Brown coal mining limits in North Bohemia of mining operations whole villages, towns and even cities (Most) were demolished to extract the coal that lay beneath; their inhabitants were rehoused in large-scale new prefabricated panelled apartment buildings. The low quality technology used for large-scale burning of brown coal led to a sharp increase in the content of harmful sulfur dioxide and aerosols in the atmosphere. The result was wholesale damage to the environment (such as the die-back of the forests in the Ore Mountains from acid rain) and human health. In view of the unsustainable situation, the first post-communist Czechoslovak government decided to resolve the situation by
Brown coal mining limits in North Bohemia on other foundations than only coal and coal-fired power generation is above all realistic and realisable. We'd also like to discuss the issue of employment with the Prime Minister. It would be good for him to hear that annulling the limits would not bring about a positive impact on employment in the region, but rather the contrary." The mayor of Litvínov, Milan Štovíček, called Rusnok's statement a “dirty trick” played on the population of the Usti region. “I personally see it as the biggest scam on the people since 1989. This is what only totalitarian governments allowed in the past