Brown coal
RWE: Excavation in Lützerath from March or April
View of the opencast mining area near Lützerath – the energy company RWE wants to excavate the coal underneath. photo
© Thomas Banneyer/dpa
Two climate activists are still holding out in a tunnel, but open-cast mining is to begin soon – according to RWE, in the coming months.
The energy company RWE assumes that the demolition of the lignite town of Lützerath will soon be completed. It is expected that the dismantling will take eight to ten days, said a company spokesman for the “Rheinische Post”. “In March or April, the mine could then reach the former village and excavate.” The police want to remain on site until the end of the dismantling.
Lützerath has been cordoned off by the police for days and is surrounded by a double fence. The buildings of the small settlement in the Erkelenz area west of Cologne are currently being demolished to allow RWE to excavate the coal underneath. Climate activists had occupied the abandoned village.
Last night police said they cleared the village except for two activists in a tunnel. “There is contact with the people, but they reject any rescue attempts,” said the RWE spokesman. RWE regularly charges and feeds oxygen into a car battery that activists use for the shaft’s ventilation system.