Anna Moskwa made the statement via Twitter on Tuesday, Polish state news agency PAP reported.
'Polish government will not allow mining to be stopped'
The climate and environment minister wrote: “The Turów complex helps ensure energy security for Poland and the region for the coming years. The Polish government will not allow mining to be stopped. We won’t allow thousands of jobs to be lost for the people of the region.”
She added: “Mining will continue for as long as possible and needed.”
Earlier in the day, the Frank Bold Foundation, the environmental organisation Greenpeace and fellow green group EKO-UNIA said in a joint statement that the Regional Administrative Court in Warsaw had suspended the Turów mine’s environmental licence due to “the danger of significant damage to the environment,” the PAP news agency reported.
The three NGOs added that “on the basis of this environmental licence, Poland’s Climate and Environment in February 2023 extended Turów’s lignite-mining permit.”
In late 2022, the Frank Bold Foundation, Greenpeace and EKO-UNIA filed a suit against Turów’s environmental licence before the Regional Administrative Court in Warsaw, according to the PAP news agency.
The three NGOs noted that Tuesday’s verdict could be appealed against to Poland’s Supreme Administrative Court.
Gov’t won’t accept ‘illegal court verdict’: PM
Meanwhile, Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki said on Tuesday evening that the verdict issued by the Regional Administrative Court in Warsaw was “scandalous” and “illegal,” and vowed the government would “do everything” for it to be cancelled.
The prime minister wrote on Facebook: “The government won’t accept the illegal judgement, issued the Regional Administrative Court in Warsaw today, ordering the Turów mine to halt operations.”
He added: “We can’t implement this verdict and will do everything for it to be cancelled.”
Morawiecki stated: “The adjacent Turów power plant produces 8 percent of Poland’s energy. Today’s verdict means a suspension of the permit that allows Turów to mine lignite after 2026.”
The prime minister announced: “Tomorrow I will visit Turów together with Deputy Prime Minister Jacek Sasin to express our opposition to this scandalous verdict.”
Poland's Minister for European Affairs, Szymon Szynkowski vel Sęk, told state broadcaster TVP Info that Tuesday’s judgement by the Regional Administrative Court in Warsaw was “unenforceable, because it cannot be implemented without jeopardising Poland’s energy security.”
Szynkowski vel Sęk added that implementing the judgement would “cause extraordinary social and economic harm.”
He stated: “We’ll take all possible measures to have this judgement cancelled and we definitely won’t implement it,” the PAP news agency reported.
The open-cast Turów lignite mine is located in southwestern Poland, near the Czech border, news outlets noted.
(pm/gs)
Source: IAR, PAP, tvp.info
