Czech Government Offers Subsidy for Reclamation
The Czech government will give 800 million crowns every year to the regions affected by coal mining and energy production from coal, Czech News Agency reported. The money will come from the dividends the state receives from the CEZ power utility. The largest sum, or 450 million crowns per year, will go to the Usti region. Regional authorities will receive the money that should be used for the revitalization of the landscape affected by coal mining. The aim is to revitalize the landscape so that people can live in it again. The current law orders mining companies to give money to the repair of environmental damage, but the sums were too low and the revitalization often had to be covered from local budgets. The cabinet also approved the plan to give 3 billion crowns to the coal-mining area of northwest Bohemia that are to go for land revitalization. In this way, the government will meet the promise made in 2001 to earmark 15 billion crowns to the Usti and Karlovy Vary regions. Until now, the state has distributed 11 billion to the two coal-mining regions. Coal mining has affected some 350 km2 in the Usti region.