A Polish court overturned an environmental permit issued to one of Poland’s largest coalmines, Turow, finding that it was issued in violation of an agreement with the Czech Republic, on the border of which the mine was located.
The ruling has been hailed by the environmental groups that have brought the case. But for now the mine – coal from which generates around 7% of Poland’s electricity – will continue to function while a separate case is also heard. However, its operation beyond 2026 remains in the balance.
The environmental permit in question was issued in 2022. Last year, environmental groups challenged the decision, arguing that the mine’s operation was harmful to both people and the environment.
In February 2023, the environmental permit was used as a basis by Anna Moskwa, the climate minister in Poland’s then Law and Justice (PiS) government, to extend the mine’s concession from 2026 to 2044. That decision was also challenged, and a separate case was pending.
In a ruling issued on March 12 regarding the first legal challenge, the regional administrative court in Warsaw decided to overturn the environmental permit.
The judge, Jaroslaw Luczaj, said that he “agrees with the environmental activists complaining about the effects of burning fossil fuels”. However, he added that these were “not circumstances that could affect the assessment of the environmental conditions of the project” when issuing a permit.
Instead, Luczaj decided to annul the permit because he found that the process of issuing it had violated an agreement Poland signed with the Czech Republic in 2022 to end Prague’s legal challenge against the mine at the European Court of Justice (ECJ).
The agreement included EUR 45 million in compensation from Poland to the Czech Republic and a commitment from the Polish side to ensure environmental protection of the region.
“Such an agreement is relevant to acts of application of the law,” said Luczaj. “Meanwhile, the authority in the contested environmental permit decision explicitly considered that it was not relevant to the decision in this case. In the court’s view, such a position is incorrect.”
The judge emphasised, however, that his ruling would not bring an immediate halt to operation of the mine, adding that there were still other administrative decisions relating to the mine that his court had to consider.
The ruling was nevertheless welcomed by environmental groups that had been involved in the legal case against the mine.
“The ruling confirms what community organisations have been raising for years about Turow: the mine is harming the environment and the people,” said Agnieszka Stupkiewicz, legal counsel at Frank Bold, an environmental NGO.
“Although it is clear that it will have to be closed, there is still no clear plan for this that is fair to the residents,” she added.
Her organisation warns that if Poland continues to extract coal at Turow, Poland will not receive key European funds for its energy transition.
“Further delay in setting a timetable for the exit from coal will cause damage to the region and its people,” said Radoslaw Gawlik, president of the EKO-UNIA ecological organisation. “It threatens to leave the region unprepared for the inevitable transition that other coal regions in Poland are already implementing.”
Anna Meres of Greenpeace underlined, meanwhile, that the future of the Turow region now “depends on whether the government openly admits that mining in Turow until 2044 is a pipe dream detached from reality”.
The court ruling was, however, condemned as “political’ by Anna Zalewska, a former government minister and now MEP for the PiS party that ruled Poland from 2015-2023 and was now the main opposition.
“The “green” verdict of the court has caused great concern in Lower Silesia,” she said, referring to the region in which Turow was located. “The 60,000 people working in the mines, power stations and their subsidiary companies were already sleeping soundly, thinking they had a secure job until 2044.”
When it was in power, PiS vociferously opposed the closure of the mine, arguing that it was an important pillar of Poland’s energy security and vital part of the local economy.
The head of the branch of the Solidarity trade union that operated at the mine, Wojciech Ilnicki, told the Polish Press Agency (PAP) that the new ruling, if upheld, in effect meant that the mine would not be able to operate beyond 2026.
“In 2026, if we don’t have a new concession, this ruling stops mining. We won’t get a new concession in such a short time – that’s impossible given the whole procedure, including the cross-border procedure. So this decision says unequivocally that after 2026 Turow will up be for closure,” he said.
The owner of the mine, state energy firm PGE GiEK, announced that it was still waiting for the written justification for the ruling before commenting. The current government, which replaced PiS in power in December 2023, had not yet commented. (Notes from Poland/Ukrainian metal)