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Protest sign at the Garzweiler opencast mine
Photo: Martin Meissner / AP
The support of the former black-red federal government for the controversial Garzweiler II lignite mine was apparently based on a questionable basis.
In paragraph 48 of the coal phase-out law of the grand coalition from 2020, a quasi-guarantee for opencast mining is laid down: It has an “energy policy and energy industry necessity” and contributes to “a safe and reliable energy supply”, it says there.
The Garzweiler II opencast mine is located between Düsseldorf and Aachen and is operated by the energy company RWE.
So far it was unclear how the paragraph had come about.
It is now apparent that RWE could have exerted an indirect influence.
In a statement by the Federal Ministry of Economics to the member of the Bundestag Kathrin Henneberger (Greens), it is said that the government used three publicly available reports as the basis for the paragraph.
These were "considered" as part of the legislative process, "no other, non-public opinions were included".
However, RWE was the client of the reports, which is why the studies were possibly driven by interests.
Expert opinion recommends the promotion of a further 1.1 billion tons of lignite
The reports should provide forecasts for future lignite requirements and the available quantity of coal.
In the study entitled “Energy Economic Necessity of Lignite Production and Use in the Rhenish Revier” by the consulting company “Frontier Economics” it says: Lignite-fired power plants made “a significant contribution to the affordability of the electricity supply”.
Lignite also contributes indirectly to the energy transition during the transformation phase.
Around 1.1 billion tons of lignite would still have to be mined in the Rhenish mining area by 2038.
The company does not say how much RWE paid for the studies.
On request, however, it confirms that "RWE Power AG was the client and thus the contractual partner of the experts".
When asked whether the group had drawn the then federal government's attention to the studies, it was said that the reports were "generally available".
All positions “in politics, business and society” have “free access to the documents”.
The background to Paragraph 48 shows how "the influence of the fossil fuel industry works in politics," says MP Henneberger.
The emergence of the corresponding part of the law must be processed.
Henneberger says that a "special treatment" of the opencast mine via Paragraph 48 is "unconstitutional" - and calls for it to be "removed from the law without replacement".
In 2020, opencast mine residents filed a constitutional complaint against the paragraph, but the Federal Constitutional Court dismissed the complaint as inadmissible.
The Federal Ministry of Economics does not want to evaluate the facts surrounding the reports.
It points out that open-pit mining planning is “a matter for the federal states”.
In fact, the question of how to proceed with Garzweiler II is part of the current coalition talks between the CDU and the Greens in North Rhine-Westphalia.
In their exploratory paper, both sides agreed that they want to initiate a new key decision in the near future.
In the key decision, specifications for lignite planning are specified.
There have been protests against the Garzweiler II opencast mine for years.
In the neighboring town of Lützerath, which is to make way for the coal excavators, climate activists have built tree houses and occupied buildings.
