West Cumbria Coal Mine – Its All About the Climate! Yes Lets Ignore the Russian Backed Director of the West Cumbrian Coal Mine Whose CEO Works for UK Government Nuclear Dump Plans – Lets Ignore Old Coal Mine Workings Gushing into Whitehaven Harbour – Lets Ignore the Bransty Tunnel’s Corrosion From Old Mine Water and Most Importantly For the Nuclear Industry’s Sake Lets Keep the Nuclear Waste Trains Going To Sellafield From The North Through the Minewater Compromised 1km Tunnel Under Whitehaven.

Image : https://www.geograph.org.uk/photo/7102076

Bransty Tunnel through which hundreds of nuclear waste flasks have travelled the 1km tunnel beneath Whitehaven Town Centre since December when mine water from unknown sources began noticeably flooding the area into Queens Dock, Whitehaven.

The following is correspondence with Tim Farron MP for Westmorland and Lonsdale regarding the ongoing corruption of governance re. the planned coal mine, old coal mines, the Bransty Tunnel and the continued arrival of nuclear waste at Sellafield via a minewater compromised rail tunnel under Whitehaven.

Tim Farron MP has agreed to continue to press Government on this.

21st September 2023

Dear Tim,

Thank you very much for the letter from Baroness Scott which as you say is sheer obfuscation.  The refusal of the Foreign Office to reply to the questions raised about the links to Russia through West Cumbria Mining’s original funder and now Director Owen Hegarty is shocking.   To reiterate: Owen Hegarty funded the original £millions for WCM through EMR Captial.  Owen Hegarty’s other coal mine in Siberia is in reciept of  £Millions both by the Russian State and by Russian equity bank Baring Vostok whose investors have just left prison in Russia after fraud sentences. 

I would like to re-ask the question of the Foreign Office:  Given the UK Government’s current war footing with Russia why hasn’t the Foreign Office stepped in to investigate West Cumbria Mining’s clear links with Russian State investment through its Director Owen Hegarty?

The millions of pounds that have funded WCM’s borehole drillings and PR are largely unaccounted for hidden away as they are in Cayman Islands accounts.  It is no stretch of the imagination to say that the money to fund WCM could well have come from the Russian state in its ‘aid’ to Tigers Realm Coal.   

The Russian links become even more incredible given that the CEO of WCM is advising the UK Government on the UK nuclear dump plans in his key role at the Committee on Radioactive Waste Management.   The war-footing with Russia is untenable given these links.

The nuclear waste upon which the CEO of West Cumbria Mining is advising continues to arrive at Sellafield almost daily.  The nuclear waste from Scotland travels 1km UNDER the town of Whitehaven though the Bransty Tunnel from Whitehaven to Corickle.  This tunnel is now of concern to Network Rail as it is being undermined by reactivated coal mine workings which are flooding the area with toxic minewater full of acid and metals.  West Cumbria Mining have carried out investigative work for their planned new coal mine in the area above Whitehaven with investigative boreholes drilling down to below sea level.   It is not beyond the realms of possibility that their invasive borehole drilling and flushing of the boreholes with massive amounts of water for days at a time has had a disastrous impact on the honeycomb of old coal mine workings along the West Coast.

A Freedom of Information request answer received today from the Nuclear Decommissioning Authority indicates that hundreds of transports of nuclear waste flasks have been carried through the Bransty Tunnel since the toxic mine leakage fully started to discharge in December (which as the Baroness helpfully points out in her letter is when WCM’s coal mine was approved by Government).   The neglect of Whitehaven’s public safety with regards the nuclear waste flasks (or indeed any trains)  going through the impacted Bransty Tunnel is astonishing  not to mention the acid and metal (and radon etc) pollution discharging out to the supposed Highly Protected Marine Area of the Irish Sea and the Solway.

As well as urging the Foreign Office to investigate Owen Hegarty’s financial dealings with the Russian State we would urge an immediate halt to the transport of nuclear wastes under Whitehaven town centre through the Bransty Tunnel.

With many thanks for your continued quest for action on this

Marianne

FOI RESPONSE recieved today from the Nuclear Decommissioning Authority

https://www.whatdotheyknow.com/request/nuclear_waste_transports_through#incoming-2425057

OFFICIAL

Dear Marianne

See below response to your enquiry.

Please note – we cannot provide definitive figures from our systems to
answer your specific query. To be able to provide any figures in response
to your query we have assumed all services to/from Sellafield ran via the
Northern rail route (so some of the total below may not have actually
travelled via Whitehaven). We have excluded services that did not have any
flask traffic. These figures are therefore only indicative of the
transport numbers that may have travelled via the Whitehaven tunnel.

TOTAL FIGURES
1^st December 2022 – 8^th September 2023
Number of Services Ran 179
Number of Flasks (Discharged) 257
Number of Flasks (Loaded) 241

If you are unhappy with the way your request for information has been
handled, you can request the NDA carry out an internal review, in the
first instance contact [1][email address]

If you remain dissatisfied with the handling of your request or complaint
you have a right to appeal to the Information Commissioner at:

[2]https://ico.org.uk/

Information Commissioner’s Office, Wycliffe House, Water Lane, Wilmslow,
Cheshire, SK9 5AF

Regards

[3]NDA_final_logo_Black small

Judith Griffin

Information Access Manager

Nuclear Decommissioning Authority

We work flexibly – so whilst it suits me to email now, I do not exp

——- Original Message ——-
On Monday, August 21st, 2023 at 10:33, Tim Farron wrote:

Dear Marianne

Please find attached the response from the Minister for Faith and Communities to the letter that I wrote to the Foreign Secretary on your behalf with regard to your letter against the mine in West Cumbria.

I am afraid that you are the victim of total obfuscation but I suspect that this will come as no surprise.  Do let me know, if you would like me to write again to the Foreign Office to demand a straight answer.
 
With best wishes
 
Yours sincerely
 
TIM FARRON MP

Original Letter to Michael Gove Secretary of State here

Actions Urged Regarding Nuclear Dump Boss’s Coal Mine

Tim Farron MP for Westmorland and Lonsdale is “pleased to confirm that I have written to the Foreign Secretary and the Chief Executive of the Coal Authority to forward your letter for their consideration and response” regarding questions relating to the West Cumbria Coal Mine.

The letter sent to the Foreign Secretary and the Coal Authority on behalf of Keep Cumbrian Coal in the Hole – a Radiation Free Lakeland campaign asks that:

1. The Foreign Office fully investigate West Cumbria Mining’s Russian connections through EMR Capital and Owen Hegarty. Hegarty’s coal mine in Siberia has been bankrolled by the Russian state to the tune of millions of pounds. Government approved their nuclear dump advisor’s (Mark Kirkbride/CoRWM) Cumbrian coal mine despite West Cumbria Mining’s financier and director Owen Hegarty’s coal mine interests in Siberia having been bankrolled by the Russian state.

2. The Coal Authority take a lead in honouring the House of Lords call for a ban on any new coal mine licences being issued in the UK. That an earthquake inducing new coal mine should have even been considered so close to Sellafield is utterly reckless with public safety – the forseen consequences could make climate concerns regarding the coal mine pale into insignificance.

3. An inquiry into the dark cronyism surrounding the appointment of the CEO of West Cumbria Mining, Mark Kirkbride, to the position of Government advisor on Geological Disposal of High Level Nuclear Wastes, his coal mine lies between the nuclear dump target areas of Mid Copeland and Allerdale.

The full letter is below:

Dear Coal Authority and Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office,

The first deep coal mine in the UK in 30 years announced on May 16th that “we have now successfully closed out a new multimillion pound funding package” What they fail to reveal is where the “multimillion pound” investment is coming from. The initial millions largely spent on public relations and investigative boreholes came from EMR Capital whose owner Owen Hegarty is now a director of West Cumbria Mining. Owen Hegarty also has coal mines in Siberia which have been bankrolled to the tune of tens of millions of pounds both by the Russian State and by Russian equity bank Baring Vostok whose investors have just left prison in Russia after fraud sentences. This all begs the question given the UK Government’s current war footing with Russia why hasn’t the Foreign Office stepped in to investigate West Cumbria Mining’s clear links with Russian State investment through Owen Hegarty?

West Cumbria Mining’s update also fails to mention that their conditional licence from the Coal Authority lapsed in October 2022. The Coal Authority have told us that they have not received a new licence application. The fact that the Coal Authority are even considering giving a new licence to drill to West Cumbria Mining is breathtaking given that the House of Lords called for a ban on any new licences being issued for coal mines. The Coal Authority is also now tasked with looking into the ongoing and seemingly unstoppable pollution pouring into Whitehaven harbour from historic mines which have been newly activated by disturbance. West Cumbria Mining’s extensive borehole and water flushing investigations above Whitehaven cannot be ruled out in part or in whole as a catalyst for Whitehaven Harbour running red with a toxic burden of metals and other pollutants. The honeycomb of mines in Whitehaven includes the Anhydrite mine which West Cumbria Mining wanted to dewater of its uranium, acids and metal contaminated water in order to use this as access to the sub-sea area off Whitehaven. The Environment Agency said this would be too dangerous to marine life. Another bizarre twist in the tale is that the coal mine CEO who wanted to dangerously dewater the old Anhydrite mine into the Irish Sea is also tasked (by the same government department who sponsor the Coal Authority) with advising Government on investigation techniques, construction and costings for a sub-sea nuclear dump euphemistically called a Geological Disposal Facility. This investigation includes seismic blasting of the Irish Sea which has already taken place over the heads of the public despite a petition of over 50,000 signatures.

We urge the Foreign Office to fully investigate West Cumbria Mining’s Russian connections through EMR Capital and Owen Hegarty.

We urge the Coal Authority to take a lead in honouring the House of Lords call for a ban on any new coal mine licences being issued in the UK. That an earthquake inducing new coal mine should have even been considered so close to Sellafield is utterly reckless with public safety – the forseen consequences could make climate concerns regarding the coal mine pale into insignificance.

We urge an inquiry into the dark cronyism surrounding the appointment of the CEO of West Cumbria Mining, Mark Kirkbride, to the position of Government advisor on Geological Disposal of High Level Nuclear Wastes, his coal mine lies between the nuclear dump target areas of Mid Copeland and Allerdale.

Yours sincerely

Marianne Birkby

Keep Cumbrian Coal in the Hole – a Radiation Free Lakeland campaign.

WCM May Updatehttps://www.westcumbriamining.com/wcm-website-news-update-may-2023/

Owen Hegarty new director of WCM https://www.extractiveindustries.co.uk/west-cumbria-mining-appoints-owen-hegarty-as-director/

Funder and now Director of WCM Owen Hegarty Bankrolled by Russian State and Baring Vostok https://www.smh.com.au/business/russians-take-a-large-slice-of-tigers-realm-coal-20140323-35bkq.html

Baring Vostok Fraud Sentences https://www.themoscowtimes.com/2023/03/24/baring-vostok-investors-leave-russia-after-fraud-sentences-expire-a80603

Calls by the House of Lords to ban any new licences being awarded to West Cumbria Mining.

https://www.mining-technology.com/news/house-of-lords-calls-for-ban-on-new-coal-mines/

Mark Kirbride Government Nuclear Dump advisor https://www.gov.uk/government/people/mark-kirkbridg

Petition

https://www.change.org/p/save-the-whale-and-the-snail-stop-nuclear-waste-services-blasting-the-irish-sea

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” .

Letters to Press – Unpublished. New Director of WCM bankrolled by Russian Government – Nothing to see here?

The following letters were sent to press on Monday – if anyone sees anything published please let us know- thanks!

Image: wikipedia

To Local Press

Dear Editor,

All MPs in Cumbria have supported sanctions imposed on Russian companies and oligarchs, with the supplying of arms to Ukrainian forces taking precedent over any peace negotiations.  There is however a strange anomaly in Cumbria with the appointment of a Russian government funded Director to West Cumbria Mining.   In December 2022 just a week after UK Government approved the first deep coal mine in over 30 years in the UK Owen Hegarty officially joined West Cumbria Mining.   He is founder and Executive Chairman of EMR Capital, the private equity company who put up the money backing WCM’s undersea coal mine near Sellafield.   He has fingers in lots of pies.  Back in December 2020 Owen Hegarty said “There’s never been a better time to mine coal on Russia’s Pacific coast due to  China’s blacklisting of Australian coal So the new Director is an opportunist then – nothing wrong with that you might say.  However this opportunist has no qualms about accepting money from governments.  In the case of Owen Hegarty’s Tigers Realm Coal, the Russian government, to the tune of at least £30 Million.    

The CEO of West Cumbria Mining Mark Kirkbride who appointed Owen Hegarty (WCM funder)  is also advising the UK Government on the “biggest environmental project in the UK” aka an undersea nuclear dump for high level nuclear wastes (prime area in the frame is next to the coal mine).   So much for national security – but hey we need the steel from Cumbrian coking coal to build Trident nuclear submarines to protect us from Russia who are also bankrolling the new Director of West Cumbria Mining.    Why has this not raised lots of questions from those MPs who are “horrified” by Russia?

yours sincerely

Keep Cumbrian Coal in the Hole – a Radiation Free Lakeland campaign

address supplied

Shhhh – don’t mention the Russian connection. We all hate Russia – Don’t we?

Letter to The Guardian

• Dear Editor,
• Following Government approval of the Cumbria coal mine the Guardian reports “coalmine is owned by private equity firm with Cayman Islands base” ( Sandra Laville, Environment Correspondent Thu 8 Dec 2022).  The story does not end there.  A week later on Dec 16th the owner of the private equity firm, Owen Hegarty was appointed as Director of West Cumbria Mining.  Owen Hegarty is also the founder of Tigers Realm Coal who are responsible for bringing coal mining to a previously coal mine free area – in Siberia!. 
• Owen Hegarty the new Director of the Cumbria coal mine has not only generated massive environmental destruction in Chukotka and the Bering Sea area but has also been bankrolled by the Russian government to the tune of tens of £Millions playing fast and loose with the human rights of regional indigenous communities into the bargain.  This is a massive scandal.   
• On the one hand Government is providing armaments to Ukraine against Russia and on the other it is approving an earthquake inducing coal mine near the worlds biggest stockpile of plutonium at Sellafield whose Director is bankrolled by the Russian Government.  The same Cumbrian MPs who cheerlead for the Russian bankrolled Director’s coal mine are also cheerleading War against Russia rather than peace negotiations.  It makes no sense.
• yours sincerely
• Keep Cumbrian Coal in the Hole – a Radiation Free Lakeland campaign address supplied
• https://keepcumbriancoalinthehole.wordpress.com/2023/02/27/shhhh-dont-mention-the-russian-connection-we-all-hate-russia-dont-we/
• Letter to the Daily Mail
• Dear Editor,
• Just a week after UK Government approved the first deep coal mine in over 30 years in the UK,  a new director was appointed.  Owen Hegarty was appointed by West Cumbria Mining on 16th December 2022.  He is founder and Executive Chairman of EMR Capital, the private equity company who put up the money backing West Cumbria Mining’s undersea coal mine near Sellafield in Cumbria.  He has fingers in lots of pies.  Back in December 2020 Owen Hegarty said “There’s never been a better time to mine coal on Russia’s Pacific coast due to  China’s blacklisting of Australian coal So the new Director is an opportunist then – nothing wrong with that you might say.  However this opportunist has no qualms about accepting money from governments.  In the case of Owen Hegarty’s Tigers Realm Coal, the Russian government to the tune of at least £30 Million.    The CEO of West Cumbria Mining Mark Kirkbride who presumably appointed Owen Hegarty (WCM funder)  is also advising the UK Government on the “biggest environmental project in the UK” aka an undersea nuclear dump for high level nuclear wastes (prime area in the frame is next to the coal mine).   So much for national security – but hey we need the steel from Cumbrian coking coal to build Trident nuclear submarines to protect us from Russia who are also bankrolling the new Director of West Cumbria Mining.    Why has this not raised questions ?  
• yours sincerely
• Keep Cumbrian Coal in the Hole – a Radiation Free Lakeland campaign
• address supplied
• 
  
  

Russian Government in Collaboration with Owen Hegarty’s Tigers Realm Coal Trample Over Indigenous People.

The new Director of West Cumbria Mining Owen Hegarty is also the founder of Tigers Realm Coal. The TIgers Realm Coal company propaganda shows images of handouts to indigenous people from the coal mine developers who themselves have taken tens of £Millions from the Russian government. In contrast to the company propaganda showing indigenous folk recieving handouts the truth is that indigenous peoples of Far East Russia fought Owen Hegarty’s coal mines because they knew that the land on which they depend to survive would be trashed.

This is translated from Russian 2015

Colleagues and compatriots! For more than a week now, members of the Altar community and their families have been confronting the contractor of the Chinese Shenhua coal mining company in Chukotka – CJSC Chukotskaya Torgovaya Kompaniya (ChTK).

To transport heavy machinery and equipment for work in the coal fields of the former Beringovsky district, ChTK uses spawning rivers, containers are dragged along them, and caterpillar transport goes. And all this happens during the spawning period of salmon and the period of reproduction and feeding by birds and animals of chicks and animals.

So far, this has only been stopped by blocking the path of technology, it was done by members of the Altar community, who were not afraid to resist the big money and resources of companies such as ChTK, the administrative and power resources of the government of the Chukotka Autonomous Okrug.

The history of this confrontation has been going on for several years. It all started with the North Pacific Coal Company ( a subsidiary of Tigers Realm Coal) which since 2007 has been engaged in the so-called “exploration” of coal deposits, while not giving a damn about work in the area where the northernmost spawning grounds of sockeye salmon are located, according to biologists, it was necessary to create nature protection zones for protection a long time ago. nesting and habitats of rare birds.

This area is also the southern tip of the long-suffering Beringia International Park, which has not yet been created, largely due to the unwillingness of the district authorities.

For more than two years, the head of the Altar family and tribal community has been trying to draw the attention of local, district, federal authorities to the barbaric ways and methods that companies work in these fields, acts were drawn up, photographs and videos were taken, but as we see, the authorities of Chukotka it is necessary to quickly sell the wealth of the country, without looking back at the people who live in the district.

We tried to appeal to both the President and V.V. Putin, we also appealed to the branch of United Russia, but this had no effect.

Now the situation is already in the red, critical zone.

Members of the community blocked the passage of vehicles along the rivers in Ushakov Bay. They are being threatened by ChTK employees, they are threatening to send a helicopter with the FSB, the police and to open criminal cases against them. At the same time, they refer to the Water Code, that it is supposedly possible to carry out work in the 20-meter zone of the river, mind you, the spawning river of a valuable breed of fish !!!

And do not believe that the essence of the conflict boils down to the fact that once again they came to “get rich” and “give us a job”, and here we are climbing with our fat people, almost dragging “progressive humanity” into the Stone Age. The situation is just the opposite – the Altar community, the indigenous people are for the construction of roads, so that there is work and children can learn new specialties, so that we finally move from an abandoned state to a normal human life, but at the same time preserve our nature because we want to live on our land and raise our children!!!

Colleagues, countrymen!!! We appeal to you with a proposal to support our fellow tribesmen !!!

Shhhh – don’t mention the Russian connection. We all hate Russia – Don’t we?

Russian Government has a large slice of West Cumbria Mining New Director’s Coal Pie.

Our government are ignoring calls for diplomatic negotiations with Russia to take precedent over increasingly dangerous (and lucrative) war games while endorsing developments with ties to the Russian government.  Makes no sense at all unless viewed through the business as usual at any cost lens.

Just a week after government approved the first deep coal mine in over 30 years in the UK,  a new director was appointed to West Cumbria Mining.

Owen Hegarty appointed to West Cumbria Mining on 16th December 2022 is no ordinary Director.  He is founder and Executive Chairman of EMR Capital, a private equity company who put up the £Millions to get West Cumbria Mining started.  

In December 2020 the headline in Financial Review boldly asserted “There’s never been a better time to mine coal in Siberia” “Mining industry veteran Owen Hegarty says his Siberian coking coal venture is poised to capitalise on China’s blacklisting of Australian coal, as it embarked on an exquisitely timed $43.5 million fundraising on Wednesday. ASX-listed Tigers Realm Coal has been mining on Russia’s Pacific coast for three years”  

So the new Director is an opportunist then – nothing wrong with that you might say.  

However this opportunist has no qualms about accepting money from governments.  In the case of Owen Hegarty’s Tigers Realm Coal, the Russian government: “The certificates of residency in the ADZ provide Tigers Realm with valuable benefits that include looser regulation, tax breaks and the ability to receive financing from Russia’s sovereign fund.”  The Beringovsky Advanced Development Zone (ADZ) was created by Russian legislation to provide an attractive investment and administrative framework for investors and companies in the Russian Far East.  

Without the Russian government’s largesse Owen Hegarty’s Tigers Realm Coal venture would have collapsed as according to  Greenpeace’s Unearthed blog “A plan by a small Australian-listed coal company to build two massive mines in the Russian Arctic is teetering on collapse as local indigenous landowners voice their concerns, the coal price continues to crater and banks remain wary of funding the project.”  The article goes on to reveal that “Before Tigers Realm Coal arrived on the scene, indigenous landowners – heavily reliant on fishing salmon – had endured a long struggle before finally winning legal title to an area of land around the Amaam lagoon, right near the site of the proposed project.  The community, which actively opposed coal exploration in the region, was stunned when Tigers Realm kicked off its drilling programme in late 2010.  The movement of heavy equipment over the fragile tundra impacted the protection zone of Amaam Lagoon during the crucial sockeye salmon breeding season.”  

Amur Tiger (Siberian Tiger -wikipedia) food includes salmon which breed in the Amaam Lagoon.

In April 2014 Tigers Realm Coal received 36 million Australian dollars from the Russian private equity firm Baring Vostok Mining and 16 million Australian dollars from the Russian Government’s Russian Direct Investment Fund (£30M in total).  According to Unearthed, Tigers Realm Coal (Tigers Realm Minerals Group TIG)  have even bigger ambitions for mining in the Russian Far East.  

Owen Hegarty’s appointment as Director at West Cumbria Mining hot on the heels of Government approval for the first deep coal mine in 30 years in the UK has raised not one eyebrow amongst NGOs or the press.  This is despite the financial backing of WCM by Hegarty’s EMR Capital (largely from unknown sources) and the large slice of Russian ownership of Hegarty’s Tigers Realm Coal. The May 2022 AGM report for Tigers Realm Minerals Group (TIG) lists Owen Hegarty as “Independent Non-Executive Director” and “Founder of TIG”.

West Cumbria Mining have not yet found time to add Owen Hegarty to their “Meet the Team”  despite the illustrious new team member receiving the Order of Australia Medal (OAM) in the June 2021 Queen’s Birthday Honours List for service to the mining and minerals sector.

It does make you wonder about the Orwellian hate directed at Russia by our government on the one hand and approving a deep coal mine near Sellafield with Russian Government backed Director Owen Hegarty on the other.  

Also makes you wonder about the push for a deep nuclear dump for high level nuclear wastes, as the  government advisor for the nuclear dump is CEO of WCM Mark Kirkbride.  Kirkbride’s coal mine has been bankrolled by EMR Capital whose Russian government funded owner (to the tune of at least £30 Million)  is now an appointed Director of West Cumbria Mining.  

So much for national security – but hey we need the steel from Cumbrian coking coal to build Trident nuclear submarines to protect us all from evil Russia.  

Pull the other one its got bells on.