a Great Big Hole 

and said:

No Worries, its Carbon Free.  

The Coal is for Steel

And we’ve made a Deal 

…….(to be continued)

THANK YOU to all who have donated to our legal fund so far. We will have some news very soon on the legal case..but for now just wanted to let you know the strange truth about a widely published new report making the case for a “carbon border tax.”

The report backing a “carbon border tax” sounds  just like the sort of thing green minded folk would welcome  However, there is more to this narrative than meets the eye.

Environmental Journalist Simon Pickstone has today written an excellent article in ENDS which exposes the fact that the “widely reported briefing making the case for a carbon border tax on imported goods, including on metallurgical coal, was written by a policy adviser for a company planning to construct the UK’s first new deep coal mine since the 1980s. The briefing, which received coverage in ENDS, the Scotsman and the Times, was published by the Centre for Policy Studies (CPS) and written by Tony Lodge, a research fellow for the influential free market think tank, which describes him as a “political and energy analyst.”

Yes thats right – Tony Lodge, author of the green sounding report on ‘carbon border tax’ also works as a political adviser for West Cumbria Mining.

It seems to us that Tony Lodge has been advocating for this ‘carbon border tax’ for many years.  He wrote a report back in 2012 for the Coalition government called the Atomic Clock which argued that the Coalition could have their ‘clean environmental’ credentials on the extreme energies of nuclear, shale gas and coal whilst still being able to eat their industrial cake…if only they went about carbon accounting and taxing in the right way.

Strange Times.

Methane Shock

Dear Friends,

Big Thank You to All – We are keeping the CrowdJustice page open a while longer to keep folk updated and to keep on raising awareness about the insanity of this coal mine.Cumbria would be the ONLY place in the UK to have ANY deep mining going on. West Cumbria Mining plan to mine for coking and industrial coal in the “gassiest pit in the kingdom”. West Cumbria is the place where the Davey Lamp was tested out because methane is so prevalent under the Irish Sea bed.

A recent article in The Ecologist explains why methane – always known to be a dangerous gas is more dangerous than we thought. Stopping the Coal Mine in Cumbria just got a whole lot more urgent.

Extract

“Scientists have been vastly underestimating the amount of methane humans are emitting into the atmosphere through fossil fuels, according to research.

Analysis published in the journal Nature shows methane emissions from fossil fuels owing to human activity is around 25 percent to 40 percent higher than thought.

But researchers believe their findings offer hope, saying stricter regulations to curb methane emissions could help reduce future global warming to “a larger extent than previously thought”.

Ice core

Benjamin Hmiel, a professor of earth and environmental science at the University of Rochester and one of the study authors, said: “I don’t want to get too hopeless on this because my data does have a positive implication: most of the methane emissions are anthropogenic, so we have more control.

“If we can reduce our emissions, it’s going to have more of an impact.”

Read the Full Article HERE

Walk and Spring Wildlife Watch – date tbc

Walk and Spring Wildlife Watch – date to be confirmed

Dear Friends,

Thank you So Much for keeping on sharing and donating to the CrowdJustice page –everything put in the hat will go direct to the legal fund to take our case to Judicial Review.  We are still waiting for a date for our case to be heard – but it will be in Manchester!

Will let you know just as soon as we hear.

In the meantime we are planning a walk along the beautiful (but a bit challenging) cliff top from Whitehaven to St Bees.  The walk will include wildlife watching and maybe a bit of drawing too!

Seabirds, guillemots, gulls, ravens and more are all descending on the cliffs to nest so it is an exciting time.  This is the only nesting place in England of the black guillemot and the coal mine threatens that , as well as much else!   What is left of our wildlife is increasingly important.  A date for the walk is yet to be set but watch this space!

All Best Wishes

Marianne

How Many Times Do We Have to say NO to a GDF?! Heat Generating Nuclear Wastes CANNOT be left to rot Into Eternity Deep Underground.

On a Related Matter….West Cumbria is Under Siege?

Dragon of Relative Depths. How Deep is YOUR Love for Nuclear Wastes ? Enough to leave it to abandoned steel, copper and concrete containment 1000 metres deep and as big as the City of Carlisle in complex geology?

Just a quick comment (for now) on the front page of the Whitehaven News – Once again the government plan for a geological waste nuclear dump rears its ugly head and this time the press jubilantly report we ‘might get to vote’. This is scandalous – the public has voted time and again in Cumbria against the plan for a so called GDF, Geological Disposal Facility. This time the government have bypassed democracy to ensure the public ‘vote’ may be a skewed ‘referendum’ or a flimsy ‘show of public support’ – maybe the Mayor of Copeland or some such ‘yes man’ representative of the ‘host community’ will be taken as ‘the voice…

View original post 1,630 more words

Opposition Grows!

Dear Friends,

The Opposition to this Coal mine is GROWING!

Last week there were demonstrations from Cumbria to London. Demonstrations of opposition to the plan to open the first deep coal mine in decades.

Thank you to everyone who is opposing this coal mine whether it is by actively demonstrating opposition, contributing to the crowdfunder for the legal challenge or sharing the information.  It is all important and it all sends out the strong and growing message that this coal mine is totally unacceptable.

Please keep on sharing this crowd justice page and let folk know that we can stop this mine – it is NOT a done deal.

Here are a few links to the growing opposition…

Children should not have to go on hunger strike to stop this mine  ‘It’s a Huge Step Backwards’: Teenagers Hunger Striking to Stop the UK’s Newest Coal Mine By Phoebe Cooke • Wednesday, February 12, 2020 – 09:15

Extinction Rebellion protest against west Cumbrian coal mine Itv Report 13th February 2020

What a Week!

Thank You to All Who are Donating To Stop the Deep Coal Mine Under My Home in the Irish Sea!

 

What a Week!!

Channel 4 skewers the Mayor, the MP and the Council bosses, Elijah gets his visit to the House, and the High Court says that there is a case to answer!

Well done everyone for getting this legal challenge off the starting blocks. Onwards and Upwards!!

Below is Leigh Day’s Press Release … you can also read it direct on their website 

 

We have been Granted Permission for Judicial Review! Well Done Everyone!!!

Dear Friends

Brilliant news we have just heard that we have been granted permission for a judicial review of Cumbria County Council’s decision to allow the first deep coal mine in 30 years in the UK to be built.

Well done everyone for getting this challenge off the starting blocks. Onwards and Upwards!!

Below is Leigh Day’s Press Release … you can read it direct on their website 

 

6 February 2020

Keep Cumbrian Coal in the Hole (KCCH), are challenging Cumbria County Council’s Development Control and Regulation Committee’s decision to resolve to grant planning permission for a major new underground metallurgical coal mine on the former Marchon Chemical Works site in Whitehaven, Cumbria. The judicial review will be heard at the High Court in Manchester on a date yet to be set.

KCCH is an active environmental campaign group in the local area, and was one of the leading objectors to the planning application focussing its objections on the proximity of the coal mine site to the nuclear facility at Sellafield.

Cumbria County Council resolved to grant planning permission following a unanimous vote on 19 March 2019. On 20 June 2019, Leigh Day wrote to Cumbria County Council. The letter addressed a number of legal issues, including Cumbria County Council’s failures to consider:

• Greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions of the mining operations
• The need for, and GHG impacts of, Middlings Coal
• The Government’s Net Zero target.

Despite being alerted to those concerns, Cumbria County Council ratified its decision on 31 October 2019. Mrs Justice Beverley Lang has now agreed that those legal issues are arguable and justify a public hearing.

Marianne Birkby from KCCH, said:

“Keep Cumbrian Coal in the Hole are delighted we are able to bring this Judicial Review in order to challenge the decision made by Cumbria County Council to approve the first deep coal mine in decades. This legal challenge is only happening because of the ongoing determination of our campaigning and the huge generosity of everyone who has donated to the crowd-funder.”

Rowan Smith, solicitor at law firm Leigh Day, who is representing Keep Cumbrian Coal in the Hole, with Anna Dews and Carol Day from Leigh Day, said:

“We are pleased that the High Court has granted our client permission for a judicial review of Cumbria County Council’s decision to allow this coal mine development. This legal action shines a light on how all local planning authorities should assess the climate change impacts of development of this nature, particularly with the backdrop of the UK Parliament declaring a climate emergency and the Government’s commitment to ensuring that the Net Zero target is reached by 2050.

“We are in the middle of a climate crisis, and our clients have worked tirelessly to bring this issue into the public domain. There will now be full legal scrutiny of the climate change impact of this proposal, which is estimated to translate to 420 million tonnes CO₂e even without taking into account the emissions arising from the extraction process.”

David Wolfe QC from Matrix chambers and Merrow Golden from Francis Taylor Building chambers are instructed.