Business Interest of Govnt Nuclear Dump Advisor is Earthquake Inducing Coal Mine Near Sellafield.

PRESS NOTICE

A letter has been sent with a petition of almost 2000 signatures urging the removal of the Cumbria coal mine boss from his 2019 appointment to top level nuclear dump advisor. The petition started by local artist and campaigner Marianne Birkby asks for the CEO of the first deep coal mine in the UK in 30 years to be sacked from his key role providing “invaluable advice” to the Committee on Radioactive Waste Management.

CoRWM is an advisory non-departmental public body. It was established in 2003 and has a remit to provide independent scrutiny and advice to UK government and devolved administrations on the long-term management of radioactive waste, including storage and geological disposal. CoRWM provides advice to the Community GDF Partnerships.

A year ago on 7th Dec 2022 Mark Kirkbride’s coal mine was given the green light by the Secretary of State Michael Gove. At the same time the waters of Whitehaven ran red with pollution from the culvert in Queen’s Dock – this is now known to be from the honeycomb of existing mines in the area which campaigners claim may have in part or in whole been reactivated by the nuclear dump advisor’s coal mine borehole investigations and hydrological flushing. The water in Whitehaven continues to run red. Martyn Lowe from Close Capenhurst Campaign has pointed out that “the red water in the harbour is increasing not decreasing – this is a red flag for future mining.”

Campaigners point out that the advice given to the Committee on Radioactive Waste Management by Mark Kirkbride includes using the same preferred suppliers such as Herrenknecht tunnel boring machines as his coal mine and say that ” this is a corruption of any semblence of democracy and is blatant government/business cronyism”. The petition calls for Mark Kirkbride to be sacked from the Committee on Radioactive Waste Management as soon as possible – currently the coal boss is due to be nuclear dump advisor until 2027.

ENDS contact Lakes Against Nuclear Dump …. https://www.lakesagainstnucleardump.com/

Full Letter

TO THE CHAIR,

COMMITTEE ON RADIOACTIVE WASTE MANAGEMENT.

7th Dec 2023

Dear Sir Nigel Thrift, Please find attached a petition numbering 1,714 signatures.

The petition asks for the CEO of the first deep coal mine in the UK in 30 years to be sacked from his key role providing, as you have said “invaluable advice” to the Committee on Radioactive Waste Management. On this day last year Mark Kirkbride’s coal mine was given the green light by the Secretary of State. At the same time the waters of Whitehaven ran red with pollution from the culvert in Queen’s Dock – this is now known to be from the honeycomb of existing mines in the area which may have in part or in whole been reactivated by CoRWM’s nuclear dump advisor’s coal mine borehole investigations and hydrological flushing. The water in Whitehaven continues to run red.

CRONYISM COAL AND NUCLEAR

In reply to a Freedom of Information Request of October 2020 you claim that “West Cumbria Mining and the business interest of Mr Kirkbride, bear no influence on the remit of CoRWM”. However our research through Freedom of Information requests has indicated that Mark Kirkbride’s business interests have undue influence on the remit of CoRWM which is to provide advice to Nuclear Waste Services and Government. One of Mark Kirkbride’s key tasks in his appointment with CoRWM is to provide advice on construction and costings of a Geological Disposal Facility for Heat Generating Nuclear Wastes.

SHARED SUPPLIER LIST

Mark Kirkbride has contributed to a 2020 thesis from the University of Manchester in which he indicates that GDF construction would use the same suppliers as his coal mine. The thesis is called “Waste Disposal Drivers for a Range of Nuclear Power Systems by Kathleen Dungan” The thesis says in Appendix B that “The following costs were sent by Mark Kirkbride (Committee on Radioactive Waste Management (CoRWM)” and the costs include “shafts sunk using Herrenknecht shaft boring roadheader machines (Herrenknecht, 2020a).” In trying to distance themselves from this revelation CoRWM have claimed that Mark Kirkbride gave this information to Manchester University off his own bat – i.e. not with CoRWM’s approval. Whether it was with CoRWMs approval or not this indicates that Kirkbride’s business interests with his coal mine and the remit of CoRWM are mutually interdependent.

TUNNEL BORING MACHINES FOR DEEP MINING (COAL AND NUCLEAR)

Herrenknecht are also named as “preferred suppliers” by West Cumbria Mining – the same named suppliers Mark Kirkbride is advising CoRWM on construction of a Geological Disposal Facility. We would not be surprised to find other West Cumbria Mining “preferred suppliers” are being touted for the investigation techniques and construction of a deep nuclear dump and urge CoRWM to terminate the employment of the West Cumbria Mining CEO as their Geological Disposal Facility (nuclear dump) advisor.

GOVERNMENT LICENCE TO DRILL FOR COAL ALONGSIDE NUCLEAR PLANS

We note that Mark Kirkbride’s licence to drill for coal lapsed in October 2022 and he is looking to government via the Coal Authority to approve a new licence to drill. Clearly Mark Kirkbride cannot be government advisor and hopeful of government approval for licences for his coal mine at one and the same time. This flies in the face of any semblence of democracy and is worthy of the most corrupt of countries especially as the most favoured area for a deep nuclear dump is next to Mark Kirkbride’s business interests in West Cumbria.

At the very least Kirkbride’s contract as CoRWM advisor should be terminated

THE BEST NUCLEAR DUMP ADVISOR IN THE WORLD IS THE COAL MINE CEO? Really??

If CoRWM believe that Mark Kirkbride is the only person in the world CoRWM can turn to for advice on the deep burial of nuclear wastes (deep burial and abandonment is not accepted universally as the safest option) then surely CoRWM should make it clear to Mark Kirkbride that his business interests in West Cumbria Mining should be scrapped. INVESTIGATION In any event we are calling for an independent investigation into how this situation of cronyism has been allowed to continue for so long on what amounts to the most important issue of our time – namely the safekeeping of heat generating nuclear wastes which have to be kept separate from the biosphere into eternity in order to ensure a liveable planet.

Yours sincerely Marianne Birkby Lakes Against Nuclear Dump full address supplied

PETITION

https://www.change.org/p/sack-cumbrian-coal-mine-boss-from-government-advisor-role-for-nuclear-dump Mark Kirkbride – Committee on Radioactive Waste Management https://www.gov.uk/government/people/mark-kirkbridg Endorsement of Coal Mine Under the Cumbrian Mud Patch ? https://www.whatdotheyknow.com/request/endorsement_of_coal_mine_under_t “Waste Disposal Drivers for a Range of Nuclear Power Systems by Kathleen Dungan” Appendix B “The following costs were sent by Mark Kirkbride (Committee on Radioactive Waste Management (CoRWM)” and the costs include “shafts sunk using Herrenknecht shaft boring roadheader machines (Herrenknecht, 2020a).” https://research.manchester.ac.uk/en/studentTheses/waste-disposal-drivers-for-a-range-of-nuclear-power-systems West Cumbria Mining – preferred suppliers. https://keepcumbriancoalinthehole.wordpress.com/2020/09/05/your-local-coal-mine/ Close Capenhurst http://close-capenhurst.org.uk/

The Full Text of the Petition is below

On behalf of Government, Secretary of State Michael Gove approved the coal mine on 7th December 2022. The CEO of “Woodhouse Colliery” and West Cumbria Mining is Mark Kirkbride. In 2019 Mark Kirkbride was appointed to the Government Committee on Radioactive Waste Management to advise on the UK Government’s nuclear dump plans. His appointment has been extended to 2027. Kirkbride’s “invaluable” role involves: Scrutiny and provision of advice to Government on activities relating to the continued development of a Geological Disposal Facility (hot nuclear dump) safety case Scrutiny and provision of advice to Government on GDF siting activities, including selection criteria, methods of investigation, and the timescale for carrying out site selection in the three rock types Advise on new technologies that could be applicable to the development of a GDF including those in the mining and construction sectors and their potential impacts on a GDF programme. Mark Kirkbride has recently provided costings to Government for the Delivery of a GDF (Nuclear Dump) including advice on enormous Tunnel Boring Machines from the same company (Herrenknecht) which would supply his coal mine. This is a direct conflict of interest. Mark Kirkbride has clearly advised on the hugely damaging seismic blasting which took place in August in the Irish Sea to “investigate” the complex geology for a deep nuclear dump. The enormous area of the Irish Sea in which seismic blasting took take place overlaps Kirkbride’s proposed coal mine. Mark Kirkbride’s ‘investigative boreholes’ for his coal mine may well have led to the reactivation of old mine water which has been pouring out into Whitehaven Harbour for a full year now with no end in sight. The Coal Mine Planning Inspector in his recommendation to Government stated : “the risk of a seismic event cannot be ruled out.” It is beyond belief that the CEO of a seismicity inducing coal mine near Sellafield should be employed by Government as an “invaluable” advisor on nuclear waste burial in a very deep, massive 25km square and very hot nuclear dump. We demand that Mark KIrkbride’s appointment to the Committee on Radioactive Waste Management is terminated. The Cumbrian Coal Mine and the Nuclear Dump Plan are clearly Hand in Hand while Mark Kirkbride Remains as Advisor to Government. This is the dark heart of cronyism and it must stop. We urgently ask that:

• Mark Kirkbride’s appointment to CoRWM is terminated
• the Cronyism between Mark Kirkbride’s Coal interests and the Nuclear dump plans are investigated by an Independent Inquiry.
• there should be a Moratorium on the Nuclear Dump (GDF) Plans
• Connections to Russian money investigated – WCM has been bankrolled by Owen Hegarty (now a Director of WCM) who has in turn overseen Siberian coal mine interests being bankrolled by the Russian State.

Mark Kirkbride – CoRWM https://www.gov.uk/government/organisations/committee-on-radioactive-waste-management/about/our-governance Seismic Testing for a Nuclear Dump beneath the Irish Sea – Marine Life At Risk https://www.euronews.com/green/2022/06/22/the-uk-is-searching-the-sea-for-a-nuclear-dump-site-and-the-risks-to-marine-life-are-huge https://beyondnuclearinternational.org/2022/06/19/extreme-torture/ “”We urge all those speaking against the mine at the public inquiry to give at least a mention to the fact that this coal mine would mine out voids faster than any previous coal mine in UK history and would induce earthquakes and cause subsidence in the Irish Sea and Sellafield area.” https://www.newcivilengineer.com/latest/cumbrian-coal-mine-geotech-experts-play-down-earthquake-claims-08-09-2021/ “Earlier this year, the first batch of waste was safely removed from one of the most hazardous sites at the Sellafield nuclear reprocessing site. “Perhaps they’re going to bury it down the pit,” says a resident with characteristic Cumbrian grit.”https://www.forbes.com/sites/heatherfarmbrough/2022/12/09/uk-government-approves-first-coal-mine-in-30-years-in-cumbria/ British Geological Society signed a Memorandum of Understanding with Nuclear Waste Services in June 2020 – another conflict of interest as the coal mine CEO advises Nuclear Waste Services in his Government advisory role with the Committee on Radioactive Waste Management – “The collaboration between both organisations is intended to support improved environmental outcomes relating to a UK geological disposal facility (GDF).”https://www.bgs.ac.uk/news/british-geological-survey-signs-memorandum-of-understanding-with-radioactive-waste-management/#:~:text=BGS%20has%20today%20(24%20June,the%20UK’s%20geological%20disposal%20programme.

Radio 4 ANY QUESTIONS – Coal Mine

I caught part of the Any Questions and Any Answers Radio 4 programme yesterday. Trudy Harrison MP extolled the virtues of “sustainable” nuclear and said that the equally “clean” Cumbria coal mine would mean we could cut out reliance on Russian imports of coal to Europe. The programme also talked about water quality in rivers and sea.

I rang the programme up and managed to speak to the researcher. I explained that the coal mine, Russia and water quality issues actually meet in Whitehaven where with incredible timing of the Government’s approval of the coal mine in December the waters in Whitehaven harbour turned red with huge amounts of iron and other metals most likely from newly sprung cracks in the honeycomb of existing pits along the Whitehaven coast. Regarding cutting out Russian coal, the newly appointed director of the Cumbria coal mine is Owen Hegarty whose Siberian coal mine has been bankrolled by the Russian government to the tune of £millions. What I didn’t say is that, the War Game in Ukraine with the UK sending depleted uranium tipped military hardware aiming to ‘destroy’ Russia and Putin is just that, an insane and suicidal War Game. Meanwhile the UK Foreign Office turns a blind eye to Russian involvement in Owen Hegarty’s Russian bankrolled mining empire now with its claws in Cumbria.

The researcher said that was interesting and they might get back to me for the Any Answers – they didn’t.

Good that some people did manage to call in and expose the other lies that nuclear is “sustainable” .

West Cumbria Mining Pay £1 to Acquire £1.6 Million of Heritage Lottery Funded Mine Museum and Lands

While the entertaining distraction of the ‘Climate and Jobs’ Punch and Judy show rages very publicly over the Cumbrian Coal Mine – important burning issues are buried. Nuclear issues such as the fact that the subsidence inducing mine would be under decades of Sellafield’s discharged ‘low level’ wastes. Nuclear issues such as that at least two executives, including the existing CEO of the coal mine, have been appointed by Government to public bodies pushing for deep dumping of high and intermediate level nuclear wastes. The Irish Sea area, adjacent to the coal mine plan, is in the frame. The CEO of the coal mine in his government appointed role will be talking about this diabolic plan on the 15th March with the Science Discovery Group.

The Department of Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy are only too delighted for NGOs, Talking Heads and the media to keep the focus sharply on climate and jobs (of which there are no guarantees made that there would be an optimistic 500). Government would rather not publicise the fact that BEIS (through the Coal Authority) gave the developers conditional license to drill “exploratory boreholes” under the Irish Sea eight years ago (over the heads of the public and councillors) . BEIS also appoint the Committee on Climate Change who have unsurprisingly studiously avoided berating BEIS. BEIS also appointed the CEO of West Cumbria Mining, Mark Kirkbride, to the Committee on Radioactive Waste Management. Here is BEIS minister Anne-Marie Trevalyan supporting the coal mine whose CEO is in the pay of BEIS.

While much has been enthusiastically made by the mine’s supporters of what a financial boon the development would be, the reality is that the developers have effectively already stolen substantial funds from the public purse.

A Freedom of Information question has just been asked regarding liquidation of the Haig Mining Museum (despite visitor numbers far exceeding expectations the Museum went into liquidation).

Haig Mining Museum – Was £1.6 Million of Heritage Lottery Money returned ?

“To The National Lottery Heritage Fund,

In 2019 you put in a claim for repayment of £1.6 Million in respect of liquidation of the Haig Mining Museum.

Was the £1.6 Million returned ?

If not, what was the explanation ?

(the Museum, Buildings and Land were subsequently bought for just £1 by West Cumbria Mining in what looks like a closed agreement between WCM, the liquidators and Copeland Borough Council ).”

Interestingly according to the Liquidators, West Cumbria Mining were not at all keen to make their £1 purchase of the Haig Museum, Buildings and Land until they were assured that they had planning permission. This prevarication cost the creditors over £12,000. This is what the Liquidators said : “We now consider that the fee estimate we previously provided for the liquidation is insufficient to complete our duties as a result of : The Company’s asset realisations have proved more protracted than was initially anticipated. This is due to the sale to WCM taking significantly longer than anticipated. This has happened as they did not wish to complete the transaction (£1) whilst there was still uncertainty for them as to whether they would achieve the full planning permission required to run their operations. …”

Having paid their £1 for the Haig, Museum and Land the developers West Cumbria Mining immediately proceeded to make sure that their newly acquired assets (of Cumbria’s heritage), in the event of some planned administrative ‘bankruptcy’ or ‘take over’, would not go to creditors but to WCM’s backers EMR Capital, to persons hidden from view in the Cayman Islands. It is pretty clear that WCM’s eye is on the glittering prize – and that glittering prize is not coking coal but Governmental contracts into the most diabolic plan for heat generating nuclear wastes – a plan that would involve eye watering amounts of public money over decades, contracts to drill become contracts to kill, to dump heat generating nuclear wastes under the Irish Sea. They call it Geological Disposal of Nuclear Wastes in the UK. Not one country has done this and the countries that are trying to do it have not returned to areas previously ruled out (as Cumbria has been at least three times) as being too geologically complex and unstable.

Whats not to like? Everything! To focus myopically on climate aspects of this coal mine, as is playing out courtesy of pusillanimous NGOs and the Media right now, is to play right into the hands of a Dorian Gray like nuclear corruption. A corruption that includes protection of the diabolic agenda of the nuclear industry at all, literally ALL costs.

An Open Letter to the Rt Hon Kwasi Kwarteng Who is About to Issue Coal Licenses for West Cumbria Mining

https://parliamentlive.tv/event/index/4fcb3791-2cf3-4e43-b766-30cb007fb58c

An Open Letter to the Rt Hon Kwasi Kwarteng MP Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy. 

Dear Rt Hon Kwasi Kwarteng 

You said yesterday that there is “a slight tension” between the governmnent washing its hands (Pontius Pilate like) of the Cumbria coal mine saying its a ‘local decision’ and the UK government’s committment to net zero carbon and its chairing of the UN Climate Summit in Glasgow in November.

The UK Dept for Business Energy and Industry Strategy argue that the coal mine is “a local decision” but in the awarding of new Coal Authority licenses to the developers (West Cumbria Mining) the buck stops with BEIS.   Accountability of the Coal Authority lies directly with the BEIS.  The first set of licenses is due to run out on 24th January.

As nuclear safety campaigners who have been opposing this mine since 2019 we are very concerned that the climate aspect of this mine may not be the most disastrous to life on planet earth. BEIS is directly responsible for the Committee on Radioactive Waste Management who have appointed the CEO of the coal mine development, Mark Kirkbride to their Committee who advise BEIS and Radioactive Waste Management on “site selection” of a potential Geological Disposal Facility for Radioactive Wastes.  The Coal Mine is adjacent to the area under the Irish Sea bed which is ‘in the frame’  for the subsea geological disposal of heat generating nuclear wastes.   

Do BEIS believe that mining out coal adjacent to the area they are promoting as a Geological Disposal Facility will make the rocks more stable? Or that mining directly underneath the decades of Sellafield’s discharged wastes will make them safer?

The coal mine would be directly beneath the nuclear wastes discharged from Sellafield over the last 70 odd years.  They are in the silts known as the “Cumbrian Mud Patch.”  The UK and Ireland Nuclear Free Local Authorities have along with local nuclear safety campaigners Radiation Free Lakeland, urged Cumbria County Council to reconsider the impact of the expected subsidence of the Irish Sea bed and resuspension of the decades worth of radioactive wastes from Sellafield which are currently embedded in the silts of the Cumbrian Mud Patch. WCM have designated and identified a sub-sea mining zone of the Irish Sea lying to the west of St Bees Head and extending at least 8kms offshore and southwards to within about 8km of the Sellafield site. The WCM extraction proposals, using continuous mining methods, predict the extraction of approximately 3 million tonnes of coal per year over a 50 year period. This extraction rate will eventually generate a huge subterranean void space of approximately 136 million cubic metres (a volume greater than that of Wastwater Lake).  Subsidence “is expected” beneath Sellafield’s discharged nuclear wastes currently (largely imobilised in the silt, remobilising the nuclear wastes into the water column and back to land.

Now we urge BEIS NOT TO ISSUE COAL AUTHORITY LICENSES for this Coal Mine which would be largely under the Irish Sea.

yours sincerely

Keep Cumbrian Coal in the Hole (a Radiation Free Lakeland Campaign

A Letter to The Queen on the Anniversary of the Windscale Fire. Coal and Nuclear Do Not Mix.

The following letter has been sent to the Queen along with a covering letter to the Crown Estate.

Madam,

Your Majesty’s  love of wildlife is legendary and impressively includes reports that Your Majesty refused to let staff meddle with the bats at Balmoral, “despite the extra cleaning work that they generate.”  

Here in Cumbria wildlife from bats in ancient woods to black guillemots on St Bees Head are under threat along with so much more from the plan to open the first deep coal mine in 30 years.  The coal mine would largely be under the Irish Sea.  

Your Majesty’s Crown Estate has a direct role to play in either facilitating or stopping this plan in its tracks.  Your Majesty’s Crown Estate signed an Exploration Agreement with West Cumbria Mining on 21st July 2017.  This agreement ran out on 2nd October 2020.

Also on 2nd October 2020 Cumbria County Council approved West Cumbria Mining’s plan (The Secretary of State is deliberating on whether or not to call the plan in for a public inquiry).

In order to facilitate the plan for the first deep coal mine in 30 years West Cumbria Mining require Your Majesty’s Crown Estate to agree to an Exploitation agreement in order to extract the coal.

Many feel that profligate burning of fossil fuel is the most dangerous technology man has created but as a long time nuclear safety campaigner I would suggest along with the authors of the Doomsday Clock that the burning of uranium is equal to and even trumps fossil fuel.  Uranium wastes/products which include plutonium and polonium, from much of the worlds uranium fuel and all of the UKs uranium fuel is sitting at Sellafield.  

 This week is the anniversary of Britian’s worst nuclear accident, the Windscale Fire of 1957.  The repercussions of which are still being felt.  Your Majesty has visited Sellafield, the world’s known riskiest nuclear waste site.  Windscale was renamed Sellafield.   Sellafield would be just 5 miles from the deep undersea coal mine.  Mass void removal is known to induce seismicity.  As well as this certain seismic risk the mine would be directly below the radioactive sediments which have settled on the Irish Sea bed from decades of Sellafield discharges.  The radioactive sediment which includes plutonium is named as the Cumbrian Mud Patch.  

The radioactive risks from this, the biggest coal mine to be mined near Sellafield ever, are literally out of this world as the high level radioactive wastes sitting at Sellafield could annihilate the planet many times over (as they were originally designed to).  This and the certain risk of resuspension of the Cumbrian Mud Patch wastes means that this coal mine puts the whole planet at direct risk of a nuclear fall out there would be no coming back from. 

Please be on the right side of history.  The required Crown Estate agreement with West Cumbria Mining for Exploitation of coal reserves under the Irish Sea 8km from Sellafield and directly beneath the Cumbrian Mud Patch should not be signed up to, the certain climate and radiological damage would be intolerable.  Tomorrow is too late.

We would be honoured if you would accept this gift of a painting of the beautiful Irish Coastal area which would see the first deep coal mine in 30 years should this plan be agreed to.

yours sincerely

Marianne Birkby

On behalf of Radiation Free Lakeland and our Keep Cumbrian Coal in the Hole campaign

PETITION TO THE QUEEN HERE

Read more:

Sellafield wastes reach the Arctic

https://www.newscientist.com/article/mg15420811-400-sellafield-leaves-its-mark-on-the-frozen-north/#ixzz6ZtNUn2cq

Crown Estate Exploration Agreement with West Cumbria Mining

https://find-and-update.company-information.service.gov.uk/company/07143398/charges/lXWNTRigei_OaJQXhs2MwyKZ7ms

A briefing paper by Tim Deere-Jones. WEST CUMBRIA MINING: WOODHOUSE COLLIERY PROPOSAL RADIOLOGICAL IMPLICATIONS of POTENTIAL SEABED SUBSIDENCE SEISMICITY & “FAULT RE-ACTIVATION” beneath The CUMBRIAN MUD PATCH: INDUCED BY “MASS REMOVAL”, RAPID EXTRACTION & VOID SPACE CREATION.

No Worries! Nuclear and Coal In Close Proximity – is ALL OK according to Council Planning Officers in their Recommendations

PRESS NOTICE

Nuclear and Climate Concerns Brushed Under the Carpet in Officers Recommendation to Approve Cumbrian Coal Plan

Nuclear Safety Campaigners at Radiation Free Lakeland are shocked at the report published yesterday by Angela Jones Executive Director of Economy and Infrastructure to Cumbria County Council.   In advising Councillors who will take the decision on October 2nd whether or not to grant permission, the report concludes that “I am persuaded that the risks are manageable and that the benefits overall clearly outweigh those likely impacts identified”. 

A spokesperson from Radiation Free Lakeland said:  “we are horrified that Officers have completely brushed aside our detailed report from marine expert Tim Deere Jones on the potential for radiological impacts. They have used a comment from South Lakes Action on Climate Change that : ‘the above issues would raise even greater concern should Underground Coal Gasification be proposed which has potential for large scale subsidence that is harder to control.”

The nuclear safety campaigners say “The report by Tim Deere Jones is specific to this planning application and specific to its unique position. The report details the intolerable consequences of massive new voids caused by coal mining in this specific area which includes the dangers of induced siesmicity near Sellafield as well as likely subsidence of the Cumbrian Mud Patch. To brush this serious nuclear issue under the carpet in this way by using the SLACC comment is utterly contemptous of what is arguably the most serious aspect of this coal mine.

Radiation Free Lakeland note also that the Officers report does not in any way attempt to address West Cumbria Mining’s repeated contempt for climate concerns “WCM does not consider that there is a requirement to assess the emissions caused by the end use of coal which is extracted from the Development”. 

Nuclear Safety Campaigners will be reading the full report in detail and will comment further but in the meantime urge people to lobby their own councillors to urge the Development Control and Regulation Committee members to defy the dangerous Officers report and vote NO on 2nd October. They can also be contacted direct here.

There is also an ongoing Petition  https://you.38degrees.org.uk/petitions/no-new-coal-mine-in-cumbria

Note: 

Radiation Free Lakeland have been running a campaign to Keep Cumbrian Coal in the Hole since 2017. This has included the legal challenge by Leigh Day which has seen the plan repeatedly kicked into the long grass.

Tim Deere Jones Report into Implications of Potential Seabed Subsidence, Seismicity and Fault Reactivation beneath the Cumbrian Mud Patch

SLACC comment regarding Underground Coal Gasification being “harder to control” than coal mining in response to Tim Deere Jones report can be found on page 75 of CCC Public Reports Pack https://planning.cumbria.gov.uk/Planning/Display/4/17/9007

A Morning Jog

We have permission to publish the following photo journal of a morning jog. The route is through the Whitehaven area past the proposed coal mine.

“It was a lovely morning for my run. The sun rises on another day. Two thirds of Copeland Borough are in the national park, a World Heritage Site. How disappointing that the remaining third has a coal mine; and a nuclear storage facility.

Our local MP Trudy Harrisons tells us that the mining company has a sound business plan. I think the Trojan Horse scenario is a strong possibility. A GDF is a little way off, plenty of time for a private company to invest in a coal mine and create a big cavern inshore. Coal mining and nuclear disposal advisory group in cahoots it seems.

My run takes me past the new housing estates opposite the mine site. I work with  a couple of people here, they are not too bothered about the mine, both said that we need jobs. This is quite true, we need jobs but we are not unique, lots of areas are crying out for jobs. There are more people employed than unemployed in Whitehaven. If they build this mine I fear those new build houses won’t be such an investment, who wants to live next to a coal mine.

I cut across the old Marchon Chemical works to pick up the coastal path to take me to Whitehaven Harbour. Haig Pit is the HQ for West Cumbria Mining. Thay have taken over the mining museum, fascinating I have visited on three occasions before it closed a few years ago. You came away in awe of those miners. Did you know the pithead lift operator had to count the revolution on a clockwork wheel to control the descent of the lift cage. Mess it up and the cage and miners would be crushed as it hit the bottom. Every so often they had to recalibrate the wheel to compensate for the stretch in the steel cable. If it opens again pay a visit. Coal mining is our heritage not the future.

Down hill now towards our harbour and the candlestick vent chimney. The new coal mine vent, to be situated near Sandwith won’t be as elaborate. Perhaps just like the candlestick they will let it vent mine gases (methane).

The only thing I agree with in WCM’s new proposal is their acknowledgement that methane is the most potent greenhouse gas. They are quite happy to vent this into the atmosphere though and at a later date put some methane capture in place to use as an energy source; more pollution but still only less than 1% of the UK (England, Scotland, Wales & Northern Ireland; population 67,886,000) carbon budget.

Round the harbour, the water is looking really clean now that they have introduced a floating rubbish collector. Past the mermaid, she is my favourite and I stop a moment to watch a couple of coast to coast cyclists dip their bike wheels. Their route will take them across the head of the Pow Beck Valley, location of the train loading facility. It is peaceful and green now, an uninterrupted view down the valley with St,Bees Priory standing proud, It’s a lovely view from the cycle track.

The coast to coast proper drops into Pow Beck They are to build an underpass for walkers. I can’t see the appeal of seeing dozens of coal wagons in this green valley, Not all the coal mine is to be built on an old industrial site. So this is how Cumbria protects its tourist assets, lets dig coal, Shameful.

The run takes a turn for the worse, back to my starting point at Seacliffe. It’s all uphill now, those steps are so steep they could be ladders. “