In 1997, the decision to store toxic waste in the mine was sold as a lifeline to miners: running a waste repository underground could provide them with continued employment. For years, officials reassured the public that the waste would only be stored down there for 30 years.

"We hoped that by storing the waste underground, we would find a solution to treat this waste and be able to recycle it in one way or another thanks to advances in technology. But work on this never saw the light of day,” says Hecht. Flyers distributed at the time described the project as “a mine to serve the environment”.

Preuss-AG should be held to account for this. But as usual it won’t.

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