Gąski (german: Funkenhagen) is a

village A village is a clustered human settlement or community, larger than a hamlet but smaller than a town (although the word is often used to describe both hamlets and smaller towns), with a population typically ranging from a few hundred to ...

in the administrative district of

Gmina Mielno __NOTOC__ Gmina Mielno is an urban-rural gmina (administrative district) in Koszalin County, West Pomeranian Voivodeship, in north-western Poland. Its seat is the village of Mielno, a resort on the Baltic Sea coast. The gmina covers an area of , a ...

, within

Koszalin County __NOTOC__ Koszalin County ( pl, powiat koszaliński) is a unit of territorial administration and local government (powiat) in West Pomeranian Voivodeship, north-western Poland, on the Baltic coast. It came into being on January 1, 1999, as a result ...

West Pomeranian Voivodeship The West Pomeranian Voivodeship, also known as the West Pomerania Province, is a voivodeship (province) in northwestern Poland. Its capital and largest city is Szczecin. Its area equals 22 892.48 km² (8,838.84 sq mi), and in 2021, it was i ...

, in north-western Poland. It lies approximately west of

Koszalin Koszalin (pronounced ; csb, Kòszalëno; formerly german: Köslin, ) is a city in northwestern Poland, in Western Pomerania. It is located south of the Baltic Sea coast, and intersected by the river Dzierżęcinka. Koszalin is also a county-stat ...

and north-east of the regional capital

Szczecin Szczecin (, , german: Stettin ; sv, Stettin ; Latin: ''Sedinum'' or ''Stetinum'') is the capital and largest city of the West Pomeranian Voivodeship in northwestern Poland. Located near the Baltic Sea and the German border, it is a major s ...

. It is located on the

Slovincian Coast The Slovincian Coast ( pl, Wybrzeże Słowińskie; csb, Słowińsczé Ùbrzeżé) ( 313.41) is a mesoregion, the northernmost part of the Koszalin Coast, with an area of 1132 km2. The highest hill is Rowokół, at 114,8 metres above sea le ...

. The village has a population of 400. Gąski is one of the most popular tourists' destination on Polish coast for its beautiful beaches and nature, aiming at

sustainable development Sustainable development is an organizing principle for meeting human development goals while also sustaining the ability of natural systems to provide the natural resources and ecosystem services on which the economy and society depend. The des ...

Nuclear power station

As a result of intense civic mobilisation, a

referendum A referendum (plural: referendums or less commonly referenda) is a direct vote by the electorate on a proposal, law, or political issue. This is in contrast to an issue being voted on by a representative. This may result in the adoption of a ...

was held in February 2012, in which 94% of the citizens of

Mielno Mielno (german: Groß Möllen or ) is a resort town in Koszalin County, West Pomeranian Voivodeship, in north-western Poland. It is the seat of the gmina (administrative district) called Gmina Mielno. It lies approximately north-west of Koszalin ...

voted against the building of a

nuclear power station A nuclear power plant (NPP) is a thermal power station in which the heat source is a nuclear reactor. As is typical of thermal power stations, heat is used to generate steam that drives a steam turbine connected to a generator that produces elec ...

in the village of Gąski. The citizens' protest had been supported by members of two biggest parliamentary political groups (otherwise supportive for nuclear power):

Civic Platform Civic Platform ( pl, Platforma Obywatelska, PO)The party is officially the Civic Platform of the Republic of Poland (''Platforma Obywatelska Rzeczypospolitej Polskiej''). is a political party in Poland. It is currently led by Donald Tusk. It w ...

(Koszalin MP Marek Hok) and

Law and Justice Law and Justice ( pl, Prawo i Sprawiedliwość , PiS) is a right-wing populist and national-conservative political party in Poland. Its chairman is Jarosław Kaczyński. It was founded in 2001 by Jarosław and Lech Kaczyński as a direct su ...

(Koszalin MP

Czesław Hoc Czesław Hoc (born 22 February 1954) is a Polish politician. He was elected to the Sejm on 25 September 2005, getting 10,746 votes in the 40-Koszalin district, as a candidate of the Law and Justice. Prior to his entry into politics, Hoc was a doct ...

), as well as non-parliamentary

Green Party A green party is a formally organized political party based on the principles of green politics, such as social justice, environmentalism and nonviolence. Greens believe that these issues are inherently related to one another as a foundation ...

and councillors of nearby city of

Kołobrzeg Kołobrzeg ( ; csb, Kòlbrzég; german: Kolberg, ), ; csb, Kòlbrzég , is a port city in the West Pomeranian Voivodeship in north-western Poland with about 47,000 inhabitants (). Kołobrzeg is located on the Parsęta River on the south coast o ...

. "Ecological Kołobrzeg" association also supported protests in 2012. Despite the protests and referendum results, the Polish government still insists on the location of NPP in Gąski, although the entire Polish nuclear programme is on a 7-year delay (as of 2015). The first NPP is now planned not earlier than 2027 (the initial plan was 2020 and the government related its construction to goals of 2020 climate-energy package of the EU). In June 2016, state-owned energy company PGE EJ1 announced that it had withdrawn from the NPP project in Gąski. Green Institute Foundation supports Gąski and Mielno to develop its own

renewable energy Renewable energy is energy that is collected from renewable resources that are naturally replenished on a human timescale. It includes sources such as sunlight, wind, the movement of water, and geothermal heat. Although most renewable energy ...

capacity (prosumer, co-operative or communal) co-organising "

Energy democracy Energy democracy is a concept developed within the environmental justice movement that pairs the renewable energy transition with efforts to democratize the production and management of energy resources— including the social ownership of energy i ...

" campaign together with Mielno authorities.Demokracja energetyczna - zachodniopomorskie
in Polish

References

Populated coastal places in Poland Seaside resorts in Poland Villages in Koszalin County Nuclear power in Poland {{Koszalin-geo-stub

Nuclear power station

See also

References