Apparently, the energy giant RWE wants to create facts and convert the village at the Garzweiler opencast mine into company premises as quickly as possible
For a long time it was like a ping-pong game: In its coalition agreement at the end of 2021, the traffic light stipulated that five villages in the north of the Garzweiler opencast mine would no longer be excavated for lignite mining; However, the Higher Administrative Court of Münster had to decide about Lützerath, the hamlet in the south.
The court then gave the ball back to politics at the end of March and rejected the lawsuit brought by the last Lützerath farmer against his expropriation on the grounds that it contained “climate policy demands that have no basis in current law and should be addressed to the legislature”.
In the meantime, the Bundestag has endorsed the preservation of Lützerath in connection with the replacement power plant availability law, and the new black-green NRW state government has also signaled that the last word on the subject of Lützerath has not yet been spoken. Environment Minister Oliver Krischer (Greens) emphasized in several interviews: “RWE has the right to excavate the coal there. That has been sued. So this question can only be clarified in discussions with RWE.”
In a study from the end of April, the German Institute for Economic Research came to the conclusion that the security of supply should not play a role in this question: “If Russian energy sources were not used, there would be a short-term higher utilization of the lignite-fired power plants in the three regions (Rhineland , Leipziger Land, Lusatia).
However, it is certain that there are more than sufficient reserves in the opencast lignite mines within the framework of the current district plans and key decisions for the lignite power generation that is still required. The excavation of other villages because of the underlying lignite deposits is not necessary for the lignite power requirement. This also applies to the towns of Lützerath in the Rhineland and Mühlrose in Lusatia.”
In this energy and climate policy, but also democratically difficult situation, RWE has been accelerating the surface expansion of the opencast mine in front of Lützerath as well as in front of the “saved” places in a way that, according to experts, is irreversible. The group even attempted to build a mound of earth around Lützerath, which would turn the previously publicly accessible site into company premises. After about a hundred meters of wall had been piled up, activists were initially able to stop the attempt with blockades. However, RWE’s action fueled fears that there was little respect for the democratic efforts on the corporate side.
“I’m looking at Lützerath with great concern,” says opencast mine resident David Dresen from Kuckum. “RWE seems seriously committed to destroying the threatened village of Lützerath this year.” Once again, the coal company is provoking an escalation, although there is no need for it, complains Dresen: “The existing coal in the opencast mine is easily enough to supply the energy for the next few years.”
Therefore, the Green member of the state parliament Antje Grothus, who already represented the concerns of residents in the coal commission, appealed: “We are sticking to the coal phase-out by 2030. The extensions to the open-cast mining area that have already been completed are sufficient to ensure the power supply for years to come. The upsurge on the part of RWE is causing unrest in the situation on site.” With a view to social peace, according to Grothus, “the company should not close its eyes to the search for joint solutions and amicable coal planning and wait for the upcoming talks with the state government”.
Dirk Jansen, Managing Director of the BUND in North Rhine-Westphalia, would like to see more courage and less diplomatic balancing act from politicians. Because the lignite in the developed area is enough for at least five years, even taking into account the energy crisis.
At the same time, the main operating plan for the opencast mine expires at the end of the year, and RWE is absolutely dependent on the agreement of the state government. “For me, this means a clear mandate for Economics Minister Mona Neubaur to obtain a moratorium,” says Jansen. “If RWE were to insist on its right to destroy Lützerath, that would be a clear affront to the state government. And only these, the representatives of the people, are what matters now.”
