Two environmental groups were victorious in a court case against the UK’s previous government’s decision to approve the country’s first underground coal mine in more than 30 years, reported the BBC.
High Court Judge Justice Holgate said the assumption that the proposed West Cumbria Mining’s Woodhouse Colliery would not increase greenhouse gas emissions was “legally flawed.” The company had argued at a hearing in July that it could build a “unique” net zero mine.
The judgment said a recent decision regarding the Horse Hill oil well in Surrey lay “at the heart of these proceedings.” BBC noted that the Supreme Court ruled granting permission for that project had been unlawful because the local authority should have considered the emissions from burning the oil, not just the impact of constructing the well.
West Cumbria Mining said it would “consider the implications” of the judgment before commenting further. The Woodhouse Colliery was to be located on a brownfield site, to the south west of Whitehaven in Cumbria.
Source: BBC