Greenpeace activists stage protest at Poland's Turow lignite mine
A group of Greenpeace activists have staged a protest on the site of the Turow open-pit lignite mine in Bogatynia, southwestern Poland, calling for its ultimate closure and launching an energy transition plan for the region.
Several people climbed onto a huge excavator, as tall as a 13-storey block of flats, on Monday morning.
The activists hung banners on the structure with an image of Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk and slogans such as "Coal is finished. Prime Minister, take care of people" and "Just transition now!," Katarzyna Bilewska, head of Greenpeace's communications department, told PAP.
They appeal to Tusk to urgently set a date for the closure of Turow and initiate work on a plan for the transformation of the whole region, she said.
"For many years, the residents of the region have been deceived that the future of Turow would be bright until the mid-2040s. There is no such option. Due to the rising costs of producing energy from brown coal, Turow will be replaced by cheaply produced energy from renewable sources, which, combined with energy storage, becomes a stable and safe source of electricity," Malgorzata Lach, one of the activists taking part in the protest said.
"It is time to stop conjuring reality," she added.
Police officers and negotiators came to the site to ensure the safety of both protesters and mine workers, Przemyslaw Ratajczyk, press officer of the local police told PAP.
The Turow mine near the Czech border was contested by Prague on environmental grounds in 2021. The Czechs argued groundwater levels on their side were declining and took the issue to the Court of Justice of the European Union in 2021. A year later the dispute was brought to an end when Poland and the Czech Republic signed a deal under which Warsaw agreed to pay Czechs EUR 45 million in compensation and offered to finance measures to prevent environmental damage to the local area. An underground barrier was installed by the mine’s owner, Polish state energy group PGE, to protect the region’s residents from air, noise and dust pollution. (PAP)
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