Status: 03/19/2023 08:34 a.m
Although Prime Minister Schwesig is against the construction of further LNG terminals in Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania, environmental aid sees signs of initial preparatory work. An objection to the mining authority has so far remained unanswered.
According to the German Environmental Aid, preliminary work for further LNG terminals has begun east of Rügen. Ship movements in the sea area suggested that a dredger had started work. There could also be test drilling.
“The pattern repeats itself. This was also the approach when building the North Sea terminal off Wilhelmshaven,” said Constantin Zerger, Head of Energy and Climate Protection at Umwelthilfe. During the course of yesterday, the organization registered and took pictures of the movements of the “Swarog” floating dredger on the “JB119” construction platform.
The environmental aid appealed to the Stralsund mining authority against the work – but received no answer by the evening. Zerger pointed out that “any dredging work at the present time was during the herring spawning season and the bird migration period”. From a nature conservation and legal point of view, the possibility of an early start of construction or even just preparatory work being permitted can be ruled out.
Politicians are also asking for clarification
Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania’s Environment Minister Till Backhaus agreed with this assessment. The approval process is ongoing, said the SPD politician. The deadline for objections to the project only expired on Friday. Premature measures are not known to him and are not indicated.
Backhaus expressed concerns about the planned location for two more liquid gas terminals that the energy company RWE wants to build on behalf of the federal government just a few kilometers from the seaside resorts of Binz and Sellin. Local politicians and tourism associations are also strictly against it.
Prime Minister Manuela Schwesig had previously spoken out against the federal government’s previous plans for LNG terminals off Rügen – and called for alternatives. “For example, that you go out very, very far where it doesn’t bother anyone at all – and then maybe build a longer line,” said Schwesig to him NDR. The federal government must also first answer the question of whether additional terminals are still necessary in front of Rügen.
Environmental groups see no need
The environmental organizations BUND, NABU and WWF see no need for further LNG terminals off the coast of Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania. They warned against the construction of the terminals before Rügen, an associated further gas pipeline through the Greifswalder Bodden and sea routes through the Baltic Sea. Both the construction and the many years of operation threatened sensitive and protected habitats.
So far it is planned that two floating platforms will be set up off Sellin in the Baltic Sea. There, the liquid gas delivered by tankers is to be converted back into gas. It is then to be delivered by pipeline to Lubmin on the mainland. Lubmin used to be the landing point for Russian natural gas from the Baltic Sea pipeline Nord Stream 1. The place is connected to the European distribution network. Deutsche Regas has been operating an LNG terminal there since mid-January.