SGR's objections to the proposals for a huge new deep coal mine in West Cumbria, UK. This includes evidence that, for each job created, the resulting additional climate change impacts will lead to more than 100 extra deaths worldwide.
Latest update: 8 September 2021
SGR has submitted four objections to local and national planning inquiries since 2018 regarding the proposals for Woodhouse Colliery in West Cumbria.
In summary, the key arguments of SGR's latest objection are that:
- the carbon emissions from the combustion of the coal extracted each year from this mine would amount to nearly 9 million tonnes of carbon dioxide equivalent, currently similar to the territorial emissions of over 1.3 million British citizens;
- claims that these emissions can be discounted due to a 'substitution effect' are deeply flawed, once proper consideration is made of economic, technological and policy factors;
- for each of the 500 jobs which could be created by the coal mine, the resulting additional climate change impacts will lead to more than 100 extra deaths worldwide;
- the prospects for low carbon alternatives to the mining of this coal - for example, low- and zero-carbon steel production methods - are much more promising than admitted by the proposers.
Download pdf of oral objection (September 2021)
Download pdf of written objection (May 2021)
