Clearing for Nochten opencast mine has begun

The clearing of the private forest near Rohne for the Nochten open-cast mine has begun. By the morning, a third of the land had already been cleared, according to a police spokesperson. The situation on site remained calm. There were no protests.

The energy company Leag wants to excavate the forest land near Rohne, a district of Schleifen (district of Görlitz), for the expansion of the Nochten open-cast mine. As the owner does not want to sell the land, the energy company has applied for the land to be ceded on January 1, 2026, which is a form of expropriation under mining law. The Saxon Mining Authority granted the application.

Court confirms expropriation in the name of electricity supply

The owner had put up a legal fight against this. However, an appeal to the Saxon Higher Administrative Court (OVG) failed. Among other things, the OVG argued that the public interest in the unrestricted maintenance of the electricity supply from the two power plants, for which there was no sufficient coal substitute supply, outweighed the interests asserted by the applicant. The OVG made the decision last December.

A subsequent application to the Federal Constitutional Court to stop the expropriation and clearing of the forest with a temporary injunction was also unsuccessful.

The Nochten open-cast lignite mine has been in operation since 1968 and the lignite extracted is used to generate electricity in the Boxberg and Schwarze Pumpe power plants.