Anti-coal mining area residents demand voice in coal exit commission

A broad anti-coal alliance of local residents, church representatives, politicians, and doctors demand participation in Germany’s upcoming coal exit commission, reports Thorsten Knuf in Frankfurter Rundschau. “As residents of lignite mining areas in the Rhineland, central Germany, and Lusatia, we are directly affected by the negative consequences of lignite mining and have fought for decades against relocation and the destruction of our home by opencast mining,” says a letter sent to economics and energy minister Peter Altmaier by the alliance, which consists of almost 50 regional players. . The coalition says it is outraged those directly affected have not been heard on the issue.
The special commission on growth, structural economic change and employment is supposed to find an end date for coal power in Germany in 2018 and define ways to manage the structural change. According to Handelsblatt, Chancellor Angela Merkel’s cabinet is due to approve the commission’s make-up on 16 May.

Read an article by Knuf on the issue in Kölner Stadt-Anzeiger (in German) here.

For background, read the factsheets When will Germany finally ditch coal? and Coal in Germany.