Municipality in western Germany buys back village on coal mine to avoid demolition

Bürgewald, an empty village on the edge of the Hambach open-cast coal mine in the western German state of North Rhine Westphalia, has been bought back by the local municipality and will not be demolished, according to a report from the newspaper Kölner Stadt Anzeiger. RWE, the fossil fuel company which operates the Hambach mine, sold the village back to the Merzenich municipality for 36.6 million euros, which will change hands on 1 September, according to a spokesperson for the municipality. The sale was financed primarily from the state government, with the Merzenich municipality, that has a population of 10,000, providing 920,000 euros.

The sale was made possible by the country’s Coal Regions Investment Act, which is designed to support areas that are historically economically reliant on coal mining through the energy transition. RWE’s decision not to demolish the village of 140 buildings is due to Germany’s plans to phase out coal in the region at an earlier date than planned when RWE bought the villages. The buyback of Bürgewald, formerly known as Morschenich, is part of an early buyback scheme launched by the government of North Rhine Westphalia, which enables former residents of six villages that were sold to RWE to accommodate lignite mine expansion, the opportunity to buy back their properties before they are publicly listed. The scheme, which was launched in January of this year, allows the 650 property owners who were relocated between 2013-2016 to purchase their property back.

The CDU-led state government has earmarked a further 90 million euros to develop the village into a ‘place of the future.’ “The issue of buy-backs is moving the region, which has been characterised by lignite mining for decades,” said the state's Green Party economy and climate action minister, Mona Neubaur, in January. “It is also clear that resettlement cannot be undone. That is why it is now important to create good development in all villages, in ‘old’ and ‘new’ places.” Merzenich has said a plan to redevelop the village will be finalised in 15 months.

In July, Germany’s coalition stated it did not intend to introduce a new law to pull forward the country’s coal phase-out date from 2038 to 2030, despite its earlier stated plans to “ideally” do so. Policymakers in coal mining states as well as energy industry representatives have said the earlier target year cannot realistically be achieved if accompanying measures, such as building alternative power plant capacity, are not fast-tracked.