Rut Bízková (born 19 July 1957) was the Minister of Environment of the

Czech Republic The Czech Republic, also known as Czechia, and historically known as Bohemia, is a landlocked country in Central Europe. The country is bordered by Austria to the south, Germany to the west, Poland to the northeast, and Slovakia to the south ...

. She was appointed on 16 April 2010, succeeding Jakub Šebesta, who had in turn briefly succeeded Jan Dusík after the latter's resignation in March 2010.

Career

Bízková was educated at Prague's

Institute of Chemical Technology An institute is an organizational body created for a certain purpose. They are often research organisations (research institutes) created to do research on specific topics, or can also be a professional body. In some countries, institutes ca ...

, and began her career at the Nuclear Research Institute in

Řež Řež () is a village and administrative part of Husinec (Prague-East District), Husinec in the Central Bohemian Region of the Czech Republic. Řež is the site of a nuclear physics, nuclear research centre, where the first nuclear reactor in the ...

. She spent three months in 1993 working for the

International Atomic Energy Agency The International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) is an intergovernmental organization that seeks to promote the peaceful use of nuclear technology, nuclear energy and to inhibit its use for any military purpose, including nuclear weapons. It was ...

in Vienna, before being appointed press spokeswoman for coal power plants of ČEZ Group, the Czech Republic's major power generation company. Her first government post was as the Environment Ministry's director of public affairs; she held other posts within the ministry til 2004, when she moved to its subsidiary CENIA (the Czech Environmental Information Agency). In 2006 she moved from CENIA's deputy directorship to the post of deputy environment minister in 2006, where she remained until her full ministerial appointment.

Career as environment minister

Prunéřov II

Among Bízková's early acts as minister, in late April 2010, was to approve the renovation of the Prunéřov II

coal power plant A coal-fired power station or coal power plant is a thermal power station which burns coal to generate electricity. Worldwide there are about 2,500 coal-fired power stations, on average capable of generating a gigawatt each. They generate ...

. The 1bn euro works, set to improve the plant's efficiency and extend its operational life by 25 years, were signed off despite an unusual legal protest from the

Federated States of Micronesia The Federated States of Micronesia (, abbreviated FSM), or simply Micronesia, is an island country in Micronesia, a region of Oceania. The federation encompasses the majority of the Caroline Islands (excluding Palau) and consists of four Admin ...

(FSM). The FSM, a Pacific island nation, objected that coal burning and the associated release of

carbon dioxide Carbon dioxide is a chemical compound with the chemical formula . It is made up of molecules that each have one carbon atom covalent bond, covalently double bonded to two oxygen atoms. It is found in a gas state at room temperature and at norma ...

, a

greenhouse gas Greenhouse gases (GHGs) are the gases in the atmosphere that raise the surface temperature of planets such as the Earth. Unlike other gases, greenhouse gases absorb the radiations that a planet emits, resulting in the greenhouse effect. T ...

, contributed to the

global warming Present-day climate change includes both global warming—the ongoing increase in global average temperature—and its wider effects on Earth's climate system. Climate change in a broader sense also includes previous long-term changes ...

, and resulting

effects Effect may refer to: * A result or change of something ** List of effects ** Cause and effect, an idiom describing causality Pharmacy and pharmacology * Drug effect, a change resulting from the administration of a drug ** Therapeutic effect, ...

that threatened to engulf island states. The international environmental pressure group

Greenpeace Greenpeace is an independent global campaigning network, founded in Canada in 1971 by a group of Environmental movement, environmental activists. Greenpeace states its goal is to "ensure the ability of the Earth to nurture life in all its biod ...

criticized Bízková's decision, calling attention to her status as a former employee of the plant's operator.

Spring 2010 flooding

In her capacity as chair of the Czech Central Flood Commission, Bízková led the Czech Republic's response to the

May–June 2010 Central European floods The 2010 Central European floods were a devastating series of weather events which occurred across several Central European countries during May and June 2010. Poland was the worst affected. Austria, the Czech Republic, Hungary, Slovakia and Serb ...

. She urged local government officials to take action to build defences against future flooding, earmarking 3.45 billion koruna from government budgets for such works.

Personal life

Bízková is married and has one child.

References

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Bizkova, Rut 1957 births Living people Environment ministers of the Czech Republic Civic Democratic Party (Czech Republic) Government ministers