German Village at Center of a Fight Over Coal and Climate Is Cleared Out For years, activists tried to save tiny Lützerath from being razed to make way for the expansion of an open-pit coal mine. This past week, the police moved them out.
Germany Needs Coal to Replace Gas, So a Village Has to Go The cutting of Russian gas supplies to Europe has led Germany to step up coal use, despite its goal to phase it out by 2030.