A CABINET minister has been urged to fast track the approval of an application to build a coal mine in Whitehaven, or risk continued business with Russia.
Mayor of Copeland Mike Starkie has written to Levelling-Up boss Michael Gove, urging him to approve West Cumbria Mining’s planning application for a coking coal mine.
The final verdict on the coal mine planned for the former Marchon site rests on Mr Gove’s shoulders as his predecessor called-in the application.
A fraught public inquiry took place in 2021 in which saw the applicant and environmental activists make their case to planning inspector Stephen Normington.
Mr Normington was set to make a recommendation to the Secretary of State at the beginning of this year but a decision has not been forthcoming and the application remains in limbo.
Mr Starkie said: “I am writing to both the Prime Minister, Boris Johnson, and Minister for The Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, Michael Gove, and asking them to expedite the decision on West Cumbria Mining and give it the go ahead as a matter of urgency.”
“In 2020 we imported 1.6 metric tonnes of coal from Russia. Turkey, Germany, the Netherlands, all import coal from Russia. It’s going to get caught up in the sanctions.
“The war in the Ukraine will increase the financial burden on U.K. families and the already emerging cost of living crisis.
"Opening the mine will, in West Cumbria, alleviate some of that pressure through the creation of new well-paid jobs that will, in the long term, support the governments much vaunted Levelling-Up agenda.”
The argument put forward by supporters of the mine, is that the extraction of metallurgical coal is not as harmful to the environment as thermal coal, but steel demand will always remain.
“We need the steel from somewhere, for the steel we need the coking coal, the reasons for holding this mine up were very flaky anyway.”
Environmental activists who oppose the mine will descend on the constituency offices of Cumbrian MPs this week, urging them to oppose the mine.
Friends of the Earth co-ordinator Ruth Balogh said: “Many people in West Cumbria are against this mine, and we need our representatives to grasp this. Our MPs also need to grasp the severity of the climate crisis and the role the mine would have in worsening it.
"The floods we've suffered from in West Cumbria are directly attributable to climate change. And the mine's end-use emissions won't obey national boundaries, they'll affect us all.
“The 'death knell' of coal hailed by the Prime Minister applies to all coal mines, this mine included”
But Mr Starkie said: “In my opinion and in the opinion of most people in West Cumbria, the mine should go ahead.”
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