THE LATEST from the inquiry into the West Cumbrian coal mine saw reassurances about its impact on the environment.

Bill Tonks, chartered engineer with the Royal Society of Engineering and fellow of the Institute of Mining Mineral Machinery gave evidence for West Cumbria Mining on Wednesday.

He spoke at the UK Government's public inquiry into WCM's application for a coking coal mine in Whitehaven.

The mining expert, who has 40 years of experience said: "The mining technique that you're proposing at West Cumbria Mining's house mine, it is considerably benign regarding methane release compared to Longwall mining, Longwall mining disturbs ground 150 metres above the Longwall and 40 metres below the Longwall.

"Any seams that are in that zone give off different proportions of the gas depending on the distance from mining. Whereas your method of mining holds the roof up, it doesn't disturb the ground and so none of those seams above or below are disturbed."

Mr Tonks used his expertise to support the applicants claims that their development would be the first ever net zero coal mine.

They plan to offset emissions created with cuts to their climate impact in other areas such as methane capture and abatement.

Methane is a natural gas which can be captured and used as a source of energy. Methane abatement techniques can mitigate methane emissions, reducing the impact on the climate when they are created by accident or as part of a wider process.

But last week the inquiry heard from Professor Paul Ekins OBE from the UCL Institute for Sustainable Resources and University College London who set out why he feels the market for coal is too unstable to make the mine viable.

Professor Ekins said: “The demand for coking coal clearly depends on the demand for steel. It’s been reported to me various times that WCM has said the demand for steel is fixed and it would be produced whatever happens to other economic circumstances and I simply don’t understand that.”

Supporters of the mine including Copeland MP Trudy Harrison believe a demand for steel will always exist in the development of net zero Carbon projects such as the Small Modular Reactors planned for Moorside.

They say that British coking coal for the production of British steel is kinder to the environment, as it is not being shipped from elsewhere.