Pinocchio to deliver letters to Kulczyk

‘ (…) There are two kinds of lies, lies with short legs and lies with long noses.’

C. Collodi,’Pinocchio’

This Friday, 16th May at 2.00 pm, petitions to Jan Kulczyk, appealing for his withdrawal from plans to build Elektrownia Północ (‘North’) Power Plant in Pomerania, Poland, will be passed on to Mr. Piotr Maciolek, chairman of Elektrownia Północ Power Plant company, owned by Kulczyk Investments Group. The petitions, signed by over 8200 people, will be delivered by an exceptional guest – Pinocchio.

‘Despite the fact, that the billionaire Jan Kulczyk has repeatedly stated that his mission and priority as a businessman is to care about environment, he continues to invest in fossil fuels. Does it mean that Kulczyk’s words are worth as much as Pinocchio’s?’ – Radoslaw Slusarczyk, leader of the campaign ‘Stop Elektrownia Północ Power Plant’ asks rhetorically on behalf of thousands of people from all around the world.

‘Jan Kulczyk invests in dirty energy all around the world. He also intends to build a new, huge coal power plant in Pomerania, in Poland – Elektrownia Północ Power Plant – which will contribute to climate change, pollute the region, devastate the Vistula River ecosystem, threaten health of local inhabitants and priceless monuments, including Malbork Castle’ – Slusarczyk adds.

Kulczyk, the richest Pole, chairs Board of Directors of Green Cross International – an organization which works for environmental security. He is also a member of Climate Change Task Force – a team of recognized experts, leaders and Nobel Prize winners from around the world, whose aim is to solve global climate crisis. Kulczyk has repeatedly declared his deep commitment to environmental matters. Lately, he has become famous for a statement in which he pointed out that ‘unless we start to eliminate the sources of global environmental risks today, tomorrow they will eliminate us.

‘There is no action behind those words. Reactions to our petitions show that thousands of people from all around the world are watching activities of Kulczyk Investments and notice huge discrepancy between promises and actual deeds. This is precisely why we decided that the petition will be delivered by Pinocchio. Together with the international community we appeal to the billionaire for keeping his promises and investing in clean renewable energy sources, instead of building new coal power plant’ – explains Diana Maciaga from Association Workshop for All Beings, coordinator of the petitions.

‘Stop Elektrownia Północ Power Plant’ campaign is supported by social and environmental organizations, among which are Association Workshop for All Beings, ClientEarth Polska, Eko-Kociewie, Greenpeace Polska, WWF Polska and 350.org. The petitions were published on stopep.org and campaigns.350.org websites.

Elektrownia Północ Power Plant, supplied with coal, is the biggest new investment of this type in Europe. It is to be located in the centre of valuable rural areas, ca. 23 km from Malbork, and its annual carbon dioxide emissions will amount to around 9,4 million tons. Kulczyk Investments is the main investor.

The investment is vitiated with manifest errors from the very first stage of planning. On 15th September 2011 the Minister of Environment repealed its integrated permit the application of ClientEarth. On 14th February 2012 the Regional Administrative Court in Gdańsk repealed its building permit the application of ClientEarth and Eko-Kociewie. On 15th March 2013 the General Inspector of Building Control repealed the permit for the construction of water and sewage main. On 6th February 2014 Poland’s General Director for Environmental Protection affirmed partial invalidity of the plant’s environmental impact assessment permit (EIA).

Representatives of the campaign “Stop Elektrownia Północ Power Plant” cordially invite all interested journalists to the event of delivering the petition:

16th May, 2 pm, Elektrownia Północ Ltd., 24/26, Krucza St, Warsaw

Contact:

Diana Maciaga, Association Workshop for All Beings
tel.: 501 285 417
e-mail: diana@pracownia.org.pl