'Take heed of science': minister urged to drop new coal-mining plans

Druridge Bay project makes mockery of UK's goal to phase out coal by 2025, say criticsA wild stretch of Northumberland beach has become the ultimate testing ground of the government's much-vaunted commitment to phase out coal by 2025, according to campaigners.On Friday, James Brokenshire, the minister for communities and local government, will start examining whether to allow a local coal mining company, Banks Group, to extract three million tonnes of coal from 250 hectares of land behind the sand dunes of Druridge Bay, in a project that will extend beyond the government's own deadline for the end of coal. Continue reading...