Thousands to relocate due to expansion of German lignite mine

More than a dozen villages are to be demolished and thousands of families relocated to make way for the expansion of Garzweiler opencast lignite mine, Stefanie Glinski reports for the Thomson Reuters Foundation. Located in the German federal state of North Rhine-Westphalia, the lignite mine is operated by Essen-based utility RWE. Villages across Germany are being bulldozed to make way for the mining of lignite, which RWE admits is a particularly environmentally harmful fuel source, Glinski writes. "Our expectation is that Garzweiler will be open until the middle of the century," Guido Steffen, RWE press officer, told the Thomas Reuters Foundation. "Germany is making radical changes, but even in the long run, in order to provide energy, we can't forgo conventional power plants."

Read the article in English here.

For background, read the article Commission watch – Managing Germany’s coal phase-out and the factsheets Germany’s coal exit commission and Germany’s three lignite mining regions.