Cumbria Trust is interested to learn that West Cumbria Mining plans to extract coal from a mine next to the former Haig Colliery in Whitehaven. The plans have been enthusiastically welcomed by some local councillors.
The company itself is quoted as saying:
“The area’s geology is well understood from extensive mapping, drilling, geophysical surveys and historical coal mining in adjacent areas”.
This is of course entirely correct – West Cumbria has one of the most studied and best understood geologies of any region on the planet.
However, some of the local politicians supporting this project have until recently taken the opposite position – that little is known about Cumbrian geology, certainly not enough to rule out its suitability for deep burial of nuclear waste. It is interesting to see that they seem to have changed their mind when knowledge of the region’s geology supports a project they are keen on.
When the government White Paper on geological disposal comes out in the next few months, should we expect another change of mind?
Cumbria Trust 
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