German coal company RWE to expropriate owner asking 80 billion euros for his land

A resident from the German coal mining state of North Rhine-Westphalia (NRW) demands 80 billion euros for a piece of land that energy company RWE needs for lignite mining, arguing that the sum equals the revenues the company intends to make with the local lignite mine, Benedikt Müller writes in Süddeutsche Zeitung. “That price is negotiable,” accountant Kurt Classen says. He knows that the field he owns near the Hambach Forest, which is a battle ground between anti-coal activists and RWE, is not worth that much money but he calls it “a big symbol of resistance”. RWE initially offered 12,500 euros for the land but now has decided to try expropriate Classen, saying, “there has never been a financial claim like that”. Classen argues that the former argument of coal companies that their product serves a basic need of society is no longer valid as more renewables mean the inevitable end of coal-fired power production.

Read the article in German here.

See the CLEW article Germany starts coal exit talks in bid to improve patchy climate record for more information.