Latest News

Britain's approval of new coal mine illegal, court guidelines

Britain's approval of its initially new deep coal mine in decades was unlawful, London's High Court ruled on Friday following a legal obstacle brought by environmental campaigners.

Pals of the Earth and South Lakeland Action on Environment Modification challenged the previous Conservative federal government's 2022 approval of a coking coal mine in northwest England.

Britain dropped its defence of the legal challenges after a. Supreme Court judgment previously this year said planning authorities. need to consider the effect of burning, not simply extracting, fossil. fuels when deciding whether to approve tasks.

Friday's ruling is the very first case to be chosen because the. Supreme Court decision, Pals of the Earth senior attorney Niall. Toru said.

That the judgment today has actually gone against the mining company. might have implications globally, as there are cases. abroad where obstacles are being made against fossil fuel. tasks on an extremely comparable basis, Toru included.

Developer West Cumbria Mining battled the case and said the. job-- which planned to draw out coking coal for production. steel, instead of to generate electricity-- would be a special. ' net absolutely no' mine.

West Cumbria Mining's legal representative James Strachan said in court. filings that the development would not trigger a net increase in. greenhouse gas emissions, as making use of coking coal extracted. from the mine is driven by need for steel.

Judge David Holgate, however, stated in a composed judgment on. Friday that the assumption that the proposed mine would not. produce a net increase in greenhouse gas emissions, or would be. a net no mine, is lawfully flawed.

A spokesperson for West Cumbria Mining stated the company. will consider the implications of the High Court judgment and. has no comment to make at this time.

(source: Reuters)