On behalf of Government, Secretary of State  Michael Gove  approved the coal mine on 7th December 2022.

The CEO of “Woodhouse Colliery” and West Cumbria Mining is Mark Kirkbride.

In 2019 Mark Kirkbride was appointed to the Government Committee on Radioactive Waste Management to advise on the UK Government's nuclear dump plans.  His appointment has been extended to 2027.

Kirkbride’s “invaluable" role involves: 
Scrutiny and provision of advice to Government on activities relating to the continued development of a Geological Disposal Facility (hot nuclear dump) safety case
Scrutiny and provision of advice to Government on GDF siting activities, including selection criteria, methods of investigation, and the timescale for carrying out site selection in the three rock types
Advise on new technologies that could be applicable to the development of a GDF including those in the mining and construction sectors and their potential impacts on a GDF programme.

Mark Kirkbride has recently provided costings to Government for the Delivery of a GDF (Nuclear Dump) including advice on enormous Tunnel Boring Machines from the same company (Herrenknecht) which would supply his coal mine.  This is a direct conflict of interest.

Mark Kirkbride has clearly advised on the hugely damaging seismic blasting which took place in August in the Irish Sea to “investigate” the complex geology for a deep nuclear dump.  The enormous area of the Irish Sea in which seismic blasting took take place overlaps Kirkbride’s proposed coal mine.  Mark Kirkbride's 'investigative boreholes' for his coal mine may well have led to the reactivation of old mine water which has been pouring out into Whitehaven Harbour for a full year now with no end in sight.  

The Coal Mine Planning Inspector in his recommendation to Government stated : "the risk of a seismic event cannot be ruled out." 

It is beyond belief that the CEO of a seismicity inducing coal mine near Sellafield should be employed by Government as an “invaluable”  advisor on nuclear waste burial in a very deep, massive 25km square and very hot nuclear dump.   

We demand that Mark KIrkbride’s appointment to the Committee on Radioactive Waste Management is terminated.   The Cumbrian Coal Mine and the Nuclear Dump Plan are clearly Hand in Hand while Mark Kirkbride Remains as Advisor to Government.  This is the dark heart of cronyism and it must stop.  We urgently ask that:

• Mark Kirkbride's appointment to CoRWM is terminated
• the Cronyism between Mark Kirkbride's Coal interests and the Nuclear dump plans are investigated by an Independent Inquiry.
• there should be a Moratorium on the Nuclear Dump (GDF) Plans
• Connections to Russian money investigated - WCM has been bankrolled by Owen Hegarty (now a Director of WCM) who has in turn overseen Siberian coal mine interests being bankrolled by the Russian State.

Mark Kirkbride - CoRWM  https://www.gov.uk/government/organisations/committee-on-radioactive-waste-management/about/our-governance

Seismic Testing for a Nuclear Dump beneath the Irish Sea - Marine Life At Risk

 https://www.euronews.com/green/2022/06/22/the-uk-is-searching-the-sea-for-a-nuclear-dump-site-and-the-risks-to-marine-life-are-huge​

https://beyondnuclearinternational.org/2022/06/19/extreme-torture/

""We urge all those speaking against the mine at the public inquiry to give at least a mention to the fact that this coal mine would mine out voids faster than any previous coal mine in UK history and would induce earthquakes and cause subsidence in the Irish Sea and Sellafield area." https://www.newcivilengineer.com/latest/cumbrian-coal-mine-geotech-experts-play-down-earthquake-claims-08-09-2021/

"Earlier this year, the first batch of waste was safely removed from one of the most hazardous sites at the Sellafield nuclear reprocessing site. “Perhaps they’re going to bury it down the pit,” says a resident with characteristic Cumbrian grit."https://www.forbes.com/sites/heatherfarmbrough/2022/12/09/uk-government-approves-first-coal-mine-in-30-years-in-cumbria/

British Geological Society signed a Memorandum of Understanding with Nuclear Waste Services  in June 2020 -  another conflict of interest as the coal mine CEO advises Nuclear Waste Services in his Government advisory role with the Committee on Radioactive Waste Management - "The collaboration between both organisations is intended to support improved environmental outcomes relating to a UK geological disposal facility (GDF)."https://www.bgs.ac.uk/news/british-geological-survey-signs-memorandum-of-understanding-with-radioactive-waste-management/#:~:text=BGS%20has%20today%20(24%20June,the%20UK's%20geological%20disposal%20programme.