New UK Coal Mine Approval "Like Opening A Betamax Factory"; Hypocrisy Bat Signal Set On "High"
Ministers giving the green light to Britain’s first coalmine in 30 years is “like celebrating the opening of a Betamax factory”, Cumbrian MP Tim Farron has said.
Farron, whose constituency borders the one where the new project will be built in Copeland, called the decision “daft” because there was “an evaporation of demand” for the coking coal the new mine will produce. The Westmorland and Lonsdale MP said the business case was “ridiculous” because the only two potential customers in Britain – British Steel and Tata – “have no plans whatsoever to buy a single piece”.
Describing the decision as a regressive step, Farron likened the mine’s opening to the return of video cassette tapes that began entering circulation in the 1970s. “We’re opening a product, if you like, for which there is reducing demand. And I don’t want to be flippant, but it’s a bit like celebrating the opening of a Betamax factory,” Farron told BBC Radio 4’s Today programme.
“The only argument at all for this mine that I think has any merit is it will create jobs. The jobs will be created for a very short period of time and they will go if the business case for the mine is as weak as it obviously is.”
EDIT
https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2022/dec/08/tim-farron-calls-approval-of-first-uk-coalmine-in-30-years-daft
At the Cop27 UN climate summit last month, one of the key flashpoints was the perception from developing countries that rich countries were behaving hypocritically by continuing to use and develop fossil fuel resources while urging poor countries to give them up. The result was a fractious conference and a partial agreement that failed to produce the progress on limiting global heating that the UK, the US, the EU and other rich nations had hoped for.
Participants in the UN climate talks said that if the UK persisted with the mine, it would inflame these tensions much further. One who was closely involved in Cop27 said: “We are past the point where we should be keeping coal open. We saw at Cop the erosion of the authority of the UK and EU and US because of ‘do as we say not do as we do’. This will only undermine attempts to speed the transition away from coal.”
Going ahead with a new mine would reinforce the damaging impression of rich world hypocrisy, added Tasneem Essop, executive director of the Climate Action Network International, a leading NGO voice. “Just three weeks ago at Cop27, the UK government presented themselves as a champion for [the Paris agreement target of keeping global heating to] 1.5C and even criticised some big developing countries for blocking progress on ambition, demanding that they do more,” she said. “The approval of this new coalmine proves yet again that the UK is all about posturing, double standards and broken promises. They point fingers and shift blame.”
Activists in developing countries added their voices. Lorraine Chiponda, of the Africa Climate Movement, said: “Investing in new coal projects is a mockery to African communities that have suffered at the frontlines of climate disasters in Africa. This is not the time to be turning back on commitments and progress made towards phasing out coal. We urge the UK to act responsibly and shut down coal.”
EDIT
https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2022/dec/06/new-cumbrian-coalmine-would-prove-uk-hypocrisy-say-experts-around-world