Happy New Year!
Thanks to all of you we have a fighting chance to stop the first deep coal mine in 30 years in the UK with top law firm Leigh Day lending their weight to the battle.
The date for the planning meeting has been deferred yet again (this will be the third date!)
New Date: 7th March 2018 at Kendal County Offices, Cumbria
West Cumbria Mining accidently hit seam of Methane with “exploratory drilling” off St Bees.
The Old Baths at Whitehaven made of St Bees Sandstone
Fleswick Bay, St Bees
To recap: The plan is to return to the historic and dangerous mining of coal (coking and non coking) deep under the Irish Sea off St Bees. This plan has bizarrely had a free ride despite the fact that for over a decade the UK has been told that new nuclear is “needed” to replace coal mining and stop runaway climate change. The plan is just 5 miles from Sellafield and the proposed new reactors of Moorside.
Even the Coal Authority and the Environment Agency have written to Cumbria County Council saying that this new coal mine plan is too dangerous. But these warning voices have not, so far, been given an airing in the national or even the local media. This silence is bewildering and is a scandal in itself.
Campaigners have been aiming to highlight concerns not only about the 750 million tonnes of CO2 and the release of much more potent methane (this has already happened with the developers accidently hitting a seam of methane!) but also about the proximity to Sellafield and the danger of possible seismic activity. That old Windscale chimney is still there teetering above the radioactive ponds! There is another concern. Steve Reece, the Operations Director for developers West Cumbria Mining (who are “currently focussed on coal,” ) was previously employed by Radioactive Waste Management.
RWM is the government body tasked with ensuring the infrastructure and workforce are in place for a deep “Geological Disposal Facility” for heat generating nuclear wastes.
There are a lot of very good reasons to oppose this plan, not least to protect our future and that of our European neighbours. We want Cumbria County Council to say a big fat NO to the plan on the 7th March….but if they do the unthinkable and agree to this outrageous development, top Law Firm Leigh Day have agreed to look at the possibility of a judicial review.
Planning Meeting 7th March in Kendal at County Offices
To speak at the meeting (usually in the morning) or WRITE a letter of objection please contact:
Jackie Currie
Senior Democratic Services Officer
Legal & Democratic Services
Cumbria County Council| Cumbria House
Botchergate|Carlisle|Cumbria CA1 1RD
Tel: 01228 221030 Mobile 0788 1250007
Email jackie.currie@cumbria.gov.uk
quoting: West Cumbria Mining Ltd planning application ref 4/17/9007.
Keep Cumbrian Coal in the Hole 
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When I wrote a letter to the local paper , several years ago, discussing the possibility of some seismic activity resulting from mining operations under the sea bed, the relevant information was redacted .
I asked for a meeting with the editor where she defended her decision by saying that they could not find any evidence of any faults in the area that could cause earthquakes that might affect Sellafield
When I gave her this evidence, freely available online and from Professor David Smythe who knows the local geology like the back of his hand, she still refused to print the letter in full.
Since when do you have to provide proof to support a personal opinion expressed on a letters page in a newspaper.
Thats when I realised this whole buisiness is a set up and whatever the real objective these cowboys have it is not the stated one.
A close personal friend of mine, a retired mining engineer, just laughed when he heard about their proposals.
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