Natura 2000 Success! Polish coal mine construction halted

Great news just in from Poland, where work on the giant Jó?win IIB open-cast pit and coal mine near Konin has been suspended. Following a legal challenge submitted last December by Greenpeace, a Polish court has ruled that there were problems with the environmental assessment process undertaken before work began on the site. Construction has now been halted while the process is reviewed.

This is a big victory - Jó?win IIB was the site for our most recent Climate Rescue Station, set up last winter to remind delegates at the United Nations Climate Change Conference in nearby Pozna? that tackling climate change and building new coal-fired power stations are fundamentally incompatible aspirations. It will be particularly well-received by many of the peaceful activists who were attacked by mine workers at the end of last year during the protests.

This is a significant win in our battle against the mine, which if built would lead to around 50 million tonnes of CO2 being released into the atmosphere, the displacement of hundreds of local people, water pollution and land destruction in an ecosystem protected under the Natura 2000 network.


Sursa.