The Website www.Lausitzer-Braunkohle.de is a service of the German environmental organization Green League (GRÜNE LIGA), which concerns itself with the threat that lignite opencast mining poses for villages and countryside in the Lusatia Region south-east of Berlin.

German environmental organisations critisize Vattenfall in Sweden

19th november, 2009. Environmental organisations BUND (Friends of the Earth Germany), Greenpeace and Green Ligue today published an article on Vattenfalls role in Germany in the biggest swedish newspaper "aftonbladet". Aftonbladet published a shortened swedish version,

Read the original article here

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english summary oft this website

Swedish company Vattenfall plans to start new lignite mining in Brandenburg, Saxony an Western Poland. But Renewed reliance on lignite would mean the destruction of more villages an landscape! Help us to protect Lusatia from Vattenfall!

threatening new mines

Until 2015 ist planned to decide about:

expansion of Welzow mine
(two villages, more than 1000 inhabitants)

expansion of mine Nochten (state Saxony)
(three villages, ca. 1500 inhabitants)

Jänschwalde-North
(three villages, over 900 inhabitants)

around 2015 Vattenfall will apply for:

Bagenz-Ost

Spremberg-Ost

These five new mines would cause resettlement of between 3000 and 4000 people for nearly 1.2 billion tons of lignite.
(Additionally Vattenfall plans to continue mining in Reichwalde (Saxony) from 2010, theses plans were decided in 1993 already. In Reichwalde mine there are no villages left to resettle.)

and then?

A report on potential sites for further lignite mining commissioned by the Brandenburg Ministry of Economics suggested to prepare even more coal mines:

Forst-Hauptfeld
Klettwitz-Nord
Jänschwalde-Süd
Neupetershain
Calau-Süd
Crinitz-Sonnewalde

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Brandenburg energy policy – its background and the threatening disaster

The Brandenburg Ministry of Economics commissioned a report in 2006 on potential sites for further lignite mining. The result: 33 further villages would have to be destroyed and their inhabitants resettled in order to secure the supply of 40 million tones of lignite annually for another 50 years. Mining at the first new lignite site would have to commence in 2020 when the present Jänschwalde mine comes to an end. Brandenburg's Government's energy policy intends precisely this purpose!
The commissioned report and the names of the threatened villages only became known to the public through a leak to the press; the Government obviously intended to keep the matter secret until after a final decision had been taken. The report can be downloaded at www.lbgr.brandenburg.de(in german language).
The energy concern Vattenfall carries out a huge amount of lobbying for lignite and would like to build new lignite power plants after 2020. Vattenfall has not yet revealed its policy on new lignite mining sites. The question is: Where will the coal for new power plants come from? Could it be that trades unions and the state government are being used to test public reaction because people in Sweden don't want their state-owned energy concern Vattenfall to carry out further wholesale destruction and resettlement of Lusatia villages? It is interesting to note that to promote its self-proclaimed image as environmentalist Vattenfall has appointed the same international PR company (Hill & Knowlton) that was responsible for the false information used to gain public support in the USA for both wars in Iraq!

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There's another way!

Brandenburg does not need the present output of lignite mining for its energy supply. The State exports more than half the electricity it produces, often well beyond Vattenfall's supply area. The Commission of Inquiry of the Bundestag on "Sustainable Energy Supply" confirmed already in 2002 the basic feasibility of simultaneous coal and nuclear power phase-out. Further reports have shown that the phasing-out of lignite can be carried out gradually and responsibly over several decades. Lignite supply for the normal service life of the Brandenburg power plants Jänschwalde (up to 2020) and Schwarze Pumpe (up to 2040) can be secured without new resettlements.

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Is lignite subsidized?

Lignite receives a huge amount of preferential treatment and support in Germany. Examples include, besides the free allocation of emission certificates, the free utilization of groundwater and exemption from the production levy payable to the State. A report commissioned by the Federal Environmental Agency listed preferential treatment amounting to an annual total of hundreds of millions of euros. Such gifts on the part of the State of Brandenburg ultimately flow into another public treasury, namely that of the Kingdom of Sweden.

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Does lignite secure jobs?

The lignite industry has not kept its promise on jobs: The long-term forecast in 2001 of 4,000 direct jobs in Brandenburg (mining + power plants) is already in 2007 a thing of the past. This means that as a result of the intended resettlements more people would be affected than jobs secured! Those who include the number of indirect jobs must also include the number of people indirectly affected, for example in the towns and villages that lie directly alongside mining sites. At the same time, renewable energy sources create tens of thousands of new jobs throughout Germany.

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Is there such a thing as "clean coal"?

At the present time, a technology that is not yet available is been publicly praised in order to cover up the harmful climatic effect of existing lignite power plants. One will know at the earliest in 10 years whether CO2 capture and storage actually functions. Doubts are justified:
- No-one can guarantee how safe CO2 will remain below ground, which represents a final- disposal problem, as in the case of nuclear waste, but without half-life.
- The technology is probably so expensive that a switch to renewable energy sources would be cheaper. Major Germany companies, such as STEAG, are therefore backing off from CO2 capture.
- Because the efficiency of lignite power plants would decrease considerably as a result of CO2 capture, even more lignite – which also means more villages – would be required.
- Broad application before 2030 is unrealistic. But climate protection is needed now!

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More than 30,000 resettlements are enough!

Memorial for destroyed Sorbian villages in Lacoma, which was erected in 1984 and renovated in 2007. An official documentation centre was opened in New Horno in 2006.

82 villages and settlements have already been razed to the ground in Lusatia because of lignite mining. It is our duty to end this wholesale destruction as well as to preserve the historic Lusatian landscape and to support the many people who built houses in areas formerly designated for lignite mining, where restrictions were repealed in 1990. Apart from material losses every village resettlement represents an irretrievable human and cultural loss.

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The Green League and lignite

It was the environmental groups that were oppressed in the GDR, the so-called "Environmental and Peace Circles", that were the first to bring the problems of lignite mining to public notice in the period before and during the period of change in 1989/90. Out of these and other groups the Green League, the all-party environmental organization, was founded in 1990. One of the founders of this organization was the present Prime Minister of Brandenburg, Matthias Platzeck. Does he stills recall this?
When the lignite mines in Lusatia were officially approved without environmental impact assessments in 1994, the Green League was the only environmental organization to file suit against these mining approvals and to pursue its action right up to the Federal Administrative Court. This was also necessary because the people of Horno were denied this right (a court decision that, in another case, was later held to be unconstitutional by the Federal Administrative Court).
In recent times the Green League has been involved in numerous court proceedings to save the Lacoma wetlands from destruction in favour of the Cottbus-North lignite mine. Here it has been supported by other environmental organizations (NABU, BUND, ROBIN WOOD).

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(2007:) counter motion on Vattenfalls shareholder meeting

The Ethical Shareholders organization and the Green League have filed a countermotion for this year's Shareholders' General Meeting of Vattenfall Europe AG, which took place on 9 August 2007 at the Estrel Convention Centre in Berlin.
counter motion and reasons here

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Bank account for donations:

Umweltgruppe Cottbus

Sparkasse Spree-Neiße, BIC-Code: WELADED1CBN

Account No. (IBAN-CODE): DE29 1805 0000 3302 1032 03
for PR and networking activities, mentioning "Lausitzer Kohle" as intended purpose.

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