In the middle of the Ukraine crisis, a court paralyzes Brandenburg’s second-largest opencast lignite mine. Because he used too much water.
From May 15th, the Jänschwalde opencast mine may no longer mine coal, the Cottbus administrative court ruled. Green League and German environmental aid had sued the coal company LEAG. The judges now agreed with the conservationists.
The reason: since 2018, the coal mine had pumped 224 million cubic meters of groundwater out of the ground without permission. For comparison, the Tesla factory uses only 1.4 million cubic meters per year. Actually, the pit should have been shut down four years ago. But LEAG had continued without a valid operating plan.
After the verdict, the coal company warns: “We will not be able to supply our power plants as planned this year or next.” This leads to reduced electricity production. You have to “look for solutions so as not to further endanger the security of supply and the affordability of energy”.
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Brandenburg’s government remains calm. Unlike gas and heat, the power supply is the smallest problem, says Economics Minister Jörg Steinbach (SPD). Hardly any heat is needed when opencast mining is stopped in May. And in 2023 the pit should be shut down anyway.
More dramatic: The opencast mining landscape must be replanned after the verdict. To keep the pit dry, another 100 million cubic meters of groundwater would have to be pumped out every year. “We are checking whether we can lodge a complaint,” says LEAG.