Coal dependence darkens Poland’s skies

Poland, Silesia Region. September 2009. Coal Mine '\"Adamow\", Turek. A special machine built to extract brown coal. Coal Mine '\"Adamow\" in Turek is mining 4.5-5.0 million Mg per year, extracting a quantity of carbon of approximately 32-34 million m3 and overburden and pumped about 92 million m3 water. From all fossl fuels brown coal is one that has the biggest impact on climate change and in the same time its exploatation makes huge destroyment in environment. Coal mining has wide-reaching effects on local water resources. Tremendous volumes of water are required for mining operations. Often, land areas as well as rivers are drained to get coal out of the ground and consequently whole water bodies disappear. When coal is excavated from deep underground, groundwater is pumped out to dry up the areas being mined. Removing vast amounts of water often drains water from an area beyond the immediate coal-mining environment. As a consequence, water tables are lowere

Poland, Silesia Region. September 2009. View of the Coal Mine '\"Adamow\", Turek. Coal Mine '\"Adamow\" in Turek is mining 4.5-5.0 million Mg per year, extracting a quantity of carbon of approximately 32-34 million m3 and overburden and pumped about 92 million m3 water. From all fossl fuels brown coal is one that has the biggest impact on climate change and in the same time its exploatation makes huge destroyment in environment. Coal mining has wide-reaching effects on local water resources. Tremendous volumes of water are required for mining operations. Often, land areas as well as rivers are drained to get coal out of the ground and consequently whole water bodies disappear. When coal is excavated from deep underground, groundwater is pumped out to dry up the areas being mined. Removing vast amounts of water often drains water from an area beyond the immediate coal-mining environment. As a consequence, water tables are lowered, natural ecosystems are damaged.

Poland, Silesia Region, Zabrze. September 2009. Sosnica- Makoszowy Coal Mine. MIners on their way in and out of the Coal mine. Health and life of miners are often at risk. Sosnica- Makoszowy Coal Mine arose from merger of two mines, coal mine \"Sosnica\" in Gliwice and coal mine Makoszowy in Zabrze. Levels of mining can be found at a depth between 530 and 930 m. The ability of mining amounts about 12 000 tons per day, the mining area amounts 28,4 km2.. Nowadays 60% of polish energy comes from burning black coal, the biggest enemy of our climate. Poland is not one of the biggest countriest and doesnt have big population but contributes to climate change and is in first 20 countries that produce biggest amount of CO2. in 2004-2005 polish emmisions increases for more than 2 mln tones Whith China , Australia and Republic of South Africa , Poland belonges to countries that are most dependent on coal. Only 3% of polish energy comes from climate-friendly sources. Poland is

Poland, Silesia Region, Zabrze. September 2009. Sosnica- Makoszowy Coal Mine. MIners working at 850 m under earth. Health and life of miners are often at risk. Sosnica- Makoszowy Coal Mine arose from merger of two mines, coal mine \"Sosnica\" in Gliwice and coal mine Makoszowy in Zabrze. Levels of mining can be found at a depth between 530 and 930 m. The ability of mining amounts about 12 000 tons per day, the mining area amounts 28,4 km2.. Nowadays 60% of polish energy comes from burning black coal, the biggest enemy of our climate. Poland is not one of the biggest countriest and doesnt have big population but contributes to climate change and is in first 20 countries that produce biggest amount of CO2. in 2004-2005 polish emmisions increases for more than 2 mln tones Whith China , Australia and Republic of South Africa , Poland belonges to countries that are most dependent on coal. Only 3% of polish energy comes from climate-friendly sources. Poland is Eupean lea

Poland, Silesia Region. September 2009. View of the Coal Mine '\"Adamow\", Turek. Coal Mine '\"Adamow\" in Turek is mining 4.5-5.0 million Mg per year, extracting a quantity of carbon of approximately 32-34 million m3 and overburden and pumped about 92 million m3 water. From all fossl fuels brown coal is one that has the biggest impact on climate change and in the same time its exploatation makes huge destroyment in environment. Coal mining has wide-reaching effects on local water resources. Tremendous volumes of water are required for mining operations. Often, land areas as well as rivers are drained to get coal out of the ground and consequently whole water bodies disappear. When coal is excavated from deep underground, groundwater is pumped out to dry up the areas being mined. Removing vast amounts of water often drains water from an area beyond the immediate coal-mining environment. As a consequence, water tables are lowered, natural ecosystems are damaged.

Poland, Konin. September 2009. An Waste dump area In Konin near the Power plant. There are 380 coal-mining waste dumps, including 76 active dump sites covering over 2,000 ha. About 15-16 million tonnes/year of waste rock is being reused for civil engineering purposes in the same area. This brings about a problem of ground water deterioration by constituents leached from waste rock exposed to atmospheric conditions. The major factors determining the ground water contamination potential from waste rock are chloride salinity, sulfur content and acid generation potential. Most of coal mine in \"Konin\" goes to Patnow Power Plant which produces 10 mln tons CO2 per year that is more than produces all Latvia. Polish energy comes in 30% from burning brown coal in the same time it is polish most polluting source of energy.

Poland, Silesia Region, Zabrze. September 2009. Sosnica- Makoszowy Coal Mine. Portrait of a miner on his way out of work at 850 meters under earth. Health and life of miners are often at risk. Sosnica- Makoszowy Coal Mine arose from merger of two mines, coal mine \"Sosnica\" in Gliwice and coal mine Makoszowy in Zabrze. Levels of mining can be found at a depth between 530 and 930 m. The ability of mining amounts about 12 000 tons per day, the mining area amounts 28,4 km2.. Nowadays 60% of polish energy comes from burning black coal, the biggest enemy of our climate. Poland is not one of the biggest countriest and doesnt have big population but contributes to climate change and is in first 20 countries that produce biggest amount of CO2. in 2004-2005 polish emmisions increases for more than 2 mln tones Whith China , Australia and Republic of South Africa , Poland belonges to countries that are most dependent on coal. Only 3% of polish energy comes from climate-friend

Poland, Silesia Region, Zabrze. September 2009. People passing near the Heat generating plant \"Szombierki-Bytom\" in Bytom. In 1936-1939 used to be the biggest power plant in Europe. It is planned to be closed down in 2015. Nowadays it is used for 2-4 months per year. Szombierki power plant is the source of heating system Bytom and takes coal from Bobrek-Centrum coal mine. Nowadays 60% of polish energy comes from burning black coal, the biggest enemy of our climate. Poland is not one of the biggest countriest and doesnt have big population but contributes to climate change and is in first 20 countries that produce biggest amount of CO2. in 2004-2005 polish emmisions increases for more than 2 mln tones Whith China , Australia and Republic of South Africa , Poland belonges to countries that are most dependent on coal. Only 3% of polish energy comes from climate-friendly sources. Poland is Eupean leader in power industry energy-consuming . (Polish power industry consumes

Poland, Silesia Region, Zabrze. September 2009. Sosnica- Makoszowy Coal Mine. Portrait of a miner at work. Health and life of miners are often at risk. Sosnica- Makoszowy Coal Mine arose from merger of two mines, coal mine \"Sosnica\" in Gliwice and coal mine Makoszowy in Zabrze. Levels of mining can be found at a depth between 530 and 930 m. The ability of mining amounts about 12 000 tons per day, the mining area amounts 28,4 km2.. Nowadays 60% of polish energy comes from burning black coal, the biggest enemy of our climate. Poland is not one of the biggest countriest and doesnt have big population but contributes to climate change and is in first 20 countries that produce biggest amount of CO2. in 2004-2005 polish emmisions increases for more than 2 mln tones Whith China , Australia and Republic of South Africa , Poland belonges to countries that are most dependent on coal. Only 3% of polish energy comes from climate-friendly sources. Poland is Eupean leader in p