Environmental Assessment of Coal Extraction Projects: The Vale of Belvoir Experience

Abstract

The emergence and subsequent development of environmental assessment procedures and techniques in the United Kingdom have been closely associated with energy sector projects. The development of the UK’s North Sea gas and oil resources from the late 1960s onwards created a significant demand for various types of onshore facility. Many of these facilities were complex and large-scale developments located on greenfield sites, often in areas of considerable natural beauty and a relatively high degree of environmental sensitivity. Given these factors it is not surprising that much of the experience of environmental assessment work in the UK that has been gained over the past ten years has been related to oil and gas development projects, a situation that has been extensively reviewed in the literature (see, for example, Clark et al., 1980).