LONDON (AP) — A judge on Friday rejected plans for Britain’s first new coal mine in three decades, handing a victory to climate groups that challenged the project’s claim that it would have no impact on global emissions.
The decision by High Court judge David Holgate follows a UK Supreme Court ruling in June that planners assessing permits for oil well drilling must take into account the greenhouse gas emissions produced by burning the oil extracted.
“The assumption that the proposed mine would not cause a net increase in greenhouse gas emissions, or would be a net zero mine, is legally incorrect,” Holgate said.
Friends of the Earth and South Lakes Action on Climate Change, a local group, challenged government approval for plans to develop a mine in a coastal town in north-west Cumbria, England.
The developer, West Cumbria Mining, defended the proposal in court after the Labour government, which came to power in July, withdrew its support for the project, which had been approved by its Conservative predecessors.
“This is fantastic news and a huge victory for our environment and everyone who fought against this climate-damaging and completely unnecessary coal mine,” said Friends of the Earth advocate Niall Toru. “The arguments against it are overwhelming: it would have huge climate consequences, the coal is unnecessary and it damages the UK’s international climate reputation.”
The ruling sends the decision back to the government for reconsideration.
The mining company, which had promoted the project as a net-zero emissions positive, said it would consider the ruling but declined to comment.
When the Conservatives approved the plan in 2022Environmentalists said it was a step backwards and would make it harder to meet the target of getting 100% of electricity from clean energy sources by 2035 and achieving net zero carbon emissions by 2050.
The left-wing Labour government has also moved away from its predecessor’s emphasis on oil and gas exploration. Prime Minister Keir Starmer has announced plans to increase wind power generation and has pledged not to issue new oil drilling licences in the North Sea.
The mine, on the site of a closed chemical plant in Whitehaven, a town 550 kilometres (340 miles) northwest of London, would have extracted coking coal used in steelmaking rather than generating electricity.
Opponents said the coal would no longer be needed domestically as Britain’s largest steel plant in Port Talbot, Wales, is owned by India’s Tata Steel, transitions of coal-fired blast furnaces to electric arc furnaces, which emit less carbon.
___
