The Coal Authority has issued the Aberpergwm coal mine with a licence to mine an extra 42 million tonnes of coal, ignoring the est.100 million tonnes of CO2 this will generate and jeopardise the UK's and Wales' ability to meet their climate commitments. Check out what we're doing now to stop the Aberpergwm coal mine expansion.
Combined, both of you have received nearly 4000 emails from people who are dismayed by the news that the deep coal mine operated by EnergyBuild Ltd in Aberpergwm may imminently have the licence to extend it deconditionalised by The Coal Authority regulator. The people we have spoken with are shocked that the UK is embarking on a new commitment to mine up to 40 million tonnes of coal until 2039, emitting around 100 million tonnes of CO2—as well as methane—into our atmosphere. Common questions we heard included “how can this happen just after COP26?”, “shouldn’t this decision be made by Wales?”, and “why don’t these Ministers seem to know who can stop this?”.
Will you answer their questions and respond to their concerns?
Our recommendations:
In the short term, it is critical that Ministers from both the Welsh and UK Governments work together to overcome the political impasse reported by the BBC and The Guardian, and block this coal mine. There are several routes to achieve this. Inaction on this coal mine extension would have unacceptable consequences for the UK’s climate change emissions, and international leadership on phasing down coal.
For the longer term, the UK Government must end the recurring embarrassment of coal mines progressing through a planning system that does not support the its climate commitments. Applications for new coal mines in West Cumbria and near Druridge Bay, as well as a coal mine extension at Nant Helen in Wales, all required Ministers to step in the last-minute. This pattern shows that the planning process needs updating.
We recommend that Minister Michael Gove therefore issues a policy statement that rules out planning permission for all new and extended coal mining across the UK. This be irrespective of the type of coal or proposed end use. The policy statement would send a clear signal domestically and internationally that the UK is serious about leading the global phase-down of coal, and accelerating the decarbonisation of energy and steel production, the latter of which currently drives 11% of climate change emissions.
An invitation to consign coal to history
We invite Minsters from the Welsh and UK Governments to reach out to Coal Action Network and consign new coal mining and extensions to history. Coal Action Network has operated as a grassroots group since 2008 to support local communities across England, Scotland, and Wales to oppose nearby coal mining and associated impacts. As one local community member, after successfully opposing a nearby opencast coal proposal in December 2020, said:
“Coal is our heritage, but it cannot be a part of our future”
Yours sincerely,
Supporters, and the team at Coal Action Network
Kömür Eylem Ağı (Coal Action Network), 2024 yılında Türkiye kömür endüstrisini araştırdı. Bu makalede, bulgularımız ve Türkiye’deki kömür, hava kirliliği, Rusya savaşı ile karbonsuzlaştırma arasındaki ilişkiler inceleniyor.
Last December in London, the CAN team protested with other climate campaigners for two days in freezing temperatures outside one of the world’s biggest events funnelling investment into expanding mining globally. The ‘Mines and Money Conference’ held in London’s Business Design Centre connected investors with projects and companies responsible for human rights abuses, ecocide, and fuelling climate chaos…
The UK Government has laid a Written Ministerial Statement confirming that it will introduce legislation to “restrict the future licensing of new coal mines”, by amending the Coal Industry Act 1994, “when Parliamentary time allows”. The UK Government’s press release is entitled “New coal mining licences will be banned”. Here at Coal Action Network, we thinks it’s great that the UK Government is following…
(Türkçe olarak mevcuttur) Coal Action Network investigated the Turkish coal industry in 2024. This article looks at our findings and the links between Turkish coal, air pollution, Russia’s war and decarbonisation.
Former steelworker, Pat Carr, spoke to Anne Harris from Coal Action Network about the financial support offered to workers when the Consett steelworks closed in 1980, and they discussed what can be done better, in workplaces like Scunthorpe steelworks. (Article published in Canary magazine)
The proposed West Cumbria Coal mine lost its planning permission in September 2024. Since then its application to get a full coal mining license was refused by the Coal Authority, another nail in the coffin of the proposed coking coal mine.
Bryn Bach Coal Ltd is the coal mining company that operates the Glan Lash opencast coal mine, which has been dormant since planning permission expired in 2019. In 2018, it applied for an extension which was unanimously rejected by planning councillors in 2023. Undeterred, Bryn Bach Coal Ltd is trying again! This time with a slightly smaller extension of some 85,000 tonnes rather than 95,000 tonnes…
Former steelworker, Pat Carr, speaks to Anne Harris from Coal Action Network about the financial support offered to workers when the Consett steelworks closed in 1980.
In May 2023, Coal Action Network wrote to the Climate Change, Energy, and Infrastructure Committee (CCEIC) of the Welsh Senedd, informing the Committee of the ongoing illegal coal mining at Ffos-y-fran in Merthyr Tydfil, and the Council and Welsh Government’s refusal to use their enforcement powers to prevent the daily extraction of over 1,000 tonnes of coal…
Great letter. It would be devastating if this licence got granted just because it ‘slipped through the net’. It should have been turned down for the hugely important environmental considerations which should have meant it didn’t even get past the first hurdle. Climate change is here and happening fast. Our job now must be to ensure it happens as little and as slowly as possible for the sake of our own generations as well as our children’s and future generations. More renewables… now.