Whitehaven – the city that ended up in the midst of the global climate debate – P1 AM

Like many, Linda and Frank comfort their dog at a proposed mining site telling Linda about her father and uncles, they all worked like many others in the large coal mine that was here in Whitehaven before. Close to town are the old coal mine buildings, today they are the museum of a bygone era in Whitehaven.

Frank says he was there, too Lots of other industries in Whitehaven, most of them are now gone.

Linda and Frank are among the many locals who really want to let the coal mine open, and they trust the mining company with other dubious information that could provide 500 jobs.
Linda insists that although they want the mine, they also believe the climate issue must be taken seriously.

On pedestrian street in Whitehaven, John says it is also for economic reasons and because the jobs that can be created are in order to open the mine.

– Look around, it’s like the desert here, he says and points to the many empty commercial buildings along the currently closed pedestrian street.

I highlight all the arguments for the climate issue against coal mining.

Sure, but where do the people who can say it live, John says rhetorically, not here at least.

When I thanked John for the call, a man walked towards me and asked if this was the mine we were talking about. He, Peter Rothery is also for financial reasons. The mining case is really interesting.

Peter insists he also wants to see key climate improvement measures, but buys the mining team’s controversial argument, that since the coal to be mined in the mine would be used primarily to produce steel, it would still be necessary to import coal from other parts of the world if the mine did not open.

Cries of seagulls are heard all the time Time on Whitehaven. In the small town, the beautiful harbor is a gem in a dilapidated environment.

And yes, many of the people I spoke with were definitely in favor of opening the mine in Whitehaven. After the British government decided in January not to stop the provincial authorities’ decision to approve the mine, it looked like the fact that they would be allowed to open the mine.

But after international protests, not the least of which is the argument that the British government will appear hypocritical as the host country for this fall’s great climate summit if the mine is not shut down, it has now been decided that the Cumbria County Council, corresponding to the County Board of Directors in the Cumbria Region Whitehaven is lying, and it will Her decision backtracked again.

Martin Kendall is happy about that. It is part of an organization that has fought the mine for several years. He is now calling on the regional authority to withdraw the opening decision.

Opening the mine would be a mistake in many ways, he says.

Johnny, who has just rested his dog on site at the proposed mine, believes that the fact that Swedish climate activist Greta Thunberg along with several other heavy environmental organizations with multiple actors criticized the mine had played a role for the regional authority to look into the issue again.

Many of those I spoke to also believed that the Johnson government, in various ways, pressed in the background after international criticism for the need to open the mine.

Alison and her husband who I met on Pedestrian Street and I think there is a lot to suggest that the mine will not open now.

There was pressure on the regional authority from outside now, it will definitely be a turning point now, as the unknown man believes. Stephen is more hesitant because so much money has already been invested.

I finally arrived at the office of the mining company in Whitehaven, the management of the company is in place but does not want to answer the questions, we will have to wait to see what the decision will be, the only thing that is said from the company today, all the time the debate continues about the mine in Whitehaven about the new decision expected in Sometime in the spring.

Daniel Alling, Whitehaven, North West England
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