New book ‘102 Things to Do with a Hole in the Ground‘ spotlights global reclamation projects
Stories of reinvented coal mining regions, regenerated communities and rebuilt ecosystems are told in a new book published this month.
One more meeting could be enough to reach an agreement between Poland and the Czech Republic on the Turow lignite mine, the Polish climate minister said on Wednesday, in what would resolve the most serious spat between the two countries in decades.
The European Union’s top court has told Poland to halt operations at the Turow open-pit lignite mine and power plant on the border with the Czech Republic after Prague complained of environmental damage in nearby Czech villages.
“There is very little left to negotiate,” Anna Moskwa told private broadcaster Polsat News. “One meeting seems to be enough to close the talks.”
Negotiations will resume on Friday.
The Court of Justice of the European Union ordered Poland to pay a daily penalty of 500,000 euros ($580,150.00) to the European Commission after it failed to halt operations at the mine.
Moskwa said that with “good will” from the court she thought there was a chance the penalty could be lifted.
Talks on the dispute were suspended at the start of this October, before a Czech parliamentary election, with the main sticking point being the length of the agreement, according to Czech authorities.
($1 = 0.8618 euros)
(By Alan Charlish; Editing by Alistair Bell)
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