Case study: Brown coal mining in the Usti region: Difference between revisions

The region richness in [http://www.czp.cuni.cz/vcsewiki/index.php/Ore_mountains_-_region_and_history#Energy_reserves energy reserves] was exploited under the [http://www.czp.cuni.cz/vcsewiki/index.php/Ore_mountains_-_region_and_history#Communist_heavy_industry_base communist regime] that absolutely did not care about neither long not short term consequences of its political decisions. Result of this strategy was not only devastation of the local nature and society but also potential large safety threats.

The need to carry out the appropriate monitoring of the Ore Mountains was obvious already under the communist regime – Jan Marek then used a special shaft under Jezeří castle and provided insight into the geological information of confidential documents to the Regional National Committee officials and decision-makers that were responsible for land use. The mathematical models he developer clearly demonstrated the safety risks also to the outcrops of coal seams under the southern slopes of the Ore Mountains. They proved that that if indeed mining the coal seam outcrops loosened the southern slopes of the Ore Mountains, as had already occurred at the ČS Armády (ČSA) mine west of Jezeří castle, owing to the nature of the bow and transformed crystalline layers of wrinkles and spatial orientation fractures and fissures in the solid, massive landslides at the mine slopes would be a real threat. This had security implications for the workforce of the mine and threatened the collapse not only of the diverted water system around the pit, but also the transport and technical infrastructure and mine function as such. According to the mathematical models, surface blocks would have to be anchored deep into the slopes, surface water would be captured and redirected by artificial troughs around the pit with devastating effect on the beech forests on the southern slopes.  

Evaluation of the safety and stability of pillar slopes of the Ore Mountains in the upper section of Černice-Horní Jiřetín at 300 m above sea level (done by Marie Lafarová in 80ies) showed that the protective pillar would have about 120 million tons of coal removed, unduly narrowing the coalface to the east. This was not acceptable and an alternative proposal was made to mine to the seam outcrop, which would mean mining to a height of 400 meters above sea level! The model showed that even mining to 300 meters above sea level would not save the beech forests on the slopes due to the need to capture surface water. In order to divert the Šramnický and Albrechtický streams, mining would have to stop at 270 m above sea level which, however, addressed only the protection of the slope, rather than the wider question of saving the residential areas and landscape. <ref name = Riha>Říha,M., Stoklasa, J., Lafarová, M., Dejmal, I., Marek, J., Pakosta, P., Beránek, K. Environmental mining limits in North Bohemian Lignite Region. Společnost pro krajinu, Praha 2005. Translation: Petr Kurfürst. Updated for the ISPoS summer school in September, 2011</ref>

[[File:Hranice dobyvaciho prostoru severoceskych hnedouhelnych lomu CSA (1991).jpg|200px|thumb|left|The border of the mining area of the North Bohemia brown coal Czechoslovak Army Mine 1991)]]

One of the first steps of the new government after November 1989 concerning the environment was to define priorities which, among other things, resulted in a definition of “affected areas”, for which “environmental improvement programmes” were successively adopted. The one for the North Bohemian Basin was passed already in 1990.

In November 1991, the Government passed Resolution no. 444/1991, defining “territorial ecological limits to lignite mining” including “binding delineation for mining and spoil bank restriction”. Among others, the limits saved the settlements of Spořice, Droužkovice, Březno, Černovice, Chomutov, Jirkov, Černice and Horní Jiřetín, which were to fall prey to approaching extraction. By ruling out the establishment of Bylany mine, they additionally saved the settlements of Havraň, Koporeč, Lišnice, Nemilkov, Polerady and Saběnice, situated over the Bylany seam, unexploited so far.

The ecological limits to mining set by the Government Resolution protect the nature and landscape of the mountainside, its base and the landscape enclave below it, including the settlements of Černice and Horní Jiřetín. It has been confirmed that the set territorial ecological limits to opencast mining are based on objective knowledge of reality in the area (which is, in addition, being enhanced with new experience with the instability of the hillsides and the adjacent mountain base) and have to be respected without exception and as definitive. What is more – as demonstrated by the several landslides in the recent years (including one comprising 3 million cubic metres), with cracks and drops interfering with the buffer zone in the Chateau Jezeří arboretum – it is desirable to stop earth removal for ČSA mine even before it reaches the delineated limit. The alternative that respects the limits rules out any direct or indirect adverse interference with the most valuable portion of the Ore Mountains side and threatening of the territory below it. It enables the preservation of the existing network of watercourses in the territory along with the adjacent ecological stabilisation elements, and shifts the pit that will remain after ČSA mine to an acceptable distance from the mountainside. The area intact by opencast mining comprises the entire natural surface area between the Ore Mountains side and former Obránců míru mine, including the margins of Albrechtice spoil bank.<ref name = Riha></ref>

Preserving and developing the enclave in the mountainside forefield in the immediately vicinity of Chateau Jezeří will save the settlements of Horní Jiřetín and Černice and the irreplaceable natural and landscape pool and potential for renewing the devastated landscape of the Most section of the Basin. What is more important, its connection with Chateau Jezeří may make it (as it was historically) an important cultural and tourist centre of the Basin, and a place from which the country rehabilitated after the mining one day may be managed. Černice and Horní Jiřetín are priceless not only for their inhabitants, but also for the future settlement in the entire Basin: they maintain its continuity. Respecting the territorial mining limits will also preserve the existing access route to Chateau Jezeří and, even more importantly, to the municipalities of Hora Svaté Kateřiny and Nová Ves v Horách and the mountain summit area.

The year 2005 was determined as the horizon for the current state energy policy in 1991. Admittedly, due to pressures from the MoE, the regional and municipal authorities and the public, the State Energy Policy (SEP) in force, passed in 2004, did not contain a provision that the limits ought to be lifted. On the other hand, it did not confirm their continued – not to mention permanent – validity. Quite the opposite is true: it called for their rational review, albeit while respecting environmental concerns. A draft updated SEP is expected to be presented to the Government for discussion by the end of 2011: it will influence the further development in the Ústí nad Labem Region. The position of the updated SEP on the territorial ecological limits (TEL) cannot be foreknown. The Programme Announcement of the Government does not rely on breaking through the limits, but it does say that, should the mining company and owners of the properties reach agreement, an administrative process may start that may (and may not) lead to commencing extraction in the area.

The State Energy Policy (2004) assumes that in 15 years’ time it would be clearer whether the new political and economic conditions and the new mining and environmental management legislation have compelled the mining and power companies to faster, more extensive and better land reclamation, returning a larger portion of the country for cultural uses, or whether the mining technologies and protection of areas from its consequences have improved so much that the public might have a different perception of, and “tolerance” for mining approaching closer to inhabited settlements due to it being performed by a method different than opencast;

Nevertheless, when the last valid version of the State Energy Policy was discussed and its environmental impacts assessed, it turned out that not one of its assumptions had been met, in spite of some advances. Nor had the Mining Act changed in the desired direction.<ref name = Riha></ref>