We encourage everyone interested in the Turów’s issue to follow the proceedings of the Committee of Petitions, which will take place on July 14th (link below). We also invite you to take part in a meeting at the Three-Nations-Point, where the borders of the Czech Republic, Germany and Poland meet, as well as in the upcoming kayak trip, which will take place on August 30th.
1. An invitation to the ENERGYTURN kayak trip
We warmly invite everyone who is concerned about the well-being of Turoszow citizens and the environment, to a meeting at the Three-Nations-Point, combined with various speeches and collective kayaking. We’ll see each other on Sunday, the 30th of August, on meadows located on both sides of the Nysa (de. Neisse) river, where the three countries meet.
Activists from Poland, Czech Republic and Germany will take part in both rafting and the meeting. Speeches will revolve around the topic of the departure from fossil fuels, the development of renewable energy and, most importantly, the controversial activity of the Turów mine and power plant and its impact on the society and the environment. At the end, we want to kayak down Nysa, passing the Turów power plant and opencast mine of brown coal. By our actions, we hope to draw the media’s attention to the problem of Turów and to move closer to our common goal: the closure of this and other brown coal mines.
2. Delay in the construction of a new block
The construction of a new 496 MW unit at the Turów power plant may be delayed. Jacek Sasin, Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of State Assets, informed that "the construction of a unit in the PGE Elektrownia Turów power plant is not at risk, although due to the pandemic, the general contractor is demanding a postponement of the investment completion date". The PGE Group expects the unit to be exploited in accordance with the contract, i.e. by the 31st of October 2020. Almost 759,000 EURO has already been spent on the investment so far.
Sasin informed that "there are no plans to expand the Turów lignite mine".
Sources:
- http://biznes.pap.pl/pl/news/pap/info/2936146,budowa-bloku-w-el--turow-nie-jest-zagrozona--choc-sa-trudnosci-z-powodu-pandemii---map
- https://www.bankier.pl/wiadomosc/Budowa-bloku-w-El-Turow-nie-jest-zagrozona-choc-sa-trudnosci-z-powodu-pandemii-MAP-7917339.html
3. Coal or water?
The Czech Frank Bold Foundation is launching the "Water or Coal?" website (cz. "Vodanebouhli"). It contains personal stories of people affected by the activity of the Turów opencast. Work on the website is currently being finished.
Link to the site: https://waterorcoal.org/
4. Online meeting of the Committee of Petitions
As we have announced, on the 14th of July, the Committee of Petitions of the European Parliament will consider the Czech petition on the dangers of drinking water loss in the Liberec region due to the extension of the brown coal mine in Turów.
The petition is on the draft agenda of the Committee of Petitions session, which will be held on 14.07.2020. The Commission's proceedings can be followed live on the European Parliament's website at around 9.00 in Brussels. A recording of the session will also be available afterwards. We will be informing about its progress on the Stop Turów website.
Link to the session: http://www.europarl.europa.eu/committees/es/peti/home/highlights
