Several environmental organizations want to work closely together in their opposition to plans for a liquid gas import terminal off Rügen. The environmental aid objected to the operation of a terminal ship in Lubmin – BUND, Nabu and WWF support it.
Lubmin/Berlin (dpa/mv) – The German Environmental Aid (DUH) is taking action against the operation of a terminal ship for liquid gas (LNG) in the port of Lubmin. The association lodged an objection with the competent State Office for Agriculture and the Environment in Western Pomerania. The approval had been granted illegally, essential project components had not been checked for their environmental consequences, said DUH federal manager Sascha Müller-Kraenner. All legal remedies would be exhausted “to protect the Baltic Sea and to stop the terminals in Lubmin and in front of Rügen”.
The state associations of BUND and Nabu as well as WWF and DUH have agreed to work closely together in their opposition to LNG plans in the north-east. In particular, the new alliance calls for a halt to planning for an import terminal off the coast of Rügen and for the construction of a new offshore pipeline through the ecologically highly sensitive Bay of Greifswald.
“The choice of location in front of Rügen within sensitive protected areas once again reveals the ignorance of politicians towards the ecological load limit of the Baltic Sea,” said Rica Münchberger, Managing Director of Nabu Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania. The construction of the LNG terminals in the Baltic Sea is cementing the use of fossil fuels. “Germany is thus entering into new, long-standing dependencies, which will block the necessary energy transition.”
“The lightning permit for the floating LNG terminal in the Lubmin port under the LNG Acceleration Act endangers nature and the environment,” said BUND Managing Director Corinna Cwielag. The conditions of the permit are insufficient to avoid damage to the sensitive Greifswalder Bodden. In addition, there are significant safety risks due to accidents in the vicinity of the decommissioned nuclear power plant in Lubmin with highly radioactive waste in the interim storage facility. The head of the WWF office in the Baltic Sea, Finn Viehberg, criticized that the acceleration procedures were one-sided at the expense of nature.
In mid-February, Economics Minister Reinhard Meyer (SPD) presented plans to set up LNG import facilities off the island of Rügen. According to this, two platforms are to be built about 4.5 to 6.5 kilometers from Sellin in the southeast of Rügen, on which floating liquefied natural gas terminals (FSRU) are to be moored. After the officially opened terminal in Lubmin in mid-January, it would be the second in Western Pomerania.
