Your view: Concern over plans for coal mine

Concerned citizens from across Cumbria gathered to demonstrate against the potential ratification and then to listen to the debate. We left profoundly worried and depressed. Four well informed and compelling presentations from members of the public were given, all of which clearly demonstrated the enormous quantity of carbon emissions the mine, and associated infrastructure, would create. Yet the council voted unanimously (again) to ratify its earlier decision.

The conclusion for those watching was inescapable, although deeply regrettable: CCC is clearly out of its depth. It has simply failed to understand the gravity and long-term consequences of its decision. It has not grasped the fact that, far from being merely a West Cumbria issue, this is a global one. Vast quantities of Cumbria-produced CO2 will be exported around the world, contributing significantly to the global warming our previous government, and all parties have, pledged to fight.

Furthermore, as was explained by one of the speakers, CCC has not grasped that technology already exists, and indeed is already being used elsewhere, that eliminates the need to use metallurgical coal in the production of steel. Consequently its decision is analogous to building a new canal once railways had arrived. The industrial use of coal, along with other fossil fuels, belongs to earlier centuries, not the 21st.

There is no argument about the requirement for well-paid, clean jobs in West Cumbria. It is an area too long-neglected and denied the vital investment it so desperately needs. That is the purpose of the Green New Deal. West Cumbria has magnificent exploitable wave and wind resources for green energy development. Yet councillors of all three main political parties voted to open a new coal mine. How can they square their decision with their own parties’ national policies on climate change?

Liz Hendry,

Burneside Rd, Kendal