On 20 March 2020 a response to the parliamentary question no. 2685 from Polish parliamentarian Anita Sowińska was published, on the continuation of coal mining in the Turów mine until 2044.
Respondent: Undersecretary of State at the Ministry of Marine Economy and Inland Navigation Anna Moskwa
We publish an ineresting fragment:
Re 3) How does the Ministry of Marine Economy and Inland Navigation intend to persuade the authorities of the Czech Republic and the Federal Republic of Germany to grant a derogation from the achievement of the objectives of Directives 2000/60/EC and 2006/118/EC for surface and groundwater affected by the Turów opencast brown coal mine, which are situated outside the territory of the Republic of Poland or which are jointly managed international waters?
For a river basin district, part of which lies within the territory of other Member States of the European Union, the Ministry of Marine Economy and Inland Navigation shall cooperate with the competent authorities of those States in order to prepare a single international management plan or to ensure coordination as far as possible at the level of the international river basin district of the management plan covering the river basin district falling within the territory of the Republic of Poland, in particular as regards actions within that river basin district to achieve the environmental objectives referred to in Article 56, Article 57, Article 59 and Article 61 of the Water Law. The Ministry of Marine Economy and Inland Navigation carries out these tasks within the framework of the International Commission for the Protection of the Oder River against Pollution. The draft of the international river basin management plan is in its early stages of preparation. The granting of derogations will be preceded by a thorough analysis of the compliance of surface water bodies and groundwater bodies, including which derogations from environmental objectives can be identified, in accordance with Article 4 WFD (Water Framework Directive).
It is also worth mentioning that the subject of the planned extension of the Turów Brown Coal Mine is being consulted within the framework of the Czech-Polish Border Water Commission. These consultations are based on the provisions of the Agreement between the Government of the Republic of Poland and the Czech Republic on cooperation on border waters in the field of water management, signed in Prague on 20 April 2015. The Polish side, both the investor of Turów Brown Coal Mine, the state hydrogeological service and the Polish part of the Polish-Czech Border Water Commission, cooperates with the Czech side in a manner ensuring full transparency of activities with regard to the issue in question. Both the Polish and the Czech part of the PL-CZ of the Borders Water Commission is aware of the impact of the cross-border proceedings concerning the Turów Brown Coal Mine on bilateral relations, hence the efforts of both parties to act in accordance with the provisions of the abovementioned agreement.
Monitoring issues within the Commission's PL-CZ are dealt with by the HyP (Working Group on Hydrology, Hydrogeology and Flood Protection). It carries out recommended monitoring works, exchange of data, information and common measurements, in a fixed frequency and range, to the extent possible due to technical condition of monitoring facilities.
The Polish part of the Commission's PL-CZ is making every effort to ensure that the legal actions of the investor in Turów Brown Coal Mine, as well as of other entities (Ministry of Climate), which are responsible for extending the concession for Turów Brown Coal Mine, comply with the provisions of the Agreement between the Government of the Republic of Poland and the Czech Republic on cooperation in border waters in the field of water management, in particular with the provisions of Articles 1, 2 and 12, in the context of bilateral arrangements for all investments which may adversely affect water relations on the territory of the other country (and the procedure for extending the concession for mining in the Turów mine 'Continuation of mining of Turów brown coal deposits'). The Ministry of Marine Economy and Inland Navigation has asked the Ministry of Climate to take the provisions of the Agreement into account when issuing mining licences for the Turów Brown Coal Mine.
