{"id":32321,"date":"2016-12-06T18:19:13","date_gmt":"2016-12-06T18:19:13","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.climatechangenews.com\/?p=32321"},"modified":"2017-01-04T13:59:52","modified_gmt":"2017-01-04T13:59:52","slug":"court-blocks-polish-coal-plant-in-victory-for-campaigners","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.climatechangenews.com\/2016\/12\/06\/court-blocks-polish-coal-plant-in-victory-for-campaigners\/","title":{"rendered":"Court blocks Polish coal plant, in victory for campaigners"},"content":{"rendered":"

Campaigners have won a court case to block construction of a 1.6GW coal plant in northern Poland.<\/strong><\/p>\n

Judges in Gdansk revoked permits for Polnoc power station on Tuesday, ruling that the district authority had not adequately consulted on the project.<\/p>\n

It is the latest in a series of legal challenges to an energy policy\u00a0that climate advocates fear will lock the Eastern European country into a polluting future.<\/p>\n

“The problem is that the completely new power plant will keep us in coal energy for the next 35-40 years,” said Malgorzata Smolak, lawyer with Client Earth, which brought the case in partnership with local NGOs.<\/p>\n

“We are against building new power plants; we promote renewables and a better energy mix in Poland.”<\/p>\n

Report:<\/strong>\u00a0EU warns Poland against \u2018backdoor subsidies\u2019 for coal<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Coal generates some 85% of electricity\u00a0in Poland and enjoys high level political support.<\/p>\n

Sunday was “miner’s day”, with prime minister Beata Szydlo promising<\/a> \u201ca time of serious investments that will pave the way for a good future for Polish mining.\u201d<\/p>\n

President Andrzej Duda was next to pay tribute to\u00a0coal miners,<\/a>\u00a0visiting Bogdanka yesterday.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt is obvious that coal is our primary energy source,” he said, as reported by Polskie Radio. “It cannot be replaced with wind energy, or any other energy, because this is not economically feasible.”<\/p>\n

The government backs an expansion of coal power generation capacity, not only to secure electricity supplies, but to make struggling\u00a0mines viable.<\/p>\n

Tuesday’s court ruling\u00a0shows that without gaining the acceptance of affected communities,\u00a0it is coal that may not be feasible.
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