The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Coal-loving Polish cities rank among Europe’s dirtiest
ZAR MOUNTAIN, POLAND
High atop the ski lift at — Zar Mountain in southern Poland, the villages below disappear. At first, they seem obscured by morning fog. But the yellow haze does not lift. It hangs heavy, the contrast with the white snow making it clear that something is off.
What is off is the air. Poland has some of the most polluted air in all of the European Union and 33 of its 50 dirtiest cities. Not even mountain retreats are immune.
The problem is largely a result of the country’s love affair with coal. Like elsewhere in Poland, most of the homes in the villages below Zar Mountain are still heated by coal. Some 19 million people rely on coal for heat in winter. In all of the European Union, 80 percent of private homes using coal are in Poland.
Coal, commonly referred to as “black gold,” is seen as a patriotic alternative to Russian gas in this country, which broke away from Soviet control three decades ago and remains deeply suspicious of its neighbor to the east. Burning coal is part of daily life.
Many street corners, near bus and tram stops, feature containers known as braziers that burn coke, a coal derivative that is chiefly carbon. On a recent morning in Swietochlowice, to the north, children threw in sticks and paper, sucking in the fumes.
Outdated furnaces burn coal, too. Andrzej Machno, who lives in the small city of Skawina, northeast of Zar Mountain, has used the same furnace for more than three decades.
He has been waiting for local government funding to change to a newer, cleaner-burning model. But it is not clear when the money will arrive, or if he will qualify.
“I think all the promises come with elections,” Machno said. But once the campaigns are over, he said, all the grand ideas fade away.
In the meantime, the smog is everywhere.
Driving through small villages near Rybnik, about two hours to the northwest of the mountain and one of the cities ranked as the European Union’s most polluted, smoke poured out of the houses that hug the main road.
It was evening, but strangely bright as smoke particles diffused the light from street lamps, creating an eerie orange glow. “This doesn’t look right,” a father said as he hurried past with his son, his jacket pulled above his mouth.
In Krakow, with its majestic castle looming over the old town, many of the buildings are still equipped with furnaces dating back decades. At the beginning of the winter, coal deliverymen make the rounds.
But now so do eco-consultants for the local government, which has undertaken one of the most ambitious projects in the country to wean people off burning coal or wood.
The Krakow government has outlawed the use of the cheapest, most polluting coal, and by 2019 aims to ban all burning of coal and wood.
The government workers try to help residents with the transition to cleaner fuel and furnaces, and guide them to available funds to pay for it.
If the effort succeeds, it may provide a model for other cities around the country. Already it has cut the number of outdated furnaces to about 10,000, from more than double that several years ago.
Other municipalities, like Katowice, about an hour’s drive west of Krakow, are using drones to monitor household emissions.
But overall action has been lacking from the national government of the Law and Justice party, which has long championed the politically powerful coal industry.
In December, Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki used one of his first speeches to announce plans to build two new coal mines in Silesia, the industrial region in southwest Poland.
As the toll mounts from the pollution problem, especially for children, the government is also coming under greater pressure, including the prospect of fines for violating EU standards.
Some 48,000 Poles are estimated to die annually from illnesses related to poor air quality. Greenpeace estimated that 62 percent of Poland’s kindergartens are in heavily polluted areas.
In response, the government announced that it will spend $8.8 billion by 2028 to combat smog.