Černoch et al. on local opposition to coal mining and discourse in the Czech Republic

Černoch, Lehotský, Ocelík, Osička, and Vencourová, authored a new article titled “Anti-fossil frames: Examining narratives of the opposition to brown coal mining in the Czech Republic” and published in Elsevier´s Energy Research and Social Science. It examines coalmining opposition in the Czech Republic, country with strong coal identity, in the context of territorial ecological limits. These limits were established in 1991 to restrict mining in highly exploited North Bohemian and Sokolov brown coal basin and were partially rescinded in 2015.

Analyzing the discursive level of the conflict between proponents and opponents of the mining authors identified three frames, used by the latter to affect the debate. The "Local Impact frame", accentuating the unfairness of local community and environment being utilized for the benefits of the whole country, the "Low-Carbon Transition" frame, emphasizing both local and global environmental impact of the coal industry, and the "Anti-Systemic Environmental" frame, radical anti-capitalist narrative calling for the reconstruction of the way the economy and social order approaches energy in the country.

On a theoretical basis, the article questions the NIMBY narrative, which is regularly used by mining advocates to denounce the opposition.

The article can be found here.