The European Court of Justice has ruled that mining at Poland’s sprawling Turów coal mine must cease while the court processes a Czech government lawsuit against Poland for illegally operating the mine. The Polish mine pushes right up to the Czech and German borders and is depleting people’s water supplies and undercutting houses in nearby communities.

The Czech Republic filed the lawsuit in response to Poland’s decision to grant Turów a licence extension to 2026, and PGE’s request for a further licence extension to 2044, which was subsequently approved by the Polish government despite the absence of a proper public consultation or environmental impact assessment as required by EU law. The mine is located in Poland’s Bogatynia region and is endangering access to safe drinking water for thousands of families on the Czech side of the border and causing subsidence that could damage houses around the German city of Zittau. PGE plans to extend the mine to within 70 metres of the Czech border in 2022.

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