At the end of 2021, Boris Johnson said, “I’m not in favour of more coal” in response to questions about the proposed Whitehaven coking coal mine during the Glasgow COP26 climate summit. Yet today a massive new underground coking coal mine has been approved just after COP27. The coal will largely be sold abroad as it is too polluting to be used by UK steel works. [1]
Since 2014, West Cumbria Mining Ltd has been looking to extract 2.78 million tonnes a year of coking coal off Whitehaven. Today, Michael Gove, Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities approved the mine following a public inquiry in September 2021. Both South Lakes Action on Climate Change (SLACC) and Friends of the Earth presented evidence as formal participants at the inquiry. There will likely be further legal action by one or both organisations against the approval. You can support the legal battle against the mine (live 8th December). Further permissions are still needed for the mine to commence.
"I am appalled that Michael Gove, has approved a new coal mine in Cumbria. The UK Government has failed to keep UK planning law and guidance on coal in line with UK Climate targets, or with the needs of UK industry, leaving ambiguity, uncertainty and loopholes that have enabled an Australian coal company to extract coking coal unfit for the UK or EU steel industry right up to 2050. This is part of a pattern of UK consents for new oil, gas and coal extraction that makes a mockery of our supposed leadership role in this year of COP26.
Our government are failing to foster long lasting jobs either in West Cumbria or in the UK steel industry. Our legal team at Richard Buxton Solicitors, are examining the decision in detail to assess whether there are grounds for a legal challenge.
The government "is satisfied that there is currently a UK and European market for the coal (IR21.33), and that although there is no consensus on what future demand in the UK and Europe may be, it is highly likely that a global demand would remain (IR21.60)." This is despite the coal being largely unusable by UK steelmakers.
The decision letter goes on to say, "the development of the mine would not encourage the continued use of blast furnace production methods that would otherwise have been closed or converted to lower carbon technologies" which flies against reason.
Prior to the government deciding that it would make this planning decision, over-ruling Cumbria County Council, Lord Deben Chair, Climate Change Committee wrote to Michael Gove’s predecessor. Lord Deben said, “The opening of a new deep coking coal mine in Cumbria will increase global emissions and have an appreciable impact on the UK’s legally binding carbon budgets. The mine is projected to increase UK emissions by 0.4Mt CO 2 e per year. This is greater than the level of annual emissions we have projected from all open UK coal mines to 2050.”[2]
He went on to say, “Coking coal use in steelmaking could be displaced completely by 2035, using a combination of hydrogen direct reduction and electric arc furnace technology to meet our recommendation that UK ore-based steelmaking be near-zero emissions by 2035.”
Coal Action Network will continue to work with local people and others in opposition to this project. Get in touch (info@coalaction.org.uk) if you’d like to be part of it or if you have media inquiries.
[1] Cumbria County Council Executive Director - Economy and Infrastructure, Development control and regulation committee Application Reference No:4/17/90077.17 (2 October 2020) multiple points, page 32
[2] There are 3 others in the licencing and planning system at present. Aberpergwm extension, Lochinvar coking coal mine, and Glan Lash opencast extension. Coal Action Network is fighting all of these applications with local people.
This week Coal Action Network held an informal briefing in the Senedd (Welsh Parliament) sponsored by Jane Dodds, Member of the Senedd (MS).
The event was attended by MSs and their staff who heard why the proposal to extend Aberpergwm coal mine should be stopped and how Universal Basic Income could answer some of the issues for workers during the transition to a low carbon economy.
Haf Elgar from Friends of the Earth Cymru, Rhiannon Hardiman from the Future Generations Commission and Jane Dodds spoke alongside Anne Harris from Coal Action Network.
The court hearing for Coal Action Network’s Judicial Review of the Welsh Government and Coal Authority’s inaction and poor decision making, respectively, will take place in March 2022. We are hopeful that the decision will be returned to these authorities to re-decide.
Below is the summary text of the written briefing given out at the event and the full document can be downloaded in Welsh and English from below.
Mae Cymru wedi cymryd camau pendant yn erbyn cloddio am lo yn y blynyddoedd diwethaf. Defnyddiwyd Deddf Cymru 2017 i rwystro estyniad i waith glo brig Nant Helen. Mae angen gweithredu tebyg nawr yn erbyn pwll glo tanddaearol Aberpergwm.
Mae Energybuild Cyf. yn ymestyn ei bwll glo golosg Aberpergwm ac am barhau i wneud hynny tan 2039. Mae hyn yn mynd yn groes i Ddeddf Llesiant Cenedlaethau’r Dyfodol drwy waethygu’r argyfwng hinsawdd a fyddai’n effeithio ar y genhedlaeth nesaf o amgylch y byd, yn ogystal â niweidio enw da Cymru’n rhyngwladol.
Mae gwaith dur Port Talbot yn bwriadu datgarboneiddio drwy drawsnewid i wneud dur newydd o fetel sgrap heb ddefnyddio glo; fel arall bydd yn rhaid iddo gau, gan ddiswyddo ei staff, a’r rhai mewn cadwyni cyflenwi. Does dim lle i fwy o gloddio am lo yn y Gymru fodern.
Mae glo’n cael ei gymysgu yng ngwaith dur Port Talbot ac, o’r herwydd, nid yw cloddio mwy o lo yng Nghymru’n lleihau’r swm a echdynnir mewn mannau eraill. Mae’n rhaid i fwy o lo gael ei fewnforio o hyd i’w gymysgu â glo Cymru mewn gweithfeydd dur, gan allforio rhai o’r problemau amgylcheddol a chynnal diwydiant anghynaliadwy yn hytrach na chwilio am atebion hirdymor.
Mae cyllid Energybuild Cyf. yn dangos y gallai’r cwmni hwn werthu’r pwll os yw’n gallu ymestyn. Gallai’r cwmni newydd wneud y mwyaf o echdynnu glo a gwerthu’r glo i’r cynigydd uchaf, neu ddiswyddo nifer fawr. Mae yna ffyrdd eraill o wneud dur a ffynonellau eraill o hidlo dŵr yn lle glo carreg.
Mae dau gynnig arall i ehangu pyllau glo yng Nghymru y mae angen i’r llywodraeth eu hatal, a hefyd sicrhau bod safleoedd mwyngloddio blaenorol yn cael eu hadfer yn llawn.
Glo yw treftadaeth Cymru, nid ein dyfodol.
Wales has taken decisive action against coal mining in recent years. The Wales Act 2017 was used to block the extension of Nant Helen opencast coal mine. Similar action is now required against Aberpergwm underground coal mine.
Energybuild Ltd are extending its Aberpergwm coking coal mine and want to continue to do so until 2039. This goes against the Well-being of Future Generations Act by worsening the climate crisis which would affect the next generation around the world, as well as damaging Wales’ reputation internationally.
Port Talbot steelworks is looking to decarbonise by converting to make new steel from scrap metal without using coal; otherwise it will have to close, making its staff, and those in supply chains, redundant. There’s no place for more coal mining in a modern Wales.
Coal is blended at Port Talbot steelworks and, as such, mining more coal in Wales does not reduce the amount extracted elsewhere. More coal still has to be imported to be blended with Welsh coal at steelworks, exporting some of the environmental problems and propping up an unsustainable industry rather than looking for long term solutions.
Energybuild Ltd’s finances show that this company may well sell on the mine if it is able to extend. The new company could maximise coal extraction and sell the coal to the highest bidder, or make a large number of redundancies. There are alternative ways to make steel and alternative sources of water filtration to anthracite coal.
There are two further coal mine expansion proposals in Wales which the government needs to prevent, while ensuring that previous mining sites are fully restored.
Coal is Wales’ heritage, it isn’t our future.
Mae Cymru wedi cymryd camau pendant yn erbyn cloddio am lo yn y blynyddoedd diwethaf. Defnyddiwyd Deddf Cymru 2017 i rwystro estyniad i waith glo brig Nant Helen. Mae angen gweithredu tebyg nawr yn erbyn pwll glo tanddaearol Aberpergwm.
Mae Energybuild Cyf. yn ymestyn ei bwll glo golosg Aberpergwm ac am barhau i wneud hynny tan 2039. Mae hyn yn mynd yn groes i Ddeddf Llesiant Cenedlaethau’r Dyfodol drwy waethygu’r argyfwng hinsawdd a fyddai’n effeithio ar y genhedlaeth nesaf o amgylch y byd, yn ogystal â niweidio enw da Cymru’n rhyngwladol.
Mae gwaith dur Port Talbot yn bwriadu datgarboneiddio drwy drawsnewid i wneud dur newydd o fetel sgrap heb ddefnyddio glo; fel arall bydd yn rhaid iddo gau, gan ddiswyddo ei staff, a’r rhai mewn cadwyni cyflenwi. Does dim lle i fwy o gloddio am lo yn y Gymru fodern.
Mae glo’n cael ei gymysgu yng ngwaith dur Port Talbot ac, o’r herwydd, nid yw cloddio mwy o lo yng Nghymru’n lleihau’r swm a echdynnir mewn mannau eraill. Mae’n rhaid i fwy o lo gael ei fewnforio o hyd i’w gymysgu â glo Cymru mewn gweithfeydd dur, gan allforio rhai o’r problemau amgylcheddol a chynnal diwydiant anghynaliadwy yn hytrach na chwilio am atebion hirdymor.
Mae cyllid Energybuild Cyf. yn dangos y gallai’r cwmni hwn werthu’r pwll os yw’n gallu ymestyn. Gallai’r cwmni newydd wneud y mwyaf o echdynnu glo a gwerthu’r glo i’r cynigydd uchaf, neu ddiswyddo nifer fawr. Mae yna ffyrdd eraill o wneud dur a ffynonellau eraill o hidlo dŵr yn lle glo carreg.
Mae dau gynnig arall i ehangu pyllau glo yng Nghymru y mae angen i’r llywodraeth eu hatal, a hefyd sicrhau bod safleoedd mwyngloddio blaenorol yn cael eu hadfer yn llawn.
Glo yw treftadaeth Cymru, nid ein dyfodol.
Wales has taken decisive action against coal mining in recent years. The Wales Act 2017 was used to block the extension of Nant Helen opencast coal mine. Similar action is now required against Aberpergwm underground coal mine.
Energybuild Ltd are extending its Aberpergwm coking coal mine and want to continue to do so until 2039. This goes against the Well-being of Future Generations Act by worsening the climate crisis which would affect the next generation around the world, as well as damaging Wales’ reputation internationally.
Port Talbot steelworks is looking to decarbonise by converting to make new steel from scrap metal without using coal; otherwise it will have to close, making its staff, and those in supply chains, redundant. There’s no place for more coal mining in a modern Wales.
Coal is blended at Port Talbot steelworks and, as such, mining more coal in Wales does not reduce the amount extracted elsewhere. More coal still has to be imported to be blended with Welsh coal at steelworks, exporting some of the environmental problems and propping up an unsustainable industry rather than looking for long term solutions.
Energybuild Ltd’s finances show that this company may well sell on the mine if it is able to extend. The new company could maximise coal extraction and sell the coal to the highest bidder, or make a large number of redundancies. There are alternative ways to make steel and alternative sources of water filtration to anthracite coal.
There are two further coal mine expansion proposals in Wales which the government needs to prevent, while ensuring that previous mining sites are fully restored.
Coal is Wales’ heritage, it isn’t our future.
This webinar draws on the recently launched report, ‘Coal Mine Restoration in South Wales’, revealing the injustices and broken promises surrounding the restoration of 7 opencast coal mines in South Wales. It serves as a stark warning for any future coal mine proposals.
The webinar will offer a whistle-stop overview of the desk-based and primary research findings, with key analysis and recommendations. You'll see photo evidence that's been exclusively shared with us of the current state these former coal mines are in.
This webinar was first run in December 2022
Time: 11am-12'noon (1 hour)
Date: Tuesday 14th February 2023
Eligibility: this webinar is intended for staff at relevant councils in South Wales
Registration required: contact us for details.
The research finds that mining companies have consistently evaded millions in restoration costs, and Local Planning Authorities struggle to keep promises made to local communities impacted by unrestored or poorly restored coal mines. Field research indicates that even those sites which Local Planning Authorities claimed to be fully restored contain uncovered and leaking storage tanks of industrial chemicals, abandoned warehouses, concrete platforms, and no-go zones sectioned off with barbed wire.
The ‘Coal Mine Restoration in South Wales’ report updates a 2014 Welsh Government report, ‘Research into the failure to restore opencast coal sites in south Wales’ on the state of restoration across Wales, which flagged these sites as liabilities for being left unrestored or poorly restored.
The East Africa Crude Oil Pipeline is a heated oil pipeline currently under construction. Once completed, it will stretch for almost 1,445 kilometres across Tanzania and Uganda – making it the longest heated crude oil pipeline in the world.
The pipeline will disturb sensitive ecosystems, and a vital water supply supporting 40 million people. Its ongoing construction has already displaced thousands of people in villages in Uganda, with 100,000 people expected to be displaced.
Insurers are openly ruling out EACOP in quick succession, including 4 of the world’s biggest re(insurance) companies: Munich Re, Swiss Re, Hannover Re, and SCOR.
We can see these tactics are working - we just got Arch and AEGIS to rule out insuring this deadly project. But we need all insurance companies to rule out EACOP, and stop the toxic pipeline at its source. Next, we want Brit, and Chaucer insurance to rule it out, and we know that constant pressure works.
SIGN UP to take action, and you will receive details of new people at Arch to email every couple of days. Let's convince them to stop insuring climate breakdown.
Contact: Andrew Taylor, Coal Action Network, andrew@coalaction.org.uk
Arch Capital Group Ltd and AEGIS London join the 19 (re)insurance companies ruling out the controversial East Africa Crude Oil Pipeline (EACOP) project.
Arch Capital Group Ltd responded to ongoing pressure on their insurance business by ruling out insurance for the East Africa Crude Oil Pipeline (EACOP). A statement issued by the company follows sustained pressure on Lloyd’s of London managing agents to rule out underwriting EACOP, and days after Money Rebellion spilt fake oil outside Arch’s London offices.
Patrick Palmer, Head Of Marketing and Communications at Arch Insurance International, confirmed, in an email to Money Rebellion and Coal Action Network : “Arch Capital Group Ltd. can confirm, on behalf of its underwriting operations, that it has not and will not issue any insurance policies covering the East African Crude Oil Pipeline.”
Arch Capital Group Ltd had been targeted by people across the world, from a range of groups, for over two months exposing the numerous climate, environmental, social risks and human rights violations associated with the project. Thousands of emails had been sent to staff asking them to raise the issue with senior management, hundreds of supporters of the #StopEACOP coalition and Coal Action Network, called Arch to recommend they rule out EACOP, and regular protests have been held at Arch’s offices.
In the same week, AEGIS London also ruled out the controversial project as the project doesn’t meet their ESG policy. The total number of insurers ruling out EACOP now stands at 21. Both companies are members of the Lloyds of London insurance marketplace where it has been suggested that the companies behind EACOP (TotalEnergies and CNOOC) are seeking insurance.
The East Africa Crude Oil pipeline, or EACOP is a 1,443 kilometre pipeline planned for Uganda and Tanzania. It threatens to displace thousands of families and farmers from their land, severely degrade critical water resources and wetlands in both Uganda and Tanzania, and rip through numerous sensitive biodiversity hotspots. The oil transported via the pipeline would generate 34 million tons of carbon emissions each year. Local resistance against the project has been ongoing since 2017 as an international Stop EACOP campaign has led advocacy since 2020.
Omar Elmawi, Coordinator of #StopEACOP Coalition stated, "the number of banks (24) and (re) insurers staying away from EACOP is a clear indication that this pipeline and the associated oil fields will cause huge impacts to people, nature and climate if allowed to proceed. Supporting this project is supporting human rights violations and a carbon bomb that will be impossible to difuse once it goes ahead."
EACOP has been condemned by the European parliament for its associated human rights abuses in Uganda and Tanzania with arrests and indefinite detention of peaceful protestors taking place in October, forcing other insurers to distance themselves. The pipeline and associated Tilenga oil field are expected to displace almost 118,000 people in Uganda and Tanzania. And nearly a third of the pipeline would be built in the Lake Victoria Basin, on which more than 40 million people depend for their water and food production and where an oil spill would be disastrous.
The fake oil spill outside Arch’s offices was organised by Money Rebellion as part of a series of actions targeting ‘fossil fuel enablers’ across London, where different Extinction Rebellion groups targeted different organisations asking them to cut their ties with fossil fuels.
Rafela FitzHugh from Money Rebellion said: “We’re happy with Arch and AEGIS’ announcements, but people shouldn’t still have to push for change. With deadly weather destroying lives across the world, the insurance sector should be turning its back on all new fossil fuel projects now. Citizens resisting the East Africa Crude Oil Pipeline in Uganda and Tanzania, are facing arrest and human rights abuses. We continue to stand with them and have written to Canopius Group, and Chaucer, to tell them to expect us on their door step soon if they don’t rule out insuring EACOP.”
A number of insurance companies contacted by the Stop EACOP campaign have offered no comment on their involvement. These include AIG, Tokio Marine Kiln, Brit, Canopius Group, Chubb, Liberty Mutual and Chaucer.
Isobel Tarr of Coal Action Network said “It’s clear that insurance companies want to avoid being implicated in this disastrous project, and that hundreds of people taking small actions can compel insurance companies to take a stand. If companies want to avoid coming under this kind of pressure then they need to adopt robust exclusion policies on all fossil fuels, and this includes Lloyd’s of London.”
With 24 major banks also ruling out support, the project developers have postponed the project’s financial close and are aiming for a new deadline of early 2023. This is not the first time the financing of the project has been delayed. The EACOP has now been delayed 3 years and counting.
Stop EACOP campaign advocates that instead of locking Uganda into a fossil fuel trap, financial actors should redirect their investments towards renewable energies. Instead of an economy that relies on multinationals extracting as much profit as possible, Uganda and Tanzania need an economy that is shaped and driven by local people and celebrates the people, biodiversity, heritage and natural landscapes of the region. An economy that provides quality jobs and long-term, sustainable financial security for young people, men and women. An economy that does not require the destruction of the environment, endangering wildlife, or driving families off the farmland on which they depend.
ENDS
Photos from XR Cut the Ties oil spill protest at Arch
https://show.pics.io/xr-global-media-breaking-news/search?tagId=637b658faab7680013dab7de
Notes to Editors
Who’s insuring the East Africa Crude Oil Pipeline checklist
https://www.stopeacop.net/insurers-checklist
Who’s banking the East Africa Crude Oil Pipeline checklist
https://www.stopeacop.net/banks-checklist
EACOP human rights / climate damages report (French)
EACOP in likely breach of IFC Performance Standards on Displacement & Risk to Livelihoods
https://www.banktrack.org/download/crude_risk/cruderisk_eacop_briefing_nov2020_1.pdf
BREAKING: Extinction Rebellion takes action at the offices of fossil fuel enablers across London
See our English language version of this webpage.
Mae Cymru ar fin penderfynu a ddylid ehangu pwll glo brig mwyaf y DU gan bron i 4 blynedd a 2 filiwn tunnell o lo. Bydd hyn yn gyrru newid hinsawdd gan bron i 6 miliwn tunnell o CO2 a 16,000 tunnell o fethan.
Mae pwll glo Ffos-y-fran ym Merthyr Tudful sy’n chwalu’r hinsawdd yn echdynnu hyd at 50,000 tunnell o lo bob mis – sef glo y dyfarnodd Llys Cyfiawnder Ewrop ei fod yn creu gormod o lygredd i’w losgi yn hen orsaf bŵer Aberddawan, ac sydd bellach yn cael ei losgi’n bennaf mewn gwaith dur. Mae hyn yn rhwymo gwaith dur TATA i fod yr 2il safle mwyaf llygredig yn y DU!
Mae deisebwyr yn mynnu bod Llywodraeth Cymru:
Pam mae hyn yn bwysig?
Pan roddwyd caniatâd gan Lywodraeth Cymru yn 2005, cafodd y gymuned leol ym Merthyr Tudful, a oedd wedi brwydro’n ffyrnig yn erbyn y cynnig, addewid y byddai mwyngloddio’n dod i ben ar ôl 15 mlynedd, ar 6ed Medi 2022 ac y byddai’r gwaith o adfer y tir wedi’i gwblhau ychydig flynyddoedd yn ddiweddarach. Ond adroddir nad yw mwyngloddio glo wedi dod i ben, gan ddifetha’r heddwch hir-ddisgwyliedig i’r gymuned leol sy’n gallu gweld a chlywed y pwll glo o’u cartrefi. Ac yn awr mae'r cwmni mwyngloddio wedi gwneud cais i ehangu'r pwll glo am 9 mis, ac wedi dweud y bydd yn ceisio am 3 blynedd arall o gloddio am lo, (a phwy a ŵyr beth y tu hwnt i hynny...?).
Bydd hyn nid yn unig yn hybu newid yn yr hinsawdd gan bron i 6 miliwn tunnell o CO2 a 16,000 tunnell o fethan, ond hefyd yn achosi dioddefaint i’r trigolion cyfagos trwy’r ffrwydradau pellach, llygredd sŵn a llwch. Ar ben hyn, bydd y gwaith adfer hir-ddisgwyliedig ar y tir yn cael ei wthio yn ôl gan flynyddoedd, gyda phryderon na fydd byth yn digwydd.
Sut y cyflwynir y ddeiseb
Bydd y ddeiseb hon yn cael ei chyflwyno i Julie James, Gweinidog Newid Hinsawdd Cymru.
See our Welsh language version of this webpage.
Wales is about to decide whether to expand the UK’s largest opencast coal mine by nearly 4 years, emitting almost 6 million tonnes of CO2, and 16,000 tonnes of methane from the coal mine itself.
The climate-trashing Ffos-y-fran coal mine in Merthyr Tydfil extracts up to 50,000 tonnes of coal every month – coal that the European Court of Justice ruled was too polluting to be burned in the old Aberthaw power station, and is now burned mainly at steelworks. This locks TATA steelworks into being the UK’s 2nd most polluting site!
We demand that the Welsh Government:
When permission was granted by the Welsh Government in 2005, the local community in Merthyr Tydfil, who had fought the proposal fiercely, were promised that mining would end after 15 years, in September 2022 and that restoration of the land would be complete by the end of the following year. Yet it’s reported that coal mining hasn’t stopped, ruining the long-awaited peace for the local community who can see and hear the coal mine from their homes. And now the mining company has applied to expand the coal mine by 9 months, and has said it will for a further 3 years of coal mining, (and who knows what beyond that...?).
This will not only fuel climate change by almost 6 million tonnes of CO2, but inflict explosive further blasting, noise and dust pollution on nearby residents. On top of this, the long-awaited restoration of the land, will be pushed back by years, with concerns that it will never happen.
We sometimes hear from people that they are worried coal may be a necessary evil to keep us warm this winter. But the worst effects of this energy crisis was, and to some extent is, avoidable. Low-hanging fruit include home insulation, community-owned renewable energy generation, and an effective windfall tax on profiteering energy companies. These measures can be rapidly deployed, and we’ve seen from Covid what the Government can achieve big changes when there is political will to. Coal is not, and for the sake of our future, cannot be, the answer to how keep warm this winter. That is why half the demands of the Warm This Winter campaign centre around renewable energy and excluding fossil fuels as the way we will access affordable energy this winter and in future years.
The Warm This Winter campaign’s 3rd demand is access to cheaper energy—“Clean, renewable energy is now nine times cheaper than gas and can be brought online quickly”. Subsidy-free solar, in particular, has been demonstrated as cheaper than its fossil fuel alternatives. Prices have fallen dramatically for renewable energy since introduction – whereas fossil fuels continue to rely on huge Government subsidies, infrastructure, and underwriting of risk.
The 4th demand of the Warm This Winter campaign is to cut out fossil fuels as “it keeps us locked into an unaffordable energy for far longer than necessary”. The UK Government sells our natural resources to companies that extract it and sell it back to us at unaffordable prices to generate huge profits for themselves—never more so than in 2022.
The energy crisis has created a swing in vocal public support for coal mining since the energy crisis, and with it, political support for coal mine applications has grown in the highest echelons of Government. The Government has sent mixed signals recently on whether it will approve or reject the Whitehaven coal mine application, which has now been delayed by a further month to before the 9th December 2022.
It is particularly clear that the Government is using the energy crisis as an excuse to abandon its climate commitments wholesale since it’s citing the energy crisis for renewing its support for coal mine applications… that have nothing to do with power generation. All the current coal mine applications are to mine coal for industry—not power generation.
The Government will hand over £420 million in tax money to profiteering energy companies to keep old coal power stations, like West Burton, and coal units, like Drax, chugging along this winter. These power stations and units were scheduled for closure in 2022, but now these dirty, dusty relics will be stoked with thousands of tonnes of imported coal, paid for with our taxes. In fact this move is expected to generate so much pollution that the Government has instructed the Environment Agency to ignore its responsibility to enforce pollution limits when it comes to coal fired energy production this winter. People living locally to these power stations will pay the price in potentially dangerously poor air quality, but we will all pay the price in our taxes and in our future compromised by the climate change a reliance on coal fuels.
Rolling out home insulation tackles the energy crisis and bills not just this year, but for many years to come—and the impact is immediate. It would also help the Government get back on track with its climate commitments as housing is responsible for 19% of the UK’s carbon emissions. This should be a top priority for Government in tackling the cost-of-living crisis and energy crisis together this winter.
In 2012, the UK insulated 2.3 million loft or cavity walls. But a shift in Government policy saw uptake drop by 90%. This Government decision to cut support for home insulation after 2012 has cost taxpayers, like me and you, £1 billion in energy bills this year. If the Government had maintained the same level of support, nearly 50% of UK homes could have been insulated by now. A more recent scheme by the UK Government collapsed, and was blasted by the Audit Office for being “botched”. This would have significantly reduced the energy crisis this winter, along with our bills. Households living in homes with poor efficiency ratings will pay around £1000 more this winter.
The British public overwhelmingly support the rollout of renewables, with 78% supporting solar power, 75% offshore wind, and 70% onshore wind. Unlike non-renewable sources of power like nuclear power stations, renewable energy infrastructure can be rapidly scaled up and brought online. With clear public support, the Government could rapidly accelerate renewable energy roll-out that isn’t vulnerable to shifts in geopolitics and global supply chains.
Because renewable energy is modular—one wind turbine or one solar panel can be bought and set up, or 1000s—its more affordable for communities buy their own equipment and become power generators, with the profits returning to those communities rather than disappearing into the pockets of big business. The Government acknowledges the value of community-owned renewable energy, but isn’t doing enough to encourage it. Instead, the Government dropped the Social Investment Tax Relief for community energy and has failed to provide the financial guarantees it provides to other energy projects like nuclear power stations. If the UK faced this winter with a resilient network of renewable energy zones, our dependence on gas and fossil fuels would have been much lower, and energy prices would be more insulated from Russian sanctions, geopolitics, and global demand and supply shifts.
The Government imposed a windfall tax in May 2022 as a one-off tax on the record profits made by energy companies that are due to lifted Covid restrictions and supply concerns around Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. However, BBC reported: “BP reported its biggest quarterly profit for 14 years, making £6.9bn in the three months to June. Shell recorded even higher second quarter profits of £9bn and made £8.2bn in the following three months. The majority of the April to June takings won't be hit by the government's windfall tax, as it only applies from 26 May”. The Guardian reported “Shell has paid zero windfall tax in the UK despite making record global profits of nearly $30bn (£26bn) so far this year”. Yet the Government has resisted pressure to tax these record profits and redistribute to cushion energy prices, so less of the UK have to choose between food and heating this winter.
Rich Felgate’s film FINITE: The Climate of Change, features the Campaign to Protect Pont Valley and the occupation of the Hambacher forest. It shows how, through relentless campaigning, direct action and creative protest, concerned people stopped destruction of the remaining Hambacher forest in the Rhineland, Germany. The forest was being consumed for RWE’s brown opencast coal mine. FINITE also follows opposition to the Banks Group’s opencast coal mine in the Pont Valley, Durham, UK. The Pont Valley Protection Camp started opposing the coal mine plans in early 2018.
FINITE is available to rent or buy online worldwide on Vimeo On Demand!
Numerous applications to extract coal from the Pont Valley via opencast coal methods were rejected for over 30 years by the local council, before UK Coal were given planning permission after a second planning appeal, in June 2015, although the company had gone bankrupt. Banks Group took over the license to extract coal for power stations in early 2018 and rushed to remove the first coal before the planning permission lapsed on the 3rd June 2018.
Local people, some living just 300m from the site’s perimeter, alongside activists from across Europe, set up a protest camp in February 2018 during the ‘Beast from the East’ snow storm. This action was taken just after the coal company felled an ancient hedgerow that ran through the proposed site.
UK Coal’s ecologists had found protected great crested newts on the opencast site and had promised to relocate them, to ponds in the north of the site built for this purpose. Banks Group’s ecologist, in a rush to extract coal before the deadline, conveniently found no newts at all living on the site. The assertion that there were no newts was challenged by everyone who knew the Brooms pond area well. Newts were a central theme in the campaign to stop the mine.
The Campaign to Protect Pont Valley was led by people living in the three villages surrounding the opencast site. The film shows some of the many court hearings, protests, direct action, and a private prosecution for wildlife crimes.
FINITE shows some of the victories from this campaign. The strong resistance to the opencast in the Pont Valley showed that new opencasts are unwanted and irresponsible in the face of the serious impacts from climate change already being felt. This meant that extracting 3 million tonnes of coal from a proposed opencast coal mine near Druridge Bay, in Northumberland, was rejected by central government at the end of 2020. A proposed opencast coal mine at Dewley Hill on the outskirts of Newcastle was also turned down by the planning committee of Newcastle Council in December 2020. Both of these proposals were submitted by Banks Group, who were targetted by campaigners against coal in the Pont Valley.
Although there is very little UK mining happening right now coal mining remains legal. There is currently a proposal for a new underground coal mine at Whitehaven, Cumbria, which was given permission to start in December 2022, but faces legal challenges. There is also an extension proposed to the operating underground coal mine at Aberpergwm, Neath Port Talbot, which is subject to a legal challenge by Coal Action Network.
The tactics used against Banks Group and RWE, shown in FINITE, are applicable against many other extractive industries and unsustainable projects worldwide. Less than 2 miles from where Banks Group opencast mined the Pont Valley now lies Derwentside detention centre. Tactics used in the Pont Valley are now being deployed against this detention centre for asylum seekers, which opened in 2021.
The policing seen in FINITE is familiar to many who fight for social change, and shocking to many who are not yet involved. The interactions between police and protestors in the Pont Valley lead to an academic article, Police and Private Security Responses to the Campaign to Protect Pont Valley Against Opencast Coal Extraction. Even at a low level, the police continue to support the actions of those with money, pursuing projects which are known to cause harm.
FINITE touches on the death of Waka, a much loved part of the Campaign to Protect Pont Valley who was killed fighting for Kurdish freedom by ISIS and Steffan, an embedded journalist documenting the struggle in the Hambacher Forest, killed by the police.
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An underlying message in the film is that the power of coal, as well as the actual resource, is finite—but the energy and passion of the activist movement is relentless. Together we can turn things around and build a system that puts biodiversity and people beyond profit. It’s time to get active.
