Letter to Send to Cumbria County Council

The following is a letter to send to Cumbria County Council. It is always best if you can write in your own words and use the letter as a template. There are links below too for you to research if you have time. The main thing is to point out that there is an overabundance of coking coal and that coal mining can cause earthquakes which is the last thing that we want anywhere near the hazardous Sellafield site.

Email Stewart.Young@cumbria.gov.uk or write etc..

To Stewart Young, Leader of Cumbria County Council

Dear Councillor Young,

West Cumbria Mining (WCM), Woodhouse Colliery

PLANNING REFERENCE NO 4/17/9007

I am writing to strongly oppose the plan to open a new coking (metallurgical) coal mine off St Bees in West Cumbria.

“The coalfields extend from onshore to offshore, over 400m below ground and the sea, along the coast of Whitehaven, West Cumbria in NW England and covering an area of 200km². Inclined tunnels called ‘drifts’ will be constructed to provide access from the modern, architect-designed site buildings down to the coalfields…..the exact positions of the site buildings and drifts are not yet finalised but are anticipated to be south of Whitehaven and north of St Bees.”

I strongly oppose this plan for the following reasons:

KEEP FOSSIL FUEL IN THE GROUND

West Cumbria Mining are manipulating the public and local politicians by saying that there is a need for a source of carbon in making steel wind turbines and coke is the best source.
What they are not telling the public is that there is an “overcapacity” of coking coal on the global market with protests in China as miners are laid off as the mines close. The prices for coking coal are Volatile and more often than not reported as falling. Steel can be recycled, it can also be used for Trident submarines as well as wind turbines
WCM say that coking coal mined here in Cumbria will prevent imports, but this is meaningless as the plan is to export 80% of the coal.
If we want to prevent climate change there is already too much fossil fuel available than we can afford to burn. We have too much coal already.

TOO NEAR SELLAFIELD

The extraction of millions of tonnes of coal is a known to be a cause of man made seismic activity.
The drifts would extend to five miles from Sellafield. The Environmental Impact Assessment of WCM incredibly makes no mention of the risks of man made seismic activity despite being so close to the worlds most hazardous nuclear installation, Sellafield.
Coking Coal is nothing new, it was first burnt in Cumberland centuries before the nuclear age. Even if coking coal was “needed” now in the 21^st century, given the proximity and vulnerability of Sellafield this is not the time or the place.

Yours sincerely,

The Coalfields

http://www.westcumbriamining.com/site/

Coking Coal Prices Falling

http://www.mining.com/coking-coal-price-still-falling/

As China’s Coal Mines Close…

http://www.npr.org/sections/parallels/2017/03/14/519621699/as-chinas-coal-mines-close-miners-are-becoming-bolder-in-voicing-demands

World’s Fossil Fuel Reserve Must Stay Buried.. https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2015/jan/07/much-worlds-fossil-fuel-reserve-must-stay-buried-prevent-climate-change-study-says

Russian Coking Coal Mines Cause Earthquake http://in.reuters.com/article/russia-coal-earthquake-idINL5N0EV1GG20130619

How Humans Trigger Earthquakes

https://www.earthmagazine.org/article/ground-shaking-research-how-humans-trigger-earthquakes

Coke in West Cumberland