Berlin / Cottbus (dpa / bb) – The German Environmental Aid (DUH) and the Green League are taking legal action against the Jänschwalde open-cast lignite mine. With an urgent application to the Cottbus Administrative Court, the two environmental associations announced on Friday that the main operating plan for the opencast mine would be put out of action. The background is the “drastic” water withdrawal in the pit.

The environmentalists have stated that the open-pit mine operator Leag has been pumping out much more groundwater there than is permitted under water law for years. A main operating plan may only be approved and implemented if it has all the permits. There is no permit for the extraction of so much water, said Dirk Teßmer, who legally represents the environmental associations.

These state that the water law permit z. B. for the year 2020 allow the extraction of 42 million cubic meters. In fact, the Leag had pumped out 114.06 million cubic meters – almost three times as much. Overall, the Jänschwalde Group has taken more than 240 million cubic meters more groundwater than allowed from the analysis since 2017 – more than six times the volume of the Müggelsee. That is a scandal in arid Brandenburg, is the criticism.

An open pit mine cannot be operated without lowering the groundwater level. For this purpose, the groundwater is raised and diverted. This means that the groundwater also sinks in the open pit area. To the north of the Jänschwalde open-cast mine there are nature reserves, including wet meadows and the Calpenzmoor.

“The mining authority has approved an operating plan that cannot be implemented without massive violations of the legal water permit. The approval is therefore obviously illegal,” said lawyer Teßmer. The reliability of the Leag is being called into considerable doubt. The mining authority is aware of the allegations.

“The opencast mine is apparently being operated deliberately and illegally, because Leag did not apply for an increase in the extraction quantity before it began to systematically violate it,” said René Schuster from the Green League. During the same period of time, private water use in Lusatia was restricted several times by orders from the water authorities.

The aim of the preliminary procedure is to see protected areas and to protect wetlands, which are increasingly suffering from the deprivation of groundwater, according to a joint communication from the environmental associations. Lawyer Teßmer was optimistic that he was going to succeed. “I don’t see why the case can be lost – I rarely say that.”

© dpa-infocom, dpa: 211203-99-238352 / 2