[ad_1]
STONAVA, Czech Republic — Deep underground in northeastern Czech Republic, staff within the area’s last-functioning coal mine drill, load and haul the gas as much as the floor.
The CSM mine is a part of the Higher Silesian Coal Basin, a area straddling the Czech-Polish border with a 250-year historical past of mining due to its wealthy coal deposits and factories that produce metal and vitality.
With simply the sunshine of a headlamp, staff — their our bodies and garments coated in soot and mud — effortlessly navigate the mines, drilling the deposits underground. Others load automobiles to take the rocks to the floor, the place large piles of it lie able to be transported to energy crops.
The work comes with a worth: A 2021 examine of greater than 800 European cities by the Barcelona Institute for World Well being places the regional capital of Ostrava and the close by cities the place the mine is situated among the many high 10 most polluted European cities.
And when burned for vitality, coal contributes to the carbon dioxide emissions warming up the ambiance, altering climate worldwide and burning up the planet.
Some — however not all — of the employees within the mines wore face masks, offering some safety from the sooty particles that swirled across the air. However the masks, too, have been coated in grime.
An vitality crunch two years in the past — brought on by the European Union’s ban of Russian coal over the struggle in Ukraine made the federal government reverse plans to fully halt mining within the area. Coal-fired energy crops producing some 40% of the nation’s electrical energy, about three time greater than the EU’s common.
The Czech state-owned OKD firm prolonged its mining actions within the CSM mine. Some 3,500 staff will stay excavating the mines of their energy-rich coal not less than till early 2026.
The Czech authorities goals to part out coal in vitality manufacturing by 2033 and enhance the nation’s reliance on nuclear energy and renewable sources.
___
The Related Press’ local weather and environmental protection receives monetary assist from a number of non-public foundations. AP is solely answerable for all content material. Discover AP’s requirements for working with philanthropies, a listing of supporters and funded protection areas at AP.org.
[ad_2]
Source link
