By Frank Noakes
PRAGUE — When Greenpeace activists first came here in 1984, they were shot at while hanging banners from one of Czechoslovakia's ubiquitous smoking chimneys in protest against acid rain. One year ago the environmental campaigners returned legally and moved into offices just off the beautiful Old Town Square, with its Gothic and baroque buildings; but the present government appears only marginally more receptive to them than the old "communist" regime.
Immediately after the Velvet Revolution in 1989, the new Civic Forum government adopted a change in attitude to environmental matters. The first minister of the environment enjoyed a favourable reputation.
"Ivan Dejmal was very progressive and seemed to care. But the new government [Civic Democrats, elected June 1992], since last summer is quite different. They are taking away the reforms of the previous government. It seems the new minister, Frantisek Benda, is more of a populist; he's not clear in his answers", Vera Frankova, Greenpeace media spokesperson, told Green Left Weekly.
The new minister has made it plain that he does not welcome the involvement of non-government organisations in the decision making process. "It's like everywhere in Europe: the government is right- wing and we feel it. In this country they have problems with the economy, there's instability in politics, and so environmental problems are not seen as being as important, but of course they are."
The environmental and green political movements here are neither as established nor as strong as in the west. Frankova explains: "In this country they missed the ecological movement of the '80s. We have to remember that the ecological movement here, before the revolution, was the only official way to protest against the regime. People used it that way, and a lot of them became ministers in the parliament later.
That's why the official ecological movement died — these people became government officials."
The most pressing environmental problems in the newly constituted Czech Republic are those upon which life itself depends — air and water. "There are times during the winter when you really can't breathe", says Frankova. Located in the Troja basin, the steep valley of the Vltava River, Prague is prone to the build-up of smog; this gets so bad that on some days aircraft are unable to land at the Ruzyne international airport.
High levels of smog in early February forced the banning of all non-essential motor traffic from the city centre. This prompted the Prague city administration to insist that, as from April 1, only cars with catalytic converters fitted may enter the central city.
Brown coal
"In the north of Bohemia, where they burn brown coal for energy, it is really awful. People are paid extra to live there, just to stay; and of course the water is heavily polluted after 40 years of industrialism without any restrictions." This payment is known locally as "funeral expenses".
"The problem with the brown coal is that it is not only being burned in power plants — filters could be installed there — but every household burns it too." Pollution control in north Bohemia is one of Greenpeace's priority campaigns here, and little wonder. Scientists estimate that the air in Litvinov, close to the Ore Mountains, has the highest sulphur dioxide levels on the continent.
In this notorious industrial strip there are kilometres of factories, 11 open pit coal mines, coal burning power stations and open pools of liquid waste.
This area has contributed heavily to the poisoning of 60% of the republic's forests and half of the country's water supply.
A cloud of smog hung over the region between February
9 and 15, prompting mass protests and petitions which resulted in coal-fired power stations being forced to cut production by 30%. The government earmarked 1.16 billion crowns in emergency funds for the area, with environment minister Benda commenting that they had come "close to a natural(!) disaster".
The old regime, from the 1950s onward, literally dug up 101 towns and villages, some over 800 years old, forcibly removing their populations, in its quest for cheap coal.
The current government is continuing that policy. The latest village under attack is Libkovice, where most of the population have now given up the struggle to save their homes, but a few are hanging on.
The communist mayor, in alliance with the Rainbow Movement and Greenpeace, continue to fight; their young members patrol the streets wearing chains and handcuffs, ready to attached themselves to construction equipment. Greenpeace protesters recently saved the 100 year old village church, by obstructing the demolition and persuading the workers to leave.
Nuclear dispute
Another campaign for Greenpeace is protesting against the construction of a nuclear power plant at Temelin, in south Bohemia, near Austria's eastern border. The Green Party in the Czech Republic, unlike most Green parties, is not set against nuclear power. Greenpeace, initially campaigning from Austria, has consistently opposed all nuclear facilities in Czechoslovakia in the past, and has been in the forefront of opposition to Temelin.
Greenpeace has produced a study showing that a policy of energy reduction through greater efficiency would obviate the need for greater energy capacity. In 1988 Czechoslovakia had twice the level of energy usage of Italy and France; energy consumption has declined 30% since then, but through industrial decline rather than conservation.
The government wants to discuss the issue only at the level of economics, says Frankova."But what is to be done with the waste? What of the human costs?
People are scared, there are a lot of people living in the area, it's not far from Vienna, it's the centre of Europe! Even a small accident would be a catastrophe."
In the past Czechoslovakia could ship all its nuclear waste to the Soviet Union at no cost, but none of the former republics are prepared to continue this practice.
"The sad thing is the southern part of this republic is the last part that remains quite beautiful, has some remnants of nature left. The people of the cities and villages around have come together in an association against the nuclear power plant. In 60 villages in the vicinity they have voted against the plant. There have been many protest marches and many thousands of protest letters written and even blockades of the state energy company in Prague; but still the government insists that it will be constructed."
The big the question is why is the Soviet-style plant being built at all? The Greenpeace study shows that 52% of energy produced in 1991 was wasted due to inefficiency, and energy consumption is declining. Could it be for environmental reasons then?
According to the government, this is a central reason. If Temelin comes on stream then it could close the coal burning plants in the north, it claims. But Frankova says: "Given that there is evidence that the government is going to export the electricity, this argument does not stand up".
Further, the amount of power generated by the two 1000 megawatt units will only take the nuclear component of power generation up to 40% of the republic's current requirement. The government has also recently announced the commitment of billions of crowns for the installation of desulphurisation technology and other modernisation of coal burning plants in the north.
In January 1991 Austria offered Czechoslovakia free electric power if it abandoned its nuclear industry; the Civic Forum government rejected the offer. More recently, the Austrian Chancellor Franz Vranitzky proposed that his government would finance
the conversion of Temelin into a gas-fired power station, but on March 10 the Czech government of Vaclav Klaus voted to complete the nuclear plant.
The scramble for hard currency through the sale of electricity is a critical reason for Temelin. More darkly, it is rumoured that large sums of money have changed hands to guarantee the plant's construction.
Greenpeace worries that the west is locating its suspect industries in the east and taking no responsibility for the waste generated or the environmental consequences. However, both the Austrian chancellor and Frankova still believe Temelin, being built in conjunction with the US-based Westinghouse Electric company, can be halted.
Meanwhile, Greenpeace, with its six full-time workers, is growing in numbers and support, even if it has been portrayed negatively in the past. "We get everyday support from people, and today we have between 200 and 300 paying members, with around 1000 who are registered supporters; most of these are young."