Poland Issued Massive Daily Fine for Lignite Mine

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The European Union’s Court of Justice is forcing Poland to pay a huge daily fine – EUR 500,000 – for continuing to operate a lignite mine which had been ordered to cease extraction in May of this year.

Calling the fine exorbitant, Poland’s government says it has no plans to shut down the mine in Turow, which is situated on the country’s border with Czechia, because it needs brown coal for a power plant that supplies 7% of Poland’s electricity. Poland argues that “outsiders” should not be able to determine the composition of the country’s energy mix.

Poland and Czechia have been filing suits and counter suits over the mine’s operation for months, which the Czechs allege has polluted groundwater on its side of the border.

Source: Politico