The topic of the controversial activity of the Turów open-pit mine is of growing interest to politicians. In the last few days, information about Turów has been spread on Twitter. On the one hand, by the politicians who signed the appeal for the opencast mining and were pleased with the decision of the MKOO, which recognized the entire lignite mining located in the Oder river basin as an international problem. On the other, one of the most zealous defenders of the open pit, MEP Anna Zalewska, argued for the harmlessness of the Turów complex, which in her opinion "is going green".
1. Important decision of the MKOO
Politicians involved in the appeal to the International Commission for the Protection of the Oder River against Pollution are commenting the decision of the MKOO to consider Turów and the entire lignite mining in the Oder basin as a supra-regional problem.
Wolfram Günther, Minister of Energy, Climate, Environment and Agriculture of Saxony, has recognised the decision of the MKOO as a success. On Twitter, he pointed out that this is exactly what Saxony was trying to achieve. "Now the focus will be placed more strongly on the Turów opencast mine and its environmental impact.”
https://twitter.com/Gruen_WGuenther/status/1332672857512534018
The Polish MEP Róża Thun, one of the signatories of the appeal to the MKOO, pointed out that their decision is "a stronger guarantee of environmental protection in this area!"
https://twitter.com//rozathun/status/1331874046850568193
The decision of the MKOO was also mentioned by the Czech newspaper “Denik N"
"Initially, the Czech Republic only sought to include Turów among the supra-regional river basin problems, but a compromise was agreed to include the entire impact of lignite mining on the river basin. The negative effects of lignite mining on groundwater will now have to be tackled jointly by all three countries.”
Source:
- https://denikn.cz/minuta/502006/?ref=mwat
2. MEP Zalewska in front of the Turów Mine
The Petition Committee will consider the petition in defence of Turów at its meeting on December 2, 2020. The petition, supported by PGE, was sent in June this year to Ursula von der Leyen, President of the European Commission.
"The petition in defence of Turów will be considered by the European Parliament.
The European Petition Committee informed that it will be directed to the most important EU institutions for consideration" - reports the portal Zgorzelec.info with reference to the letter sent to the Energy Innovation Association in Zgorzelec.
Anna Zalewska, MEP, is eagerly involved in the defence of the Turów mine. At the meeting of the Petition Committee on July 14, 2020, Zalewska claimed that Turów has no influence on the water level in the region. Moreover, she declared that "Poles, Czechs and Germans are observing the spread of false information with great concern. The Polish government, the Czech government and the German government have not agreed to this. These governments are absolutely cooperating with each other," although a moment earlier the Czech government announced that it was considering bringing a case against Poland before the European Commission. On September 30, the Czech government did indeed file a case against Poland, which, with the increasing involvement of the German Saxons, is contradicting Zalewska's statement in July.
Last week, on November 27, the MEP Zalewska held a meeting with the press in front of the main gate of the Turów mine.
https://twitter.com//AnnaZalewskaMEP/status/1332348083125018626
Zalewska stated, among other things, that the drought on the territory of the Liberec Region is not related to Turów's activity, thus ignoring more and more reports that prove the destructive influence of Turów on waters in the whole region.
Source:
- https://pgegiek.pl/aktualnosci/petycja-w-obronie-turowa-przedmiotem-obrad-komisji-petycji-parlamentu-europejskiego?fbclid=IwAR3w6iUz_YabeIoozG8I11P8VoAdvBgbDDI98m_3wRrWfQRbozefw4K5N7s
3. Extended appeal proceedings against the environmental decision
GDOŚ extended the consideration of the appeal against the environmental decision to continue the exploitation of the Turów deposit until 29 January 2021.
The Regional Director of Environmental Protection in Wrocław, at the request of PGE Górnictwo i Energetyka Konwencjonalna, issued a decision on 21 January "on environmental conditions for the project aimed at continuing the exploitation of the Turów lignite deposit".
Previously, the decision was postponed until 30 November 2020.
