Benevolent Protector: Vattenfall Overpowers Coal Critics

[unhappycamper]

http://www.spiegel.de/international/germany/energy-giant-vattenfall-presses-on-with-coal-mine-expansion-plans-a-930828.html



Swedish energy giant Vattenfall dominates life in the Lausitz region of eastern Germany. Now it wants to expand its coal mining operations there -- but opposition to the plans is being drowned out by the company's importance to the local economy.

Benevolent Protector: Vattenfall Overpowers Coal Critics
By Sven Becker
October 31, 2013 – 02:34 PM

To get an idea of the power wielded by Swedish energy giant Vattenfall in the Lausitz region of eastern Germany, leave the Autobahn at the Cottbus South exit. You'll see a big sign with the company's name alongside the highway and, on the horizon, the cooling towers of the Schwarze Pumpe power plant spewing steam into the sky. The route to the center of town passes by the energy provider's 13-storey high-rise office building. But if you want to stop there and talk about the power that one company can have in a region, think again: SPIEGEL was not granted an interview, despite numerous requests.

The alternative was to meet with the mayor of Cottbus, Frank Szymanski, a member of the center-left Social Democrats (SPD) and a staunch supporter of the local coal mining industry. His position on the coal issue may be based on firm convictions, but there's no doubt that it also boils down to simple math: There are 30,000 fewer people living in his city than there were in the days of communist East Germany, and Vattenfall is the last large employer offering job security.

"I wouldn't want to imagine what the future would look like if we also lost the coal," says the mayor. "Where are the alternative jobs? There is no Plan B."

Now Vattenfall wants to expand its opencast mining operations in a number of places in the Lausitz. Once again, thousands of people may lose their homes. The mining of lignite, also known as brown coal, could continue for decades. The plans are controversial, though. Critics have collected over 100,000 signatures nationwide for petitions against expanding the Welzow South opencast mine. Politicians in the state of Brandenburg have also expressed cautious doubts. Two years ago, the Brandenburg Environment Ministry drew up a schedule that would make it possible to phase out the use of environmentally hazardous lignite for power generation by the year 2050.