A proposal to reinstitute domestic brown coal and uranium mining is pitting the Industry and Trade Ministry against environmentalists and local governments, as well as drawing the ire of other government institutions.
The ministry is under scrutiny following its mid July publication of the Government Energy Blueprint, a document outlining the country's energy mix until 2040. Emphasizing the expanded future role of nuclear energy and continued use of fossil fuels at the expense of renewables the blueprint draws on a lesser known draft policy that details potential new sources of domestic energy.
That document the Energy and Raw Materials Policy proposes to go beyond brown coal mining limits and re open uranium mines; it has raised widespread concerns regarding the financial and environmental sustainability of the Industry and Trade Ministry's long term visions.
Disagreeing with the policy, several NGOs and municipal politicians launched a Web portal, Energetickakoncepce.cz, earlier this month that empowers Czechs to file their comments on the two strategic documents.
The organizations disagree with the suggested energy mix the Czech Republic should have by 2040. Many of these objections resonate within the ministries that responded to the draft policy with serious reservations.
Mr Jan Srytr of Green Circle environmental NGO said that "EU and international agreements require that citizens may participate effectively. This means from the beginning, when there are still alternatives and real choices. We don't think this condition was fulfilled."
Environmentalists are particularly alarmed by a ministry proposal to raise quotas for brown coal mining which results in high carbon emissions.
At the moment, a legal barrier limits the amount of brown coal that may be extracted from specific mines. In all but one of the country's seven biggest mines, these limits will be reached around 2035. Only at the Ceskoslovenská armáda mine, located in north Bohemia, those limits might be reached as early as 2018. The mine is owned by Pavel Tykac's Czech Coal.
Together with environmental NGOs, the mayors of potentially affected villages said they see no reason existing mining limits on brown coal should ever be breached. They fear the vague wording of the policy documents may facilitate a complete or partial change of the limits without the input of affected citizens.
Mr Vladimír Buřt deputy mayor of Horní Jiřetín said that "Recently, two independent commissions established by the government to evaluate the energy needs of the Czech Republic concluded we don't need brown coal beyond the existing limits. And Petr Necas' government has respected the limits in its program. Now, Industry and Trade Minister Martin Kuba wants to enable the opposite."
Finance Ministry officials said that they cannot agree with the drafted compensation mechanism adding the source of financing this subsidy is unclear, would transfer the market risks onto the taxpayer. We disagree with [the notion of] including nuclear energy among the supported energy resources.
In this sense, the Finance Ministry holds an opinion similar to that of Greenpeace or Calla, a small environmental organization. NGOs also maintain the Industry and Trade Ministry's proposals fail to balance its open support for nuclear energy, brown coal and other fossil fuels with corresponding energy-saving policies.
Source - Praguepost.com
(www.coalguru.com)
Policy, Steam, Czech Republic
