Opencast camp continues
Too eager to wait for climate camp, some wonderful folks in Derbyshire have set up shop in the old farmhouse and trees at Lodge House, near Selby, to stop 70 acres of greenbelt land being turned into a huge coal hole…
Lodge House is owned by UK Coal, Britain’s largest coal company (it’s all in the name). They plan to extract 1 million tonnes of coal from the 122 hectare site despite objections form local councils, residents and environmental groups. The environment secretary Hilary Benn granted planning permission in 2007 and work is set to commence imminently.
This action is part of an ongoing summer of discontent against proposed plans for new coal power stations and mines in the UK. At Lodge House today, Andy Green said “We are here because the single greatest threat to the climate comes from burning coal. Coal fired generation is historically responsible for most of the CO2 in the air today – about half of all carbon dioxide emissions globally. Coal from opencast mines is dirtier than that from deep mines, so it is even worse!”
The protest is inviting people to go along and have a list of things they need. See the Leave It in The Ground Blog.
For some of the media coverage see The Guardian, and This is Derbyshire. This is Derbyshire!
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