UK’s Approval of First Coal Mine in Three Decades Unlawful, Court Rules

The UK’s approval for the first deep coal mine in over three decades is illegal, a London judge ruled, scrapping the current planning permission for the controversial development.

Lawyers for Friends of the Earth and South Lakes Action on Climate Change challenged the UK government’s decision to grant permission to the mine. They accused the government of not taking into account all the harmful emissions in the climate assessment for the Woodhouse Colliery project in Whitehaven, north west England.