Whitehaven coal mine
Dear Cumbria County Council,
with reference to the approval given for this venture to proceed, I shall be grateful to receive the following information that should be available to you from the Carbon Audit that will have been completed to enable approval.
1.What amount (weight or volume) of COx, SOx and NOx will be released into the environment during construction of the mine from the likes of but not exclusively, cement manufacture, transport, machinery, machine tools?
2.What amount (weight or volume) of COx, SOx and NOx will be released into the environment during extraction from the mine in its entire working life-time from the likes of but not exclusively, excavation machinery, vehicles, transport, gases vented from the breaking of the coal?
3.What amount (weight or volume) of COx, SOx and NOx will be released into the environment after the mine has been closed down from the likes of but not exclusively, machinery to seal the mine, vehicles, transport, gases vented from the broken coal?
4.By what means will the known adverse side-effects of these gases be mitigated and for how long will this take?
5.Taking into account all of these factors and any others known to the Council, how was the viability of the mine assessed?
6.How does Council's approval gel with the Government's Green promises?
Yours faithfully,
John H Hutchinson
Dear John Hutchinson
Freedom of Information Act 2000 Reference: FOI-7112-2020
Thank you for your request for information regarding West Cumbria Mining,
which was received on 07/10/2020.
The council aims to provide you with the information within the statutory
timescale of 20 working days in this case the date is 04/11/2020.
Subject to the information not being exempt or containing any references
to third parties.
While we endeavour to respond to in these timescales, we want to make you
aware that responding to the current clinical priority of Covid-19 may
mean at times, we struggle to meet these timescales.
The council will, as a matter of routine make information available in
electronic format. Where it is not practical to do this information will
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indicate this as soon as possible so the council can consider your
request.
The Freedom of Information Act 2000 define a number of
exemptions/exceptions which may prevent information being released to you
automatically. The council will make an assessment about the application
of any exemptions/exceptions and issue you with a decision letter, which
will include details of your right to appeal.
If the information you request contains reference to a third party the
council will consult with them prior to making a decision about the
release of information.
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Many thanks
Information Governance Team
Corporate, Customer & Community | Cumbria County Council
Service Centre | Parkhouse Building | Kingmoor Business Park
| Carlisle | CA6 4SJ
t: 01228 221234
[1]https://cumbria.gov.uk
References
Visible links
1. https://cumbria.gov.uk/
Dear John Hutchinson
Freedom of Information Act 2000, Reference: FOI-7112-2020
Please see attached for a response to your request for information.
Many thanks
Information Governance Team
Corporate, Customer & Community | Cumbria County Council
Service Centre | Parkhouse Building | Kingmoor Business Park
| Carlisle | CA6 4SJ
t: 01228 221234
[1]https://cumbria.gov.uk
References
Visible links
1. https://cumbria.gov.uk/
Dear Information Governance,
what does this rubbish mean, please, and when might I expect to receive a meaningful response?
Yours sincerely,
John H Hutchinson
Dear Mr Hutchinson,
Please accept my apologies for any inconvenience caused, we have become
aware that the WDTK website has some issues with our request management
system and sometimes the responses come through corrupted.
I have attached a new PDF version for your records.
Kind Regards,
Belinda Taylor
Information Governance & Complaints Officer
Corporate, Customer and Community Services | Cumbria County Council
t: 01228 221234
[1]www.cumbria.gov.uk
[2]cid:image001.jpg@01D51C5E.F9AD85E0
Dear Information Governance,
Officials should have proof-read the response to my questions. Similar examples relating to Cumbria CC have been reported to me. It is mean-spirited to pile the blame on this website that is doing an admirable job without which public bodies would be able to hide facts.
Cumbria CC has opted for the easy way out making me read the Planning Application documents to answer my request rather than saying that a full Carbon Audit was not conducted.
Kindly confirm that a full Carbon Audit was not conducted. Alternatively, please may I see it on this website?
Yours sincerely,
John H Hutchinson
Dear Mr Hutchinson,
Further to your email below, I have now had opportunity to discuss this
with the service, who have advised as follows:
A “Carbon Audit” is a report on the greenhouse emissions likely to result
from a project.
As mentioned in the first response, AECOM did one for WCM and it can be
found on our website under the “Environmental Statement ES/EIA)” tab at
[1]https://planning.cumbria.gov.uk/Planning... in the “May
2020 – Chapter 19_Greenhouse Gas Emissions” documents.
The report starts at page 31.
Kind Regards,
Belinda Taylor
Information Governance & Complaints Officer
Corporate, Customer and Community Services | Cumbria County Council
t: 01228 221234
[2]www.cumbria.gov.uk
[3]cid:image001.jpg@01D51C5E.F9AD85E0
Dear Information Governance,
Thank you!
I apologise for being a dreadful nuisance but in which Section will I find page 31?
There are three sections labelled "May 2020" each with a different sub-heading.
Following this are Sections 1 to 8, none of which has the appearance of being or comprising a Carbon Audit.
Section 9 holds WCM GRIP 2 consisting of 9 Feasibility Reports.
Section 10 has 34 pdf document sub-sections, none of which has the appearance of being a Carbon Audit.
Following these are five more Sections 10 comprising LVIA Appendices.
There are ten Sections 11, three Sections 12 with 10 sub-sections, a Section 13 with three sub-sections confusingly labelled 13.7 Plot E, none of which has the appearance of being a Carbon Audit.
Section 14 has three figures attached.
Section 15 has eleven figures attached.
Section 16 is mercifully alone.
Section 17 has four appendices.
Section 18 completes the set.
A cynic would say that you are attempting to deter me from the investigation.
Please be precise with your guidance as I am disabled and even with three large screens before me, I am so much confused as being unable to proceed.
Having seen the size of this document, I am not surprised to have heard a Cumbria Councillor wrongly state that because the coal is to be used in the steel industry, there will not be as much carbon dioxide emitted as with other mines. He and many others will have little understanding of the venture.
Yours sincerely,
John H Hutchinson
Classification:OFFICIAL
Dear Mr Hutchinson,
We are not trying to deter you, however we have advised on two occasions
the document is titled “May 2020 – Chapter 19_Greenhouse Gas Emissions”.
This is the 4^th document down under the “Environmental Statement ES/EIA)”
tab at [1]https://planning.cumbria.gov.uk/Planning...
Although not required under S21 of the Freedom of Information Act as this
information is already reasonably accessible, I have attached the document
referred to this email.
Kind Regards,
Belinda Taylor
Information Governance & Complaints Officer
Corporate, Customer and Community Services | Cumbria County Council
t: 01228 221234
[2]www.cumbria.gov.uk
[3]cid:image001.jpg@01D51C5E.F9AD85E0
Dear Information Governance,
I am grateful to you for taking the extra step of doing something that is not required under S21 of the Freedom of Information Act as the information is already reasonably accessible, I as a disabled person working in front of three large screens has found to be very advantageous.
Yours sincerely,
John H Hutchinson
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John H Hutchinson left an annotation ()
This is incomprehensible nonsense.
Some mime artistes are incomprehensible. This response is all words and no meaning.