The 7th Press Release from the Loose Anti Opencast Network explains why a Planning Inspectors decision on an Opencast Site Planning Application in a remote part of England has implications for all mineral planning applications across the country and not just those 5 pending for opencast coal.
See http://www.northern-indymedia.org/articles/2610.
See also Opencast Coal Issues Investigated by the BBC, http://www.northern-indymedia.org/articles/2649.