Since 1994, the village of Heuersdorf south of Leipzig has been threatened by MIBRAG mining activities. In order to excavate as much lignite as possible, the inhabitants are to be resettled with only partial indemnification provided for the loss of their traditional homesteads. The destruction of this medieval village is intended to provide coal for the nearby Lippendorf power station during a four-year period. However, the consequences for the people of Heuersdorf would be permanent and irreversible.

The Emmaus Church in Heuersdorf dates back to 1297.

Heuersdorf would not be the first village to disappear for this reason. Over 300 communities have already been destroyed by surface mining in Germany, displacing more than 100,000 persons. The loss of human settlements is one of the hidden costs resulting from lignite use. In earlier decades, this policy was justified by considerations of national energy security.

The people in Heuersdorf are fighting for their right to stay in the village in cooperation with BUND (Friends of the Eath Germany). In the year 2000, the village won a milestone court case against a resettlement law by demonstrating that electricity could be purchased throughout Europe on the liberalized power market. The Government of Saxony passed a new law for eliminating the village in 2004, arguing that the regional economy is critically dependent on the lignite beneath Heuersdorf (5).

Should climate change be profitable?

Surface mining is particularly detrimental to the environment. In preparation for lignite extraction, groundwater is pumped out to below the coal seams. In Lusatia, where the Vattenfall lignite mines are nearly half a kilometer deep, permanent hydrological deficits have resulted (6). Lignite power likewise remains controversial because of extremely high emissions of greenhouse gases. Burning one ton of lignite releases one ton of carbon dioxide (CO 2) (7). The power plant at Lippendorf emits about 12 million tons of CO 2 a year, making it more difficult for international commitments on greenhouse gas reductions to be fulfilled. Lignite is sold to the power plants for about 10 euros per ton. An investigation of the Federal Environmental Agency (8) on lignite subsidies has shown, however, that hidden costs such as exclusion from taxes and fees, health detriments, and the contribution to global warming impose an additional financial burden on society of at least 25 euros for every ton of lignite that is mined and burned . The maximum estimate is nearly 200 euros per ton when all effects on future generations are included.

The Lippendorf Power plant run by Vattenfall.

With the commodity prices for coal having nearly doubled in recent years, various sustainable energy technologies have become more cost effective than those using non-renewable resources. Any sincere commitment to ethical business practices would dictate a radical shift toward promoting these alternatives. In the case at hand, alternative technologies might include biomass co-firing at Lippendorf or a combination of wind power and energy conservation, which would render the lignite superfluous and deliver economic, occupational, and ecological benefits. In recognition of these unrealized opportunities, the people of Heuersdorf resolutely oppose plans to destroy the village for an unnecessary project that is ecologically and socially destructive.

MIBRAG has rejected a compromise offered by the town council to restrict lignite mining to lands that are not occupied by housing. This refusal ultimately reflects the company's fear that other villages could successfully resist devastation in the future on the basis of concessions made to Heuersdorf.

Conclusion Lignite power generation in Germany is characterized by numerous compromises of ecological and cultural standards. In the experience of Heuersdorf, repeated attacks on communal integrity confirm the routine subordination of ethical standards to the enhancement of corporate profits. Under the present conditions of lignite use, blanket claims of corporate responsibility conceal the factual neglect of technological alternatives to unethical commercial practices. In an earlier case in which Vattenfall was directly involved in an other mining project, the Swedish Parliament declared in a motion that devastation of the village of Horno in eastern Germany, was not compatible with the self-proclaimed ethical principles of the Swedish state corporation (9), (10). With respect to Heuersdorf, however, Vattenfall can remain detached from the conflict because of MIBRAG's contractual obligations to supply lignite to the Lippendorf power station regardless of unresolved issues with the village.

In Heuersdorf, an American flag flies upside down, a signal of dire distress in instances of extreme danger to property according to the flag code of the United States of America. Read more at www.heuersdorf.de.

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All main information and photos, except when referred differently, on this case was provided by Jeffory Micheal, energy coordinator in Heuersdorf. Information in footnote 1 and 4 are researched by Linda Nilsson, Friends of the Earth Europe. Editorial work has been done in corporation between Jeffory Micheal and Linda Nilsson.

5. The Heuersdorf Law (Heuersdorfgesetz) permits the community to be "occupied for the purpose of resource and energy supplies (lignite extraction)". The law was first passed in 1998 and then in revised form in April 2004. Michel, Jeffrey H., Environmental Impacts of the German Lignite Industry, 2004.
6. Peter Meerheim, "Water Deficit of Mining - Evolution of Steppes in Brandenburg 2004!" ("Wasserdefizit durch Bergbau - Versteppung in Brandenburg 2004!"), Grüne Liga, February 3, 2004.
7. BUND, Lignite Mining in the Rhineland
.8. Presented on October 21, 2004.
9. Friends of the Earth / Bund für Umwelt und Naturschutz Deutschland, Lignite (Brown Coal) in Germany, October 2001.
10. Neverthelees the village of Horno has been destroyed (the remaining church was demolished in October 2004) and a new village created in place. (Reference: Simone Kling, 2004-10-12, Eurolang, and Vattenfall Corporate Social Responsibility Report 2003, p. 33