The Turów coal mine () or KWB Turów, is a large

open pit mine Open-pit mining, also known as open-cast or open-cut mining and in larger contexts mega-mining, is a surface mining technique that extracts rock or minerals from the earth. Open-pit mines are used when deposits of commercially useful ore or r ...

in the southwest of

Poland Poland, officially the Republic of Poland, is a country in Central Europe. It extends from the Baltic Sea in the north to the Sudetes and Carpathian Mountains in the south, bordered by Lithuania and Russia to the northeast, Belarus and Ukrai ...

, located outside Bogatynia,

Lower Silesia Lower Silesia ( ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ) is a historical and geographical region mostly located in Poland with small portions in the Czech Republic and Germany. It is the western part of the region of Silesia. Its largest city is Wrocław. The first ...

. It feeds the nearby

Turów Power Station Turów Power Station is a coal-fired power station 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 ...

. In March 2024 a Warsaw court found the EIA for mining from 2026 to be invalid, but the owner is appealing. Unlike the other coal-dependent parts of Poland, a

just transition Just transition is a concept that emerged in the 1980s through efforts by U.S. trade unions to protect workers' rights and livelihoods as economies shift to sustainable production, primarily protecting workers affected by environmental regulati ...

for

coal phase-out Coal phase-out is an environmental policy intended to stop burning coal in coal-fired power plants and elsewhere, and is part of fossil fuel phase-out. The health and environmental benefits of coal phase-out, such as limiting Respiratory dise ...

has not yet been planned as of 2024.

Operations

Situated 55 km west of

Jelenia Góra Jelenia Góra (; ; ) is a historic city in southwestern Poland, within the historical region of Lower Silesia. Jelenia Góra is situated in the Lower Silesian Voivodeship, close to the Karkonosze mountain range running along the Polish-Czech bo ...

, 80 km east of

Dresden Dresden (; ; Upper Saxon German, Upper Saxon: ''Dräsdn''; , ) is the capital city of the States of Germany, German state of Saxony and its second most populous city after Leipzig. It is the List of cities in Germany by population, 12th most p ...

Germany Germany, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It lies between the Baltic Sea and the North Sea to the north and the Alps to the south. Its sixteen States of Germany, constituent states have a total popu ...

, and 20 km northwest of

Liberec Liberec (; ) is a city in the Czech Republic. It has about 108,000 inhabitants, making it the fifth largest city in the country. It lies on the Lusatian Neisse River, in a basin surrounded by mountains. The city centre is well preserved and is pr ...

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 ...

, the Turów mine forms part of an area widely known as the "

Black Triangle Black triangle may refer to: Places * Black Triangle (region), across Germany, Poland and the Czech Republic, long characterized by extremely high levels of pollution * Black triangle, the nickname given to the area south of Montreal affected by a ...

" due to its past heavy industrial pollution, covering portions of eastern Germany, southwestern Poland and northern Czech Republic. The Turów mine, operated by Polska Grupa Energetyczna, represents one of the largest

lignite Lignite (derived from Latin ''lignum'' meaning 'wood'), often referred to as brown coal, is a soft, brown, combustible sedimentary rock formed from naturally compressed peat. It has a carbon content around 25–35% and is considered the lowest ...

reserves in

, with an estimated reserve of 760 million tonnes of

coal Coal is a combustible black or brownish-black sedimentary rock, formed as rock strata called coal seams. Coal is mostly carbon with variable amounts of other Chemical element, elements, chiefly hydrogen, sulfur, oxygen, and nitrogen. Coal i ...

. The annual coal production of Turów is around 27.7 million tonnes. Lignite was found near Turasów in 1740. Between 1836 and 1869, almost 70 shafts were excavated. The owners of these mines organized the joint stock company Hercules in 1904, and three years later began strip mining. In 1925 the cap rock was dumped north of the mine. After the

Second World War World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

, in 1947, a Polish organization took the mine over from the Soviet military administration and KWB Turów came into existence.

Power Station

Nearby

is fuelled by lignite extracted from the Turów coal mine. The first unit of the power station was commissioned in 1962. The power station is the fifth largest source of greenhouse emissions in Poland and was the eighth least efficient power station in the EU in 2007. A new 496 MW unit was brought online in May 2021. In 2022 the plant was the 9th biggest carbon emitter in the European Union, with over 11 million tCO2e.

Legality

The mine's license was set to expire in April 2020, but in March 2020, the Polish government extended it by another six years. The Polish government agreed to PGE Group's wish to continue mining at the site until 2044, when its coal deposits are expected to be fully depleted. Later, the Polish government announced that the mine would be shut down by 2044, claiming this to be in line with the EU's plans to cut emissions. PGE Group's move to expand the mine is facing opposition from the Czech government, as nearby Czech and German communities say that the environmental impact from the mine is severely affecting their quality of life, and threatening survival of several villages close to the border by causing their wells to dry up. According to a geological study, continued mining also risks causing soil

subsidence Subsidence is a general term for downward vertical movement of the Earth's surface, which can be caused by both natural processes and human activities. Subsidence involves little or no horizontal movement, which distinguishes it from slope mov ...

in the

German German(s) may refer to: * Germany, the country of the Germans and German things **Germania (Roman era) * Germans, citizens of Germany, people of German ancestry, or native speakers of the German language ** For citizenship in Germany, see also Ge ...

town of

Zittau Zittau (; ; ; ; ; Lusatian dialects, Upper Lusatian dialect: ''Sitte''; ) is the southeasternmost city in the Germany, German state of Saxony, and belongs to the Görlitz (district), district of Görlitz, Germany's easternmost Districts of Germ ...

. In February 2021, the

sued Poland over the mine at the

European Court of Justice The European Court of Justice (ECJ), officially the Court of Justice (), is the supreme court of the European Union in matters of European Union law. As a part of the Court of Justice of the European Union, it is tasked with interpreting ...

, the first time that an

EU member state The European Union (EU) is a political and economic union of 27 member states that are party to the EU's founding treaties, and thereby subject to the privileges and obligations of membership. They have agreed by the treaties to share their o ...

had sued another one over an environmental issue. In May 2021, Poland defied an injunction by the court that ordered the immediate closure of the mine, claiming it would have an adverse impact on the country's energy system and lead to the loss of thousands of jobs. The claim was refuted by studies of the

renewable energy Renewable energy (also called green energy) is energy made from renewable resource, renewable natural resources that are replenished on a human lifetime, human timescale. The most widely used renewable energy types are solar energy, wind pow ...

alternatives for the region, which were estimated to produce between 800 and 4,100 jobs more than the coal mine and plant while saving over

€ The euro sign () is the currency sign used for the euro, the official currency of the eurozone. The design was presented to the public by the European Commission on 12 December 1996. It consists of a stylized letter E (or epsilon), crossed by t ...

13 billion in electricity production costs over 25 years. Because Poland had not ceased lignite extraction activities at the Turów mine, on 20 September 2021, the Vice-President of the Court ordered Poland to pay the European Commission a daily penalty payment of half a million euros, but the Polish continued to defy the ruling. After Poland settled the case with the Czech Republic in 2022, the Court in 2024 confirmed a fine of 68 million euros for the delay in compliance. In 2023 the Polish government once again renewed the plant's permit until 2044. The decision is subject to legal proceedings, with one case at Voivodship Administrative Court in Warsaw suspended in 2023 until other proceedings are resolved.

Environmental impact

The Turów coal mine has a significant impact on surrounding areas and their ground and surface waters. An analysis of hydrologist Sylwester Kraśnicki predicts devastating effects on local rivers, including droughts,

water shortage Water scarcity (closely related to water stress or water crisis) is the lack of fresh water resources to meet the standard water demand. There are two types of water scarcity. One is ''physical.'' The other is ''economic water scarcity''. Physic ...

, and continued degradation of chemical compositions of the

Lusatian Neisse The Lusatian Neisse (; ; ; Upper Sorbian: ''Łužiska Nysa''; Lower Sorbian: ''Łužyska Nysa''), or Western Neisse, is a river in northern Central Europe.

river, among others. Water shortage already causes the surrounding nature to die, while some villages lost access to running water and have to rely on firefighters to deliver water tanks.

Gallery

File:TurowCoalMine.jpg, Coal mine and Turów power station File:Wikiexpedice Dolní Slezsko, Důl Bogatynia 01.jpg, Mine from the south in 2019 File:Turow2012.jpg, Coal mining (2012) File:Wikiexpedice Dolní Slezsko, Důl Bogatynia 03.jpg, Mining structures by the road on the south

References

External links

Official site
{{DEFAULTSORT:Turow Coal Mine Buildings and structures in Lower Silesian Voivodeship Coal mines in Poland Open-pit mines Zgorzelec County Czech Republic–Poland relations Germany–Poland relations