§ Mr. SheermanTo ask the Secretary of State for the Environment what action his Department is taking to minimise detrimental environmental effects from(a) opencast mining and (b) quarrying. [29646]
§ Sir Paul BeresfordTight, improved guidelines which upgrade environmental requirements on opencast mining were published last July. Similar guidelines for quarrying were published in April 1994. These guidelines would apply to any new permissions for either opencast mining or quarrying.