18 January 2023 – Two legal challenges have been mounted by environmental groups over the Government’s decision to approve the Cumbria coal mine.
In December 2022, Michael Gove, the Levelling Up Secretary, approved the construction of the new coal mine, which would be the first one built in the UK for 30 years.
With his approval he confirmed the decision of the local county council in 2020, which needed the approval of the Government. The Government’s decision was delayed several times, once in 2021 ahead of COP26 in Glasgow.
The coal mine will cost £165m and produce coking coal, which is used to make steel. Mr Gove approved the project because he agreed that there is a need for this coal in the UK as well as the European market.
The project was also approved because it is expected that it will generate around 500 jobs in the area. The approval letter further states that the Secretary of State agrees that the carbon emissions by the coal mine would not be significant.
However, the decision was wildly criticised across the UK as well as abroad, many describing it as conflicting with UK climate targets.
Coal Not Needed
There are two companies in the UK who produce steel using coal: British Steel and Tata. But both have said that they plan to phase out the use of coal in the next decade in favour of lower carbon production methods.
An expert of the steel industry, Chris McDonal, estimated that the two UK companies will use less than 10% and none at all by the mid 2030s.
A former chief executive of British Steel said the additional coal is not needed, as there is enough available on the free market.
This is a completely unnecessary step for the British steel industry, which is not waiting for more coal as there is enough on the free market available. The British steel industry needs green investment in electric arc furnaces and hydrogen to protect jobs and make the UK competitive.
Ron Deelen, former Chief Executive of British Steel
The advisory body, the Climate Change Committee (CCC), estimated that 85% of the coal produced in the Cumbria coal mine would be exported. The chairman of the CCC, Lord Deben, also said that there is no market for the coal in the UK or Europe.
Mr Gove has acknowledged that most of the coal will be exported, but where to is still uncertain. European steel producers are also looking at phasing out the use of coal to use green methods.
Will The Cumbria Coal Mine Be Carbon Neutral?
It is estimated that the new coal mine will produce 400,000 tonnes of greenhouse gas emissions per year. As much as 200,000 additional cars on UK roads.
However, the Planning Inspectorate’s report, on which Mr Gove based his decision, claimed that the mine overall would have a “neutral effect on climate change”.
The reasoning behind this claim is that the UK steel industry would use the same amount of coal with or without the new coal mine. According to a government spokesperson, the coal would be used to make steel in the UK and replace coal that would otherwise be imported.
But the two UK steel companies have rejected the coal due to its high sulphur content and because they don’t need it. This seems to blow the claim of the carbon neutrality of the coal mine out of the water.
Furthermore, a report by the International Energy Agency, which was commissioned by the UK government in 2021, found that any new fossil fuel development, including gas, would prevent the world from remaining at the 1.5C limit.
This means, if the UK were to build the new coal mine in Cumbria, it would contribute to global warming beyond the target agreed in the Paris Climate Agreement in 2015, which was signed by the UK.
The Government’s Climate Tsar, Tory MP Chris Skidmore, has also criticised the decision, which would have never happened if his recommendation had been in place, he said.
Mr Skimore also cast doubt on whether the coal mine will ever be built during the launch of his review of the Government’s policies.
The Legal Challenges
Two environmental groups, Friends of the Earth and South Lakes Action on Climate Change (SLACC), have lodged legal challenges to the Government’s decision to approve the coal mine.
The SLACC challenge focusses on Mr Gove’s decision being made based on “errors in law”.
Our claim sets out the errors in law, the failure to give intelligible reasons and the disparity of treatment between the parties that Gove employed to arrive at this contradictory conclusion.
Carole Wood, Chairwoman of South Lakes Action on Climate Change
The claim Friends of the Earth has lodged focusses on Mr Gove’s dealing of evidence in relation to climate change put forward by the group and others during the planning inquiry.
The environmental group also says that claims the mine would operate at net-zero due to the ability to offset its carbon emissions is “wrong and unlawful”.
Both challenges are now awaiting a decision whether they will be granted a hearing at court to put forward their legal challenges against the decision to build the Cumbria coal mine.
