In February last year, the Czech Republic lodged a complaint against Poland over the mine licence extension

coal

Czech Republic and Poland have signed deal to settle dispute over Turow lignite mine. (Credit: nedu503 from Pixabay)

The Czech Republic has entered into an agreement with Poland to settle a dispute over environmental issues caused by Turow lignite mine located on the border of the two countries.

The agreement, signed by Polish Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki and Czech Republic Prime Minister Petr Fiala, enables to run Poland’s Turow open-pit mine and the adjacent Turow power plant.

In March 2020, Poland granted a six-year licence extension to the mine located in the Lower Silesian region of Poland, near the borders of both countries.

In February last year, the Czech Republic lodged a complaint against Poland over the mine licence extension, adding that the mine was draining of water from villages near the border, as well as causing other environmental impacts.

The European Court of Justice ordered Poland to stop operations at the mine, which was refused by Poland. The court imposed a daily fine of €500,000 on Poland for operation the mine.

Poland stated that it will not close the mine as it supplies a power plant that accounts for around 9% of the country’s energy generation.

As part of the settlement agreement, Poland has agreed to pay €45m compensation, of which €10m will be used for the environmental projects in the mine’s neighborhood, reports ABC News.

Turow is a huge open-pit coal mine located outside Bogatynia in south-western Poland. The Turow lignite deposit encompasses 2,487ha within the Turoszów brown coal basin in the Lower Silesian region of Poland, near the borders of the Czech Republic and Germany.

The Turow mine is estimated to hold more than 700 million tonnes (Mt) of lignite in proven and probable reserves. The mine is capable of producing more than 20Mt of brown coal a year