The brown coal-fired electric plant in Počerady, which is owned by the Czech power giant ČEZ, has joined the Euracoal suit against the European Union to block rules it passed last year limiting the amount of pollution it can emit. The move is remarkable in part because the Czech government decided last year not to join the suit. However, it’s thought that presumptive prime minister Andrej Babiš has seized control of the company’s board of directors through recent changes at board level. The Czech stats is the majority shareholder in ČEZ.
“Even if we looked at pollution just from a cynically economic perspective, cancelling the new pollution limitations would be financially advantageous for Elektrárna Počerady but it would be dramatically disadvantageous for the state. This is because the state will pay far more in damage to health and property than an old, redundant electric plant can earn,” said the ecological group Hnuti Duha Jiří Koželouh.
