Editing Coal mining (section)

===Germany===
[[File:Ende Gelände 2017 CHB 23 (cropped).jpg|thumb|An [[Open-pit mining|open-pit]] coal mine in the [[Rheinisches Braunkohlerevier|Rhineland lignite mining area]] in Germany.]]
[[Germany]] has a long history of coal mining, going back to the [[Middle Ages]]. Coal mining greatly increased during the [[Industrial Revolution]] and the following decades. The main mining areas were around [[Aachen]] and the [[Ruhr]] area, along with many smaller areas in other parts of Germany, and until 1945 also in [[Upper Silesia]], while the [[Saarland]] was repeatedly under French control. These areas grew and were shaped by coal mining and coal processing, and this is still visible even after the end of the coal mining.<ref>{{Cite web|last=Czierpka|first=Juliane|title=Der Ruhrbergbau. Von der Industrialisierung bis zur Kohlenkrise|url=https://www.bpb.de/apuz/283262/der-ruhrbergbau-von-der-industrialisierung-bis-zur-kohlenkrise|access-date=2022-01-12|website=bpb.de|date=4 January 2019 |language=de}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|title=Die Route der Industriekultur|url=https://www.ruhr-tourismus.de/de/industriekulturruhr/route-der-industriekultur.html|access-date=2022-01-12|website=www.ruhr-tourismus.de|language=de|archive-date=25 December 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20211225093906/https://www.ruhr-tourismus.de/de/industriekulturruhr/route-der-industriekultur.html|url-status=dead}}</ref>
[[File:Open pit coal mine in Germany (9260).jpg|thumb|An excavator in the Welzow South open pit coal mine in Germany.]]
Coal mining reached its peak in the first half of the 20th century. After 1950, the coal producers started to struggle financially. In 1975, a subsidy was introduced (''Kohlepfennig'', ''coal penny'' as part of the electricity bill), which was discontinued in the 1990s. In 2007, due to EU regulations, the [[Bundestag]] decided to end subsidies by 2018. As a consequence, [[RAG AG]], the owner of the two remaining coal mines in Germany, Prosper Haniel and Ibbenbüren, announced it would close all mines by 2018, thus ended underground coal mining in Germany.

Open pit lignite mining for electricity continues in Nordrhein-Westfalen, and in the eastern states of Brandenburg, Saxony and Saxony-Anhalt.