Zittau (dpa/sn) – Zittau is waiting for a response from Poland to the city’s lawsuit in the case of the Turow opencast mine. In essence, it is about the decision in a procedure for environmental impact assessment. In mid-November, the Saxon city in the border triangle of Germany, Poland and the Czech Republic filed its lawsuit against a decision by the Polish General Directorate for Environmental Protection at the Warsaw Voivodeship Administrative Court.
As the city administration announced on request, there has not yet been any reaction, as expected. According to the procedure, both sides would initially have the opportunity to submit comments. “This is a completely normal lawsuit, in which pleadings are first exchanged,” it said. The central question is whether the environmental impact assessment was carried out correctly.
The mine is located near Zittau on Polish territory. According to a study, Zittau could sink up to one meter if mining continues along the Neisse. In addition, concerns about groundwater, particulate matter and noise pollution were not taken into account in the approval process for the environmental impact assessment in Poland, and the clean-up of the remaining hole after the end of coal mining was not considered. “There are rules that have to be observed. And one of them is: You don’t harm your neighbors,” Mayor Thomas Zenker (independent) said at the time in connection with the lawsuit.
The expansion plans had also caused tensions between the Czech Republic and Poland. The Czech Republic initially appealed against the plans for Turow to the European Court of Justice. In February 2022, a surprising agreement was reached between the two countries. Among other things, the contract provides for the construction of an earth wall against the noise and compensation payments to the Czech Republic in the amount of 45 million euros. On the other hand, at the end of October 2022, the Federation for the Environment and Nature Conservation in Saxony (BUND) together with partner organizations submitted a complaint to the European Commission.
