Coal news and updates

A new surface coal mine could be created on the scenic Northumberland coast if an application is approved next month.

 

Banks Mining wants to create a three million tonne (Mt) opencast mine which will operate for seven years from an area of 250 hectares at Druridge Bay, between Widdrington and Cresswell.

 

The project has attracted opposition from local residents, Friends of the Earth and the Northumberland Wildlife Trust (NWT), which have lodged multiple objections based on its impact on greenhouse gas emissions, water and wildlife.

 

Coal from the Highthorn Mine, as it will be known, is likely to be burned locally. The planning application states that it would go to coal-fired power stations “and other industrial and domestic markets”. Cottan, Ratcliffe on Soar, Drax and West Burton power stations are already being supplied with Northumbrian coal from Banks’ existing sites at Brenkley and Shotton.

 

Those opposing the mine say this flies in the face of commitments to cut greenhouse gas emissions and the government’s announcement in November that it will phase out all unabated coal by 2025 to meet carbon budgets.

Highthorn would be operational until 2024, but Friends of the Earth expects Banks to try to extend this and increase the tonnage in future. Energy campaigner Guy Shrubsole told ENDS the original mine proposal was 7Mt but had been reduced to make it more acceptable.

 

The NGO points to the national planning policy framework which states: “Permission should not be given for the extraction of coal unless the proposal is environmentally acceptable, or can be made so by planning conditions or obligations; or if not, it provides national, local or community benefits which clearly outweigh the likely impacts to justify the grant of planning permission.”

Source: The Guardian