WE WENT TO COURT FOR THE THIRD TIME!

Why is increasing oil shale mining so bad?

• The Environmental Board gave the permission to the companies to increase the volume of the oil shale mining by  9 million tons  compared to the previous year.  This is almost the same amount of oil shale as  mined in the country altogether per year. The agency, however, didn’t assess in detail if such an extensive and rapid depletion  of natural resources is sustainable in the long-term, and if it can be backed legally. 
• The oil shale extracted from the Uus-Kiviõli mines is mainly used in the chemical industry but also in the energy production and other sectors. In other words, it is primarily used to process  shale oil – which is a result of a complex chemical process transferring oil shale to shale oil – and used less for generating electricity. The use of oil shale for both purposes generates massive  greenhouse gas emissions: the annual use of an additional 9 million tonnes of oil shale would increase Estonia’s carbon emissions by almost a quarter.
• Estonia has pledged to end the use of oil shale in overall energy production by 2040, in electricity production by 2035. More extensive oil shale mining will take the country to  the opposite direction and keep a highly polluting unsustainable economy alive.
• Oil shale mining damages the region’s wetlands and endangered species that live there. In the amendment process of the permits,  it was not explained in sufficient detail how the environment will be protected from the damage of the direct and indirect effects of mining.