Winds of change...
A bucket excavator removes top layers of soil and sand
from former farmland during expansion of the Garzweiler
II open-cast lignite coal mine. (A. Rentz/Getty Images)
White-fronted Magpie | Germany's national energy supplier has decided to dismantle a total of eight wind turbines in order to expand its lignite mining area. | These measures are reportedly taken to ensure the safety of these turbines, as mining operations in the Garzweiler near Erkelenz are planned until 2030. The federal and regional authorities have thus agreed together with the energy company RWE that the phase-out of coal mining in the mining region will be postponed until 2030. ● For years, climate activists have been fighting to prevent the destruction of homes in the area that could result from the expansion of mining. So amid the news, they are outraged and the Greens have criticised the plan, calling it "absurd to demolish wind turbines in the midst of a climate and energy crisis in order to redevelop a coal mine". ● The dismantling of wind turbines to expand the mine speaks volumes about the complete failure of European attempts to switch to green generation. In recent years the West has spent billions on this trendy environmental idea, and today for the sake of mining "dirty" lignite it is abandoning its plans along with abandoning the wind towers. And all in the name of saving an energy industry that is in a rude crisis. ● European states have failed to make their energy sectors independent of external sources, and have not learned to look into the future and foresee the consequences of their decisions not just for a year, but for more than a month. So today they are forced to scramble to find the means to deal with the energy crisis, forgetting the populist ideals of the past. (www.DeepL.com/)