Monday 17th May 2021
Permission for pipeline storage
Nord Stream is allowed to get started on the German side
While the construction of the controversial Nord Stream 2 gas pipeline on the Danish side is about to be completed, after a long struggle it will soon also start in German waters. The authorities give the green light for a first start. It will take some time before work can fully start.
The Nord Stream 2 gas pipeline is allowed to be laid on the seabed for two kilometers in German waters in May. The Federal Maritime and Hydrographic Agency (BSH) in Hamburg ordered the immediate execution of a controversial permit dated January 14, according to a notice from the office. The two kilometers are in the German Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ).
Nord Stream is therefore allowed to lay the line on the seabed, and it should be installed later. Nord Stream 2 is currently still building in Danish waters, but the work there is coming to an end. The Naturschutzbund Deutschland (Nabu) and Deutsche Umwelthilfe went to court against the approval from January for further construction in the German EEZ until the end of May, with reference to birds resting in the bird sanctuary. Due to the suspensive effect, there was no building permit until the end of May, explained the BSH.
From the end of May to the end of September, a permit from 2018 would then take effect. Then there would be no sensitive resting birds in the German Baltic Sea. “After careful consideration of all the interests to be taken into account, this arrangement is necessary for a two-kilometer laying so that the pipeline, as intended by the developer, can be safely stored in the area of the German EEZ on the seabed until further construction,” it said from BSH. Nature conservation aspects do not stand in the way of this arrangement, since the resting time of the birds in this short section is over.
The controversial Nord Stream 2 natural gas pipeline from Russia through the Baltic Sea to Germany is largely completed. According to the information, 13.9 kilometers of one line and 16.8 kilometers of the second line are missing in German waters. The pipeline has been one of the main points of contention in German-American relations for years.
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