Cumbria needs real investment in green jobs
Robert Charlesworth, Cumbria Socialist Party
Why are the Tories backing a new coal mine near Whitehaven in Cumbria? It’s not because they are in favour of “creating jobs”! Their heroine, Margaret Thatcher, closed the mines and most steelworks, leaving West Cumbria derelict and deprived for decades. When they stopped financial support for solar panel installation in 2015, it destroyed 20,000 UK jobs.
This mine will produce 2.8 million tonnes of coking coal per year – high quality coal used for making new steel. The government and mine owners claim this coal will reduce British dependence on foreign producers.
But the UK has only four blast furnaces: one will be closed by the time the mine opens, one shortly after, and the other two don’t want Cumbrian coal because it contains too much sulphur and is surplus to their requirements anyway!
Ron Deelan, former chief executive of British Steel, said: “This is a completely unnecessary step for the British steel industry, which is not waiting for more coal as there is enough on the free market available. The British Steel industry needs green investment in electric arc furnaces and hydrogen to protect jobs and make the UK competitive.”
The Tories dishonestly claim this coal would be ‘green’ because it would eliminate diesel emissions from shipping coal imports. In fact, 83% of the coal will be exported. And it won’t go to Europe, where steel producers are moving away from coal towards renewable energy, but will be shipped worldwide, creating more greenhouse gases.
It will generate an estimated 400,000 tonnes of greenhouse gas emissions per year – the equivalent of an extra 200,000 cars on the roads. Yet investing in tidal power alone could create 2,000 jobs in Cumbria. And up to 9,000 could be created by manufacturing wind turbines and insulating homes as part of a national investment in 1 million green jobs. That’s what Cumbria Socialist Party is fighting for.
In order to meet the UK’s zero emissions target, the mine will have to shut down by 2049, leaving a ‘stranded asset’. What’s more, the local planning department is supposed to hold the company to account for working conditions and environmental promises.
But what is West Cumbrian Mining Ltd? Although it has an office in Whitehaven, it is actually registered in West Sussex and owned by private equity firm, EMR Capital, based in the tax haven of the Cayman Islands. In reality, it is just a financial instrument for foreign speculators.
West Cumbrian Mining CEO Mark Kirkbride is also a member of a committee on radioactive waste management, set up to give advice to the government on the building of a vast nuclear dump. Many think this will be the real legacy of the mine – a dumping ground for the UK’s nuclear waste in an area already deemed geologically unsuitable.
