A massive thank you for making our day in court last week possible. Without your support, it wouldn’t have been. And it meant we were represented by the very best: renowned Richard Buxton Solicitors, and Cornerstone Barristers Estelle Dehon (KC) and Asitha Ranatunga – giving us the best possible hope of stopping the Aberpergwm extension, and 100 million tonnes of CO2e along with it. As the gulf widens between action we need on climate change and action politicians take, we hope the judges arrive at the right decision. The judgement is expected within 4 months from now, and we'll update you with the outcome as soon as it's released.

We actively campaign to end coal mining and use in the UK, and for justice within communities impacted by it. Sign our petition calling on Welsh authorities to restore nature to the sprawling Ffos-y-fran opencast coal mine as they promised local residents over a decade ago. It would be the ultimate betrayal of that community to leave a mess that covers an area of 400 football pitches on their doorsteps.

Join our mailing list to get updates and involved. We're closing this crowd funder, but you can still support our critical work via PayPal.

We've been granted approval to take our case challenging the licensing of Aberpergwm underground coking coal mine to the court of appeal in February!

This gives us the opportunity to persuade an appeal Judge that the Welsh Government erred in its position which led to the mine's extension license being approved, allowing coal mining right up to 2039. The Welsh Government said that it couldn't have a say in licensing the extension of Aberpergwm coal mine, but our legal team - and the Coal Authority  - disagree.

This may be our last opportunity to use litigation to stop millions more tonnes of coal being mined at Aberpergwm.

Are you able to share our crowdfunder with your friends or to further donate to stop the application? 

Many thanks, 

Anne, Daniel and Coal Action Network

Although this Judge decided against our case in May, she has since admitted we have grounds for an appeal after receiving a letter from our legal team—which is rare and gives us hope for winning the case yet!

Left unchallenged this would allow EnergyBuild Ltd to continuing to operate the Aberpergwm deep coal mine until 2039, releasing up to 100 million tonnes of CO2. So we are appealing the decision.

After the recent IPCC report sounding the ‘final warning’ of irreversible and catastrophic climate change, it’s vital we dig our heels in and win this case on appeal.

We need your help to appeal this decision 

An appeal takes a lot of time and money… but we need to throw everything we’ve got at stopping this as literally everything is on the line with climate-trashing projects like Aberpergwm coal mine.

Please share or/and donate to give us a shot of winning this appeal. Sharing the CrowdFunder individually with your contacts is particularly useful <3

In 2022, we launched a Judicial Review as one of the last chances to stop Aberpergwm deep coal mine extension in South Wales, and keep up to 42 million tonnes of coal in the ground. You donated generously to make that legal challenge possible, and our legal team worked tirelessly to deliver a razor-sharp case. However, today, the Judicial Review decision upheld the mine to continuing to operate until 2039 to the tune of over 100 million tonnes of CO2. 

This judgement comes fewer than two months after the IPCC released a report sounding the ‘final warning’ of irreversible and catastrophic climate change. Although ultimately the judge’s decision upholds the Aberpergwm coal mine in the midst of our climate crisis, the judgment agrees with our legal team on a number of crucial points, creating some optimism around a possible appeal. An appeal is no light undertaking in time and funding… but we need to throw everything we’ve got at stopping this when literally everything is on the line with climate-trashing projects like Aberpergwm coal mine. We’d definitely need your help via a new appeal crowd funder if our expert legal team advise us this is the way to go. If you’re able to chip in to pay for our current legal advice, our original judicial review CrowdJustice crowdfunding page is still open.

Progress is uneven and marked by setbacks like this, but we’ve won against 23 coal mines in the UK—there's 4 more to go, and to finally close the door to any new coal mines. We hope you’re with us until the end.

The whole team at Coal Action Network x

Wow – yesterday marked the conclusion of our hearing on the Aberpergwm deep coal mine extension that you made possible with your generosity to this crowdfund. Despite the rain, we were greeted outside the courts by a demonstration of Welsh support for a sustainable coal-free future in Wales and media covering the story.

Inside, our legal team performed brilliantly, speaking faultlessly for hours about the intricacies of relevant laws, policies, and licences. Check out our short write-up on how the hearing went down on our website.

We’re confident the judge will be persuaded by the powerful and consistent arguments our legal team has made, and find in our favour – 42 MILLION tonnes of coal is at stake. We want to thank our Barrister Estelle Dehon (KC) of Cornerstone Barristers, and Matthew McFeeley, partner at Richard Buxton Solicitors. We anticipate a decision from the judge within around 3 months from now and we’ll update you with the outcome – but in the meantime, please email us if you live in or near to Carmarthenshire or Merthyr Tydfil; we want your help to fight two coal mine extensions there: [email protected]

Exciting update:

We've just been awarded a full judicial review in the High Court with a senior judge to hear our case against the Welsh Government AND the Coal Authority. We're pushing back on the 42 million tonne Aberpergwm coal mine expansion waved through in January - see our key facts and figures on the expansion.

Thank you to the hundreds of donations from you all into our crowd funder, you've got us this far!

When?

We don't have a date for the hearing yet, and may not get a final decision until early 2023 - it's a long wait! The outcome is never certain, but we're in good hands with Richard Buxton Solicitors and experienced Barrister, Estelle Dehon QC - and we'll keep you in the loop!

More important than ever...

This case is so vital now as Government Ministers - all the way up to the Prime Minister - are weaponising energy prices and security to swing behind fossil fuels, and using distant climate targets to justify digging up and burning anything within reach now. We must show those Ministers that they don't represent us, or the path we need to be on.

Daniel, and the team at Coal Action Network x