Coal mining: clearance of Lützerath begins
Police have begun a clearance operation in the village of Lützerath in North Rhine-Westphalia in western Germany. The deserted village is to be bulldozed so that energy company RWE can mine the site for the lignite that lies beneath it. While the company has secured the mining rights, environmentalists have occupied the village in protest at the plans, arguing that coal mining should be banned in view of the climate crisis. Who is right?
Clash between realpolitik and fundamental opposition
There can be no real solution to the conflict, comments the Berliner Zeitung:
“The energy company RWE has the law on its side. It has been given permission to clear the land and now it wants to make use of this right. The climate activists have morality on their side. In the year 2023, a village is to be erased to make way for coal mining - could there be a better way to demonstrate that you haven't understood the climate crisis? These two points of view are irreconcilable. For this dilemma to be resolved in favour of morality, Germany would have to be an eco-dictatorship. ... But it is not, thanks to the Basic Law. In Lützerath, therefore, realpolitik is clashing with fundamental opposition.”
The result of poor decisions
The clearing of Lützerath is the result of a failed energy policy in Germany, the Aargauer Zeitung comments:
“Large sections of the German political landscape have apparently never understood that there is no perfect way to generate electricity. There can be no electricity generation without compromises. And no form of generation harms the climate as much as coal-fired power generation. ... If Germany temporarily needs more coal now, it is thanks to its failed energy policy: since the simultaneous phase-out of coal and nuclear power cannot be achieved solely with the help of renewable energies - at least not in the short term - the intention was to use gas-fired plants as a bridging technology. In this way Germany made itself dependent on Putin's Russia.”
Protests must not get out of control
If the climate activists want to secure broad public support they must protest using peaceful means, warns Der Standard:
“Only recently, the New Year's Eve riots in Berlin left many horrified. The fire brigade and police were attacked and it was clear that things were getting out of hand. ... If the protest in Lützerath is to achieve anything, there should be no such scenes in this small town in North Rhine-Westphalia. ... The environmental activists can only push through their broader agenda if they have the support of the population at large. If stones and bottles fly, or if it comes to even worse scenes, it will have a negative impact on support from the centre of society.”