Climate activists say that the argument for refusing an offshore coal mine in Whitehaven is overwhelming due to a declining demand for coking coal.
Supporters and opposition groups are engaging in last-minute lobbying as decision time looms for the £160 million Woodhouse Colliery development.
If given the green light, the mine proposed for Whitehaven y West Cumbria Mining would be used to extract metallurgical coal for production of steel.
The final decision rests with Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, Michael Gove, rather than the planning authority, as the development was called in due to controversy around its climate impact. It was approved three times by local planners.
Following a public inquiry, Mr Gove has been given a deadline of July 7 to make his decision and rumours suggest he is minded to approve it.
However, Friends of the Earth said he must give the coal mine the red light.
Friends of the Earth energy campaigner Tony Bosworth said: “The evidence for rejecting this mine is overwhelming. It would increase carbon emissions, its market is already starting to decline, and it won’t replace Russian coal imports.
“We need a green economy and the new jobs this brings, and areas like West Cumbria must be at the heart of this.”
They argue that a maximum of 13 per cent of the coal will be used by the UK steel industry.
It comes after Chris McDonald, CEO of the Materials Processing Institute, reported that the mine will have just two customers in the UK, with one casting doubt on whether it could use any of the product due to its sulphur content.
But Copeland mayor Mike Starkie said: “British Steel will make decisions on buying the coal on a commercial basis. The simple fact is the mine project is being delivered by private investment funds, investors invest to make a return on their outlay and are clearly confident in the project and its potential markets to deliver positive returns on investment.”
The mayor has been a supporter of the mine throughout the planning process.
He said: “The mine has gone through a rigorous process and I fully expect it to get the go ahead in the coming weeks because that is the right decision.”
Supporters of the mine argue that it would mean a reduction in carbon emissions in the long-term as Cumbrian coal would be used in the production of British steel, rather than shipping the product from abroad.
But Friends of the Earth said: “The chair of the Climate Change Committee has written that opening the Cumbrian mine would increase global carbon emissions and have an appreciable impact on the UK’s legally-binding carbon budgets. UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres recently said that opening new fossil fuel infrastructure would be ‘moral and economic madness’.”
Opposition groups argue that more than 6,000 green jobs are on offer in Cumbria through new renewable energy developments.
But supporters of the mine say that clean energy proposals, such as nuclear reactors, would require steel produced with metallurgical coal.
