This year the owners of the remaining 9 UK coal fired power stations which are not to close by 2016 or convert to Biomass will have to make far reaching decisions by the end of the year. They must decide whether to upgrade their stations to reduce pollution, convert to biomass or close by 2023 or when they have used up a 20,000 hour allowance.Meanwhile the UK Coal indusrty, ever more reliant on op…

Royal Oak car park, Tupton, on the A61 (postcode S42 6LA).

Derbyshire, which is becoming a new centre for Opencast Coal mining with I site already in operation at Lodge House, an application for another one at George Farm, a possible one at Hill Top now faces the possibility of another one near Renishaw, Staverly and Barlborough.

Last November members of the local community living in Smalley Derbyshire lost there second battle with UK Coal, with the open cast mine at Lodge House having planning approved for an extension that will see a further 192 hectares of land desecrated and a further 750,000 tonnes of coal extracted. There had been way over 400 written letters of objection to the extension, yet unsurprisingly, th…

A group of retired coal workers from Derbyshire have held a protest against a new film's portrayal of Margaret Thatcher.

Veteran members of the TUC's Women's Action Group have described The Iron Lady, starring Meryl Streep, as a "Hollywood rewriting of history".

A banner was unveiled outside a cinema in Chesterfield commemorating the "Real Iron Ladies".

At least 30 former coalfield workers at…

Text of petition:

Thank you for taking the time to read this petition, especially as this matter is extremely urgent. On behalf of the residents of the village of Smalley and the surrounding villages in Derbyshire, we ask you to sign this petition to oppose the extraction of an additional 748,000 tonnes of coal from an extension to an existing opencast mine adjacent to the village, and to o…

Peace News Campers, including some from the Nottingham area, visited Huntington Lane anti-UK Coal protest site in Shropshire at the weekend. The site urgently needs solidarity as it is threatened with imminent eviction.

UK Coal is up to no good in Nottinghamshire and Leicestershire. Last year it got permission to mine under Sherwood Forest and was also involved in the recently rejected incinerato…

Week 2 of the Ratcliffe Trial saw the defence open their case, giving some of the defendants an opportunity to explain why they took the actions they did. Among the witnesses called was NASA scientist James Hansen, former MP for Notttingham South Alan Simpson and Green Party MP Caroline Lucas.

The Manchester Airport Trial will begin next week, with 11 defendants facing charges of obstruction of t…

Our 68th Press Release highlights our latest Briefing Note 'The Lounge Issue and the Minorca Application'. It explains the contents of the Briefing Note and explains why it is set to be part of the Investigation into Opencast mining to be broadcast on the BBC Counrtyfile Programme on August 15th.

This contains news that John Craven and a Counrtyfile team visited the Measham area on 3/8/10 to investigate issues around opencast mining after choosing the Minorca application as a case example to show on the Countryfile Programme 

The Leicester Mercury has become the 1st Newspaper to endorse the need for a 500 meter Buffer Zone around Opencast Mines in England

Video footage from the Climate Swoop on Saturday: Protesters battle with police to pull down a perimeter fence.