Territorial limits to the mining of brown coal in North Bohemia are legally binding according to Resolution No. 444 passed in 1991 by the government of the Czech Republic, on the basis of a proposal tabled by the then Minister for the Environment, Ivan Dejmal. The limits define the areas that can be mined for lignite, as well as areas where coal reserves have been written off. There is now the prospect, however, that the limits will be breached and sanction given to increase coal mining further, which would involve the demolition of more communities within the currently demarcated limits, e.g. Horní Jiřetín and Černice.
The limits concern these mining localities: Czechoslovak Army Mine, , Vršany Mine, Bílina Mine and Nástup - Tušimice Mine.
This article focuses almost exclusively on the limits as they apply to mines in the Mostecko region roughly between the city of Most and the town of Litvínov operated by Czech Coal.
The reason for the setting of mining limits During the course of the 20th century, the Most Basin, an area of over 1100 km2, was heavily mined from Kadaň to Ústí nad Labem for brown coal for burning in a large number of thermal power stations, electrical power stations and factories. In the 1970s and 1980s, the mining increased on a massive scale, and because of the expansion of mining operations whole villages, towns and even cities (Most) were demolished to extract the coal that lay beneath;A total of 106 towns were destroyed as a result of mining, including the 650-year-old former royal city of Most their inhabitants were rehoused in large-scale new prefabricated panelled apartment buildings.
The low quality technology used for large-scale burning of brown coal led to a sharp increase in the content of harmful sulfur dioxide and aerosols in the atmosphere. The result was wholesale damage to the environment (such as the die-back of the forests in the Ore Mountains from acid rain) and human health. In view of the unsustainable situation, the first post-communist Czechoslovak government decided to resolve the situation by introducing desulphurization and aerosol removal from major state-owned power plants, and the setting of limits which specific mines should not go beyond in future. In areas that had already been mined, support was also given to the reclamation of damaged landscape. The limits hence served as a government guarantee to North Bohemian communities that their environment would no longer continue to deteriorate and that their very existence has a long-term future, i.e. that it is worth purchasing property there, building and renovating houses, reconstructing roads and utilities, establishing businesses, etc.
Support for breaching the mining limits The viability of these limits has long had doubt cast on them by the mining companies directly affected by the limits, Severočeské doly and the Czech Coal Group, and the electric power company ČEZ. While the official stance of Czech Prime Minister Petr NečasMy government will not break the brown coal mining limits, Nečas promises. Hospodařský noviny, 3.12.2011. and all political parties represented in the Czech parliament as of 2012 (apart from the Communist Party of Bohemia and MoraviaCommunist Party member of parliament, Karel Šidlo, stated “The Communist Party decided to support the breaching of the brown coal mining limits as a necessary condition for ensuring the long-term energy security and independence of the Czech Republic, which is a basis for the further development of the Czech economy. Further reasons are the maintenance of job opportunities and reducing the unemployment rate in a region which has been for a long time one of the highest in the Czech Republic.” ) was in favour of maintaining the North Bohemian mining limits, the miners have or have had the support of at least some individual national members of parliament. These include prominent members of the main government coalition partner, the Civic Democratic Party, such as deputy party leader and Trade and Industry Minister Martin KubaKuba pushed for the maintenance of the state’s right to expropriate private property as part of negotiations over a draft amendment to the Mining Act in case a decision is made in future to breach the current mining limits. "Kuba wants to keep the option of expropriation because of coal mining." Deník, 28.2.2012. A group of environmental NGOs has also accused Kuba and his Ministry of continuing to push for increased mining beyond the limits by promoting a raw materials policy that is completely at odds with the draft State Energy Strategy 2012 which is based on maintenance of the current limits. See "Kuba’s draft energy plan doesn’t count on mining beyond the coal limits, otherwise it’s worth nothing". Greenpeace press release, 7 November 2012. and Jan Bureš.Bureš is a member of the parliamentary subcommittee on energy who stated “Personally, I believe that breaching the limits is desirable, and the state, as the coal owner, should set conditions so that mining beyond today’s limits guarantees a supply of coal for an economically acceptable price for Czech heating plants”.
At the regional level, however, Social Democracy (SD) politicians in the Ústí nad Labem Region in which the mining limits apply have broken ranks with their national organisation by supporting a breach of the limits.The former deputy governor of the Ústí nad Labem Region for the SD, Pavel Kouda, is a well-known supporter of extended mining in the region, as is the SD district organisation in the city of Most. Kouda sent a letter on governor letterhead to the Ministry of Trade and Industry in late 2011 stating express support for the breaching of mining limits after 2014. "Ústí nad Labem Region supports breaching of coal mining limits". ČeskáPozice.cz, 28 December 2011. Following regional elections in 2012, the Communists emerged as the largest regional party in the Ústí nad Labem Region. The Communist Party won 25.26% of the popular vote in the region, which was over 9% more than its closest rival, the Czech Social Democratic Party (16.13%).Czech Statistics Office, 2012 Regional Election Results Its regional leader, Oldřich Bubeníček, restated the need from his party's perspective to breach the limits to maintain regional employment, albeit "only if the miners agree with the local inhabitants and there is proper compensation"."Future Governor Bubeníček: I didn’t hang Lenin on the wall! But I won’t take him down." Hospodařský noviny, 18 October 2012. Negotiations between the Communist Party, the Czech Social Democratic Party and Severočeši.cz on forming a coalition regional government indicated that there was general agreement on breaching the mining limits."A coalition of Social Democrats, Communists and North Bohemians is emerging in the Ústí nad Labem Region". iDnes.cz, 15 October 2012. After successfully negotiating a coalition government and becoming the first communist hejtman (governor) since the creation of independent regional governments following the 1989 Velvet Revolution, Bubeníček reiterated his support for repealing the limits:"The reason is the maintenance of hundreds of jobs"."Communist Governor begins to govern. He wants to breach the mining limits", Tyden, 23.11.2012
Other important energy policy stakeholders are also in favour of breaching the mining limits. The head of the Energy Regulatory Office, Alena Vitásková, for example, supports mining past the current limits in order to lower energy prices for consumers. "If the coal limits are breached, heating from coal will be the cheapest for customers, that’s obvious. I’m in favour of breaching the limits – that way we’ll get an energy source cheaper than gas and renewable sources.” "ERU head Vitásková: I’m for breaching the coal mining limits." Hospodařský noviny, 4 August 2011.
The co-owner of Severní energetická (formerly Litvínovská uhelná and which is part of the Czech Coal Group), Jan Dienstl, is the most accessible of the mining operators, and has never been averse to openly calling for the repealing of the mining limits. In his opinion, it is a clear issue of maintaining power and heating supplies to the Czech population and the state must categorically state whether it wants brown coal for its citizens or not. “And if not, somebody from the government must stand up and clearly say what will replace coal. Coal heats the houses of nearly three million people and the price of heating for them will increase by a half. It’s necessary to state very specifically who employs thousands of people who won’t have work in the region. Coal supplies cheap electricity and heating and employs people while it doesn’t need and doesn’t receive any subsidies.”Hájek, O., Město Horní Jiřetín čekají další léta nejistoty [More years of uncertainty await Horní Jiřetín], Mostecký deník, 10 January 2014
"There is no doubt… that the public discussion goes totally beyond a rational core. The main argument of the mining opponents is emotion, half-truths and sometimes unfortunately lies. For example, Šťovíček and Buřt came to their positions primarily on the basis that the citizens of Horní Jiřetín will live more years in total uncertainty in the future. And if mining ceases, it will mean that the local people will still have to live at least another 30 years on the edge of a mine, but without the money that the town gets from it today. Because of the winding down [of operations at the Czechoslovak Army Mine] we will pay Horní Jiřetín less from the mining of coal. And it is worth remembering that profit from the mining forms nearly half of the Horní Jiřetín budget, so the town will have to tighten its belt a lot without coal mining."
Opposition to dismantling the limits
Support for maintaining the limits and opposing expanded mining operations is led by a coalition of national NGOs, local civic associations and elected municipal officials from the towns most at threat from the lifting of the limits, e.g. Horní Jiřetín and Litvínov.
The most prominent opponent to expanded mining from among local municipal politicians is Vladimír Buřt, Mayor of Horní Jiřetín, who has been a member of the local council there since 2003. Buřt won a seat on the Ústí nad Labem regional council as a member of the Green Party on the Hnutí PRO kraj ticket in the 2012 regional elections.
Buřt has stated his conviction that in relation to Horní Jiřetín, there is little coal remaining following termination of coal mining operations in the town's cadastre in the late 1980s which made extensive use of deep mining technology, and therefore Horní Jiřetín represents more of a blockage to mining further afield rather than as a site resting on large coal reserves. "A large part of Jiřetín is built on the slopes of the Ore Mountains. If the miners wanted to get the rest of the coal directly under Jiřetín, they’d not only have to mine the built-up area, but also much of the slopes of the Ore Mountains. They'd have to remove the beech forests and hillsides up to another one hundred metres above the town. That in itself is incredible barbarity, and it’s nonsense of course from an economic point of view."Deník.cz, 22.2.2010. “Vladimír Buřt: Horní Jiřetín will certainly remain”.(Czech)