The Federal Administrative Court in Leipzig has dismissed several lawsuits brought by Deutsche Umwelthilfe (DUH) and the Nature and Biodiversity Conservation Union (NABU) against the operating licence for the gas pipeline between the port of Mukran and Lubmin.
This means that the approximately 50 kilometre long gas pipeline operated by Gascade, which connects the LNG terminal in Sassnitz-Mukran to the gas pipeline network in Lubmin to the east of Greifswald, is expected to go into operation as planned in mid-May.
Specifically, the environmental organisations wanted the planning approval decision issued by the Stralsund Mining Authority last year to be revoked. They had criticised the pipeline on two points in particular: firstly, nature conservation issues in the sensitive Greifswald Bodden ecosystem had not been sufficiently examined. Secondly, there was no longer a gas shortage that would justify the operation of an LNG terminal on Rügen.
Critics have long argued that the terminal in Mukran creates unneeded overcapacity and harms the environment, nature and tourism.
The federal government, on the other hand, has defended the project with reference to the security of energy supply.
FSRU "Neptune" leaves Lubmin for Mukran at the beginning of May. Photo: Deutsche ReGas
The Federal Administrative Court ruled that the project was justified "in order to overcome the ongoing gas supply crisis resulting from the cessation of Russian gas supplies and the destruction of the Nord Stream pipelines". It therefore did not violate federal law.
According to the court, the violations of environmental legislation put forward by DUH and NABU are also not present. The project is compatible with the legal requirements for plant safety as well as water and nature conservation law. With reference to the LNG Acceleration Act, the Stralsund Mining Authority was also authorised to dispense with an environmental impact assessment.
Climate and marine protection has lost before the Federal Administrative Court. This is now an incentive for DUH to "now more than ever" take action in further proceedings against the unnecessary Rügen LNG terminal operated by Deutsche ReGas. According to DUH, the organisation intends to exhaust all legal means. As the two environmental organisations announced after the court hearing, they next want to take action against the approval of the entire terminal in the port of Mukran.
As previously announced, the municipality of Binz on Rügen has now also filed a lawsuit on 3 May in order to prevent the planned commissioning of the pipeline on 15 May if possible.
For politicians, the decision means legal certainty and the Federal Government Commissioner for Eastern Europe hopes that the new liquefied natural gas landing station in Mukran will reduce gas prices.
When gas will be fed into the new gas pipeline network for the first time, other than for test purposes, therefore depends not only on the current trial operation, but also on the court decisions still to be expected.
See also Marineforum Online from 22 November 2023 - "Pipeline for Rügen liquefied natural gas terminal fully approved"
Update from 08.07.2024:
The municipality of Binz, the German Youth Hostel Association and two private landowners have now also failed with their urgent applications against the operation of the liquefied natural gas terminal in Mukran before the Federal Administrative Court in Leipzig, as reported by NDR.
The court declared the urgent applications inadmissible because it did not see any safety risks for the plaintiffs. Residential buildings, the "Prora" youth hostel and planned areas in the Baltic resort of Binz were far outside the safety distance around the LNG terminal, according to the reasoning. The operator, Deutsche ReGas, announced that the terminal was still being prepared for regular operations.
Although no decision has yet been made in the main proceedings, the plaintiffs are unlikely to have any chance of success on these grounds.
Text: kdk
Source: ndr
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