On June 27th, a common press conference of the Together for Water platform, the Uhelná Neighborhood Association, and the Greenpeace Czech Republic took place regarding the upcoming conclusion of the annual monitoring of the functionality of the underground wall at the Turów mine.
This wall was a crucial point for the Czech-Polish agreement. The accurate evaluation of the wall’s functionality can therefore be decisive for the Czech government’s next steps. According to the Together for Water initiative, there is a concern that the government will rely only on data that is not conclusive. Experts argue that for the impacts on Czech groundwater, it is not essential to focus on what happens in the wells near the underground wall on Polish territory but rather on the water levels in the well in the village of Uhelná.
Despite this, the Ministry of the Environment repeatedly states that these pieces of information are not significant, as indicated in the latest report by the Czech Geological Survey. Therefore, public interest organisations are urging the ministry to publish all current data from the annual measurements by July 15th, 2023.
The speakers at the conference were: Milan Starec from the Uhelná Neighborhood Association; Nikol Krejčová, Greenpeace Czech Republic; Adam Říčka, a hydrogeologist from Masaryk University and Petra Kalenská, a lawyer from Frank Bold.
More information in EN here: https://news.expats.cz/czech-news/article/czech-ngo-issues-stark-warning-over-poland-s-turow-coal-mine