Please only attend either rally if you are feeling well, sanitise your hands regularly, and if possible, wear a mask whilst in the vicinity of other people, particularly if you're planning to hand out flyers to the public. Where possible, please avoid public transport, particularly where that is crowded. See our Covid19 risk assessment.

What to bring

• Warm, comfortable clothing, water, hand sanitiser, and a mask.
• You don't need to, but if you want to make a banner - fantastic! But we're asking everyone not to brand banners with any group's logos that they may be a member of. That's because we want to keep the visual message focused on the West Cumbria coal mine proposal, and the absurdity of considering opening a new coal mine as we're at the tipping point of runaway climate change.
• We'll supply some leaflets you can hand out to members of the public if you feel comfortable doing that, spreading the message futher.

Background

The proposed West Cumbria coal mine is going to a public inquiry called by Secretary of State, Robert Jenrick on 07 Sep 2021 and will last for at least 4 weeks. If the coal mine gets permission, it'll emit around 9 million tonnes of CO2 per year, and commit the UK to extracting 2.78 million tonnes of coal annually, until 2049 - or even 2070, if the mining company gets its way. The Climate Change Committee has officially stated this coal mine, expected to emit 9 million tonnes of CO2 per year for 40 years, is incompatible with the UK's climate change commitments. Promises by West Cumbria Mining Ltd of jobs and tax income are undermined by its investors, EMR Capital Resources, which has offices in the Cayman Islands tax haven - see our parody brochure for more information.

We want to ensure there is a visible show of public support for an end to coal mining in the UK, in solidarity with the local communities in Whitehaven, West Cumbria, who don't want this on their doorsteps, as well as communities living in the global south who'll bear the brunt of the climate change impacts this coal mine would contribute to. We want to show what the people think rather than what NGOs or campaign groups think. As such, we won't have any banners with our own logo on and we ask anyone attending not to bring branding of groups they may belong to.

Questions?

Email Anne@coalaction.org.uk and Daniel@coalaction.org.uk

Some of the groups involved in resisting this coal mine proposal

This campaign is primarily driven by committed Cumbrian activists for have been fighting this proposal for years. One of these Cumbrian groups is SLACC, who have pulled together a legal team to take on West Cumbria Mining Ltd's own legal team in the public inquiry. SLACC's website has a wealth of detailed information.

Friends of the Earth is working alongside the local campaign, and supporting it with capacity and training. Friends of the Earth are also taking an important role against the West Cumbria Mining Ltd in the upcoming public inquiry.