England (Commonwealth Union)_ Records for temperature have been broken during the last several months. Extreme weather disasters like fires and floods have destroyed towns due to global warming. Thus, it appears unusual that the UK would contemplate starting a new coal mine at this time.
The first new deep coal mine in the UK in decades would be located at Woodhouse Colliery, close to Whitehaven in Cumbria. Despite the county council’s in-principle approval of the project in 2019, the UK government wavered and then established a public enquiry, which was scheduled to begin on September 7. Many contend that Woodhouse Colliery conflicts with the UK’s climate ambitions as the country gears up to attend the COP26 climate meeting in November.
Polluting power plants would not be fueled by the coal from the mine. The mine would instead provide “coking coal” to the European and British steel industries. Coke, a dense form of carbon, serves three essential functions in the production of steel. To produce crude iron in a blast furnace, carbon chemically eliminates oxygen from iron oxide ore. Burning coke also boosts the temperature to 2000°C or more, enabling the tapping of molten iron from the furnace’s bottom. In a second furnace, a small amount of carbon hardens the iron, enabling it to transform into steel.
Every year, the production of steel using coke produces billions of tonnes of carbon dioxide, which represents 7 to 9% of total emissions of CO2 due to human activity. However, proponents of the project claim that by avoiding the CO2 emissions caused by shipping coal for manufacturing steel from overseas, a domestic supply of coke might assist UK steel producers reduce their emissions. The colliery proposal’s sponsor, West Cumbria Mining, stated in March that such coal output was necessary while coking coal was still being produced.
