Advancing Local Actions to Challenge Fossil Fuels

Victory in the Czech Republic

In April, the Czech Ministry of Environment denied an application from the Chvaletice coal-fired power plant to grossly exceed legal limits of nitrogen oxide and mercury emissions for the second time. 2019 ELAW Fellow Laura Otýpková, a lawyer with Czech NGO Frank Bold, worked closely with ELAW Staff Scientist Dr. Mark Chernaik to outline the environmental impacts of emissions to substantiate objections to the power plant’s application.

Poland Ordered to Shut Down Turów Coal Mine

In May, the European Court of Justice ordered Poland to shut down the Turów lignite mine, which pushes right up to the Czech and German borders and is depleting people’s water supplies and undercutting houses in nearby communities. ELAW collaborated with Kristína Šabová, head of Frank Bold’s Responsible Energy Section, to document the transboundary harm to groundwater and air quality.

Supporting Colombia’s Wayúu in their Fight Against a Polluting Coal Mine

In June, Rosa María Mateus Parra, lawyer at Colectivo de Abogados José Alvear Restrepo (CAJAR), asked ELAW Staff Scientist Dr. Meche Lu and Attorney Pedro León to present at a public webinar in support of the Wayúu Indigenous peoples’ fight to halt pollution from the Cerrejón coal mine, one of Latin America’s largest open pit coal mines.

Outlining the Dangers of the East African Oil Pipeline (EACOP)

ELAW’s analysis was featured in The Guardian, in an essay by ELAW partners Diana Nabiruma and Omar Elmawi, and Bill McKibben calling for Uganda and Tanzania to put a stop to the short-sighted project.

Shelving Poland’s Złoczew Lignite Mine

In September, Poland’s General Director for Environmental Protection refused to issue a permit for the Złoczew open pit lignite mine! If approved, the proposed mine would be one of the largest lignite mines in the world. It was intended to feed the Bełchatów power plant – Europe’s most polluting power plant. ELAW partners at Frank Bold have worked for years to accelerate Central Europe’s transition to renewable energy sources. They cooperated closely on this case with Greenpeace Poland as well as local farmers who would lose their land if the mine were built.

Protecting Senegal’s Coast from Offshore Oil

The Sangomar oil field, 100 kilometers south of Dakar, would be Senegal’s first offshore oil development. ELAW is collaborating with partners at the Center for Research and Action on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights (CRADESC) to sound the alarm about the risks that oil extraction poses to coastal nations of West Africa. Together, we are working to protect the Saloum Delta, a UNESCO world heritage site and biosphere reserve that is the first transboundary Ramsar site in Africa, with the wetland shared between Senegal and The Gambia.

Bern Johnson
Executive Director
Environmental Law Alliance Worldwide

Please consider a gift to ELAW to help us collaborate with advocates around the world fighting fossil fuel development that harms communities and the climate.