On 20.03.2020 the Ministry of Climate prolonged the mining licence for Turów mine by 6 years, without public participation and denying access of NGOs to the procedure.
The Turów mine used to have a license to extract lignite until the end of April 2020. Since 2015 PGE GiEK has been taking administrative steps to extend the concession until 2044.
The project authorisation process is in breach of European law, namely the SEA Directive (on the assessment of the effects of projects and programmes on the environment), the EIA Directive (on the environmental impact assessment of projects), the Water Framework Directive and the Paris Agreement.
In the consultations, which lasted for years, the environmental impact assessment procedure was attended by the inhabitants of the Czech Republic and Germany and was joined by local governments from the Liberec country. In mid-November, the Czech government officially took a negative stance on the extension of the Turów opencast.
On the 21st of January, the cross-border environmental impact assessment ("TEIA") was completed the RDOŚ issued an environmental decision for the open-pit mine, ignoring the public consultation in Germany that lasted until 20 January and the comments of Czech society.
In addition, in January 2020 PGE applied for a prolongation of the current mining concession for up to 6 years. According to Polish law, it doesn’t require EIA nor public participation. NGOs were not admitted to participate in the procedure. The decision was issued on 20 March 2020.
