The case was initiated by complaints from ecologists and German local government officials from border areas regarding the environmental decision of the General Director for Environmental Protection of September 30, 2022, relating to “Continued exploitation of the Turów lignite deposit, carried out in the Bogatynia commune”.
Earth embankment with vegetation along the southern border of the Turów mine
The decision of GDOŚ, challenged in court, partially repealed and partially upheld the earlier environmental decision on this matter issued by the Regional Director for Environmental Protection in Wrocław. In February 2023, based on the decision of GDOŚ from autumn 2022, the Minister of Climate and Environment extended the concession for Turów beyond 2026 – until 2044.
On March 13 this year, the Provincial Administrative Court of Warsaw, when deciding on the case, overturned the environmental decision of the General Directorate for Environmental Protection. As the court stated then, the only reason for annulling the decision were the allegations referring to the agreement between the governments of Poland and the Czech Republic on cooperation in addressing the effects of the mine's operation. The agreement was signed in Prague on February 3, 2022.
The written justification stated, among other things, that “by examining the legality of the contested decision (…) and assessing the factual circumstances and legal status as at the date of its issuance, the court came to the conclusion that the complaint should have been accepted, although the main allegations of the complaint were not considered justified.”
“The court found that the contested decision should be annulled because it does not take into account the provisions of the Agreement of February 3, 2022 between the Government of the Republic of Poland and the Government of the Czech Republic on cooperation in addressing the effects in the territory of the Czech Republic resulting from the operation of an open-pit lignite mine. Turów in the Republic of Poland,” the Provincial Administrative Court emphasized in the written justification of the judgment.
As the court recalled, meanwhile, under this agreement, for example, the Polish side “is to build an earth embankment with vegetation along the southern border of the Turów mine, along the Opolno-Zdrój-Sieniawka road, in order to take into account the concerns raised by the inhabitants of the Czech Republic regarding the impact of the Turów mine, in particular in terms of noise, light and air pollution, as well as the character of the landscape.
Therefore – as pointed out by the Provincial Administrative Court – “at the stage of the appeal proceedings in the case, the legal status, of which this contract became an element, changed.” “The shape of the planned investment should take into account the provisions of the contract, which are very detailed and refer to specific, directly described solutions regarding, among others, monitoring of groundwater and the construction of an earth embankment,” wrote the Provincial Administrative Court.
“They should operate as long as the Polish energy system requires”
On Wednesday, the owner of the Turów Brown Coal Mine, PGE Górnictwo i Energetyka Nowoczesna, announced in a press release that he had filed a cassation appeal against the judgment of the Provincial Administrative Court in Warsaw. This means that the case will now be dealt with by the Supreme Administrative Court.
The complaint indicated that PGE GiEK “does not share the position contained in the written justification of the judgment of the Provincial Administrative Court that the obligations arising from the content of the Polish-Czech agreement in the Turów case should be included in the environmental decision.” PGE GiEK recalled that “all provisions of the Polish-Czech contract are being fulfilled by Kopalnia Turów properly and on time, which is also confirmed by the Czech side.”
The company's announcement also emphasized that PGE GiEK agrees with the court's opinion that “the environmental decision issued by the Regional Director for Environmental Protection in Wrocław is correct, and also that the General Director for Environmental Protection correctly assessed the impact of the project on the environment, without committing any errors in this respect.” any error.” “The court found the allegations of environmental organizations regarding the merits of the case to be unfounded,” the statement said.
PGE President Dariusz Marzec emphasized that the mine and power plant in Turów are key elements of Poland's energy security and an employer employing thousands of people, both in the energy complex and hundreds of companies cooperating with it. “They should operate as long as the Polish energy system requires, and the region's energy transformation process must be implemented in accordance with a plan that takes into account these needs and the interests of local communities,” emphasized the president quoted in the company's announcement.
Independently of this case, environmental organizations also appealed to the Provincial Administrative Court the subsequent decision of the Ministry of Climate of February 17 last year. regarding the concession for the extraction of brown coal and associated minerals from the Turów deposit. In this decision, the ministry changed the deadline for granting concessions from April 30, 2026 and set it until April 27, 2044.
Last June However, the Provincial Administrative Court informed that the proceedings regarding complaints against the decision on the concession for Turów had been suspended until the final resolution of a parallel case related to this mine, i.e. the complaint of ecologists against the implementation of the environmental decision of the General Directorate for Environmental Protection.
author: Piotr Doczekalski
