WARSAW — The Polish government said it will ignore a court ruling suspending an environmental permit for one of the country’s largest lignite coal mines.
The ruling was issued by a Warsaw court on May 31 and made public on Tuesday. The case had been filed by Polish, Czech and German environmental groups, complaining about an environmental permit issued last year for an expansion of the Turów mine located near the Czech and German borders in southwestern Poland.
The court found that the permit — valid from 2026 to 2044 — was issued in breach of EU environmental regulations.
“It should be pointed out that the probability that the [permit] is defective cannot be ruled out,” the court said, adding: “Further mining under the conditions set out in the permit … may lead to irreversible damage not only to the environment, but may also have a negative impact on the health of the inhabitants of nearby towns.”
That set off a storm of protest from the Polish government.
“We’re definitely not going to let this mine close. No court — whether in Brussels or in Warsaw — will dictate to us what energy and jobs security is,” Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki said in Turów on Wednesday.
Morawiecki called the court’s decision a win for “German lobbyists” working to subjugate Poland. He added that if the incumbent Law and Justice government wins a parliamentary election later this year, the mine would continue working.
Government spokesperson Piotr Müller called the court verdict “bizarre” and warned it would destabilize Polish energy markets.
The Turów mine is linked to a lignite-fired power plant that supplies about 7 percent of the country’s electricity. Poland has the most coal-reliant power system in the EU; the fuel generates about 70 percent of its electricity.
The government insists the transition away from coal has to happen slowly, but campaigners are calling for speed.
“We have a looming climate crisis, so Turów, like the rest of the outdated coal-fired power plants, should be shut down by 2030 at the latest,” said Anna Meres with Greenpeace Poland, adding: “The government, in defiance of energy trends and the cost that sticking with coal power entails, is fighting to prolong the agony of a sector based on burning fossil fuels.”
It’s not the first time that the Turów mine has been the subject to legal controversy.
The Czech Republic complained to Poland about the mine, saying it was negatively affecting people living on the Czech side of the border. The issue was taken up by the European Commission and ended up before the EU’s top court.
Warsaw was fined €68.5 million by the Court of Justice of the EU, money that was docked from the EU funds allocated to Poland. Warsaw also paid Prague €45 million to finance measures aimed at reducing the environmental impact of the mine, and in return the Czech government agreed not to complain again for five years.
Despite that dispute, the government and the state-owned PGE utility that owns the mine have insisted it must keep operating.
The Warsaw court’s decision can be appealed to Poland’s Supreme Administrative Court.
