Chasing Coal

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              "text": "The Neurath lignite-fired power station seen from a farm in Grevenbroich, in Germany’s North Rhine-Westphalia state. The power station is owned by the energy company RWE AG, and was ranked the second biggest emitter of carbon dioxide in the European Union in 2019, by the EU’s Transport and Environment Group. Lignite is delivered here by rail from open-pit mines in the Rhenish lignite district, and in particular from the Garzweiler and Hambach mines, also owned by RWE AG.",
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              "text": "Norbert Winzenis is one of the few remaining residents of the village of Alt-Keyenberg, slated for demolition by 2024. He lives with his family on a farm dating to 1863, and is part of a group of residents trying to resist eviction.",
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              "text": "A piece of lignite. Germany leads the world in the production of brown coal, or lignite , with 183 million tonnes mined in 2013. This coal accounts for 25 percent of electricity generation in the country. Lignite is the most polluting of all coal types. The cost of domestic lignite is so low that even a CO2-emissions penalty of €40 per tonne might not be sufficient to eliminate the competitive advantage of existing, fully-paid-for lignite power plants.",
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              "text": "A deserted street in Manheim, in Germany’s North Rhine-Westphalia region. The village was once home to around seventeen hundred people, but has been slowly purchased and cleared by RWE AG to make space for the expansion of the Hambach lignite mine. Lignite extraction in Hambach started in 1978. Since then, four villages within the mine’s boundaries have made way for lignite extraction.",
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              "text": "A view of the Weisweiler lignite-fired power station in Inden. In 2014, it was ranked Europe’s fifth largest CO2 emitter. Brown coal also contains mercury and other heavy metals. On an average, a European lignite-fired power station emits up to a half a tonne of toxic mercury per year.",
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              "text": "Steam pipes from the coal-based power plant Datteln 4, seen from the garden of a resident of Datteln. Datteln 4, the newest coal-based power plant in Germany, was inaugurated in 2019. Now, a group of about fifty citizens is fighting for its closure. Datteln 4 produces about 8.4 million tonnes of CO2 every year.",
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              "text": "Waltraud Kieferndorf and her husband, Ulrich, at their home in Kuckum. Their 200-square-metre garden has a small botanical collection with exotic and rare specimens. For the last ten years, the couple has fought against expropriations by RWE AG. According to the company’s plans, by 2028 the windows of their home will have to be walled up in preparation for demolition. Today, about fifty percent of Kuckum’s residents have been relocated. The village is one of six threatened by the expansion of the Garzweiler open-pit lignite mine.",
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              "text": "An abandoned building in the village of Manheim. The village was once home to around seventeen hundred people, but has been slowly purchased and cleared out by RWE AG to make space for the expansion of the Hambach lignite mine. The majority of residents have been resettled at Neu-Manheim.",
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              "text": "Helmut Kehrmann visits his home in Alt-Keyenberg for the last time. Kehrmann was evicted from his home because the land it sat on was owned by the local church, which sold it to RWE AG. Keyenberg is one of six villages threatened by the expansion of the Garzweiler open-pit lignite mine. As per RWE AG’s plans, the village will be demolished completely by 2024.",
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              "text": "An aerial view of the Garzweiler lignite mine. The site covers an area of 48 square kilometres and is owned by RWE AG, the largest power company in Germany. Since the 1970s, the expansion of the mine has caused the demolition of 20 villages.",
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              "text": "A road closed to traffic in what used to be a residential neighbourhood of Manheim. The majority of the village is now levelled, and remaining demolitions are supposed to be completed by 2022.",
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              "text": "A view of Neu-Morschenich, where most residents of the old village of Morschenich-Alt have moved. Originally, Morschenich-Alt had around six hundred inhabitants. RWE AG reimburses displaced residents and reserves building plots for them. Neu-Morschenich is a modern, developing area on the outskirts of the town of Merzenich. Everything is new, with the exception of the names of the streets, taken from the old village.",
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              "text": "The building site of the main church of Neu-Morschenich. All buildings in the town are connected to a local gas-fired heating plant and residents are contractually banned from installing solar panels on their roofs.",
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              "text": "Sabina, an activist at a camp in Lützerath. The village has been completely demolished, with the exception of one farm. Sabina moved to the village in July 2020 with a small group of activists. Now the camp hosts hundreds of people. “This is a like a funnel, here all the worst and evil of the world is getting together,” she said. “People congregate here, they want to express their rage and disappointment, and they find a place where to do so, and try to build an alternative.” Sabina believes that “Lützerath is not a local problem.”",
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              "text": "Alex, a member of Ende Gelände—“here and no further”—the main organisation coordinating the fight to stop the eviction and destruction of villages due to mining in Germany. Alex was in the Hambach Forest occupation in 2011. His masters’ thesis was on the psychological effect of evictions on displaced residents. He founded Ende Gelände in 2015. “What we are doing here is not for the villagers only,” he said. “This is an issue of global climate justice.”",
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              "text": "A view of the lignite-fired power station of Neurath. According to the European Pollutant Release and Transfer Register, the lignite-based plants of Neurath and Niederaussem are the second and third biggest carbon-dioxide emitters in Europe. Of Europe’s twelve worst CO2 polluters, seven are German lignite plants.",
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On a rainy November day in 2021 in the Ruhr Valley, Germany’s mining heartland, I sat with Helmut Kehrmann in his family home, in the village of Alt-Keyenberg. The room was empty, with the exception of a chair and a few boxes lying in a corner. Marks left by furniture and fixtures were still visible on the dusty wooden floor. This was the last time Helmut visited his house.  

Residents of Alt-Keyenberg are under eviction orders. The nearby Garzweiler open-pit mine, producing brown coal, or lignite, is expanding. RWE AG, the mine’s owner and Germany’s largest energy company, has purchased most of the village. Demolitions will begin once the acquisition is complete, razing the village by 2024 to make space for the lignite mine.