Dhe operator RWE Power has achieved partial success in the dispute over a plot of land in Lützerath at the Garzweiler II opencast lignite mine. The company is allowed to make preparations for dredging the site on a farmer’s property, as the competent higher administrative court in Münster decided on Monday. The resolutions are not contestable.
The urgent application by a farm owner and two tenants on the edge of the opencast mine against a decision by the approval authority was unsuccessful (Az.: 21 B 1675/21 and 21 B 1676/21). The Aachen administrative court had previously rejected a corresponding application for a temporary eviction stop.
Activists want to “stand in the way of bulldozers”
The operator of the opencast mine is RWE Power AG. The Company originally planned to begin preparatory work for the dredging of the properties on November 1, 2021 following the early tenure. Buildings were to be demolished and isolated trees and bushes removed. After the urgent decision, this work can now begin.
In response to the rejection, climate activists are planning a demonstration there after Easter. The initiative “Lützerath Lebt!” announced on Monday that thousands of supporters were expected to attend a major demonstration with Fridays for Future and other organizations on April 23rd. From now on, RWE is legally allowed to clear the village and demolish buildings with the support of the police, they said. The activists announced that they would “stand in the way of the clearing machines and bulldozers” in huts, tree houses and on house roofs.
To justify its decision, the court stated that the applicants had not presented any reasons for a change in the decision of the Aachen Administrative Court. In the previous instance, the court explained in detail that the basic energy policy decision in favor of lignite mining and electricity generation was compatible with the constitutional climate protection requirement.
The excavators can come: Heavy clearing equipment rolls through the town of Otzenrath.
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Image: Frank Röth
The consideration of the Arnsberg district government is not objectionable, it is said. The applications of the farmer and the tenants would largely contain climate policy demands that are addressed to the legislature. Errors by the administrative court when examining the decisions of the Arnsberg district government were not named.
There will be a demonstration in Lützerath on the weekend after the court decision. Only a few buildings remain here; For months, climate activists have been living in tents, caravans and abandoned houses. The Hambach Forest became famous as “Hambi” during the protests, Lützerath is now called “Lützi”. As in the Hambach Forest, activists have built some tree houses. The resettlement of the local residents was officially completed years ago.
The main proceedings are still ongoing
Lawsuits against the assignment of land, as expropriations are called in mining law, and the transfer of possession in the main proceedings are still pending at the administrative court in Aachen. Expropriations, such as in the case of motorway construction or in the dispute over Lützerath in opencast mining, are always possible if the public good is affirmed.
This applies to the Garzweiler II opencast mine because of the supply of lignite to the energy market, as the Administrative Court of Aachen explained in a decision. According to agreements between the federal and state governments with the old federal government to phase out coal, lignite should continue to be used until at least 2035.
The coalition agreement of the current federal government of SPD, FDP and Greens states: “We want to preserve the villages in the Rhenish Revier affected in the third phase of resettlement.” The courts should decide on the neighboring town of Lützerath. The phasing out of coal should be brought forward “ideally to 2030”.
In the most recent leading decision of the state government, the end of lignite power generation is given as December 31, 2038. At the same time, it should be checked regularly whether it can be brought forward by three years. The Hambach Forest at the Hambach brown coal mine, which has become well-known nationwide, is to remain in place. Therefore, the protests of the climate protectionists have migrated to another place.
Greta Thunberg and Luisa Neubauer were already there
Now the largely deserted town of Lützerath is at the center of the protest. The climate protection activists Greta Thunberg and Luisa Neubauer were already at the edge of the open-cast lignite mine in Garzweiler. The last farmer in town is a plaintiff against the Arnsberg district government’s early assignment of his property to RWE Power. In mining law, this step is a preliminary stage of expropriation. The authority in Arnsberg is responsible for supervision and permits.
Standing together: young people sit on the edge of the Garzweiler II opencast mine.
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Image: Frank Röth
The group of climate protectors is a mixed bag. Among them are people who, with children and dogs, demand “Stop lignite!” at the weekend. Some activists wear masks even in broad daylight and do not give their names so as not to be prosecuted later for taking part in illegal activities. It happens again and again Protest actions at the opencast mine, such as the occupation of excavators.
On February 24, there was a massive police operation in Lützerath after activists threw stones in the direction of a lignite excavator. Some of the police officers who had been summoned and their cars had stones thrown at them, apparently from among the opponents of lignite.
Afterwards, Aachen’s chief of police, Dirk Weinspach, said he was “deeply disturbed” by the escalation of violence. The police did everything “to defuse the situation in general,” he said. The Aachen police are regularly on site with their communications officers and in conversation with activists and climate protectionists. No trees may be felled or cleared in NRW until the beginning of October, not even in Lützerath. That could calm things down a bit at the moment.