The environmental associations Bund, Nabu and WWF see no need for further LNG terminals in the Baltic Sea off the coast of Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania. Germany had already imported liquefied natural gas (LNG) via France, the Netherlands and Belgium in 2022 and could continue to do so in the future, the associations united in a Baltic Sea Alliance MV announced on Friday.
They warned of the planned construction of a large LNG terminal on 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. Marine mammals would be exposed to constant stress. Fish migration routes and the most important herring spawning area in the western Baltic Sea in the Greifswalder Bodden were also at risk.
Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania’s Prime Minister Manuela Schwesig (SPD) renewed her criticism of the federal government’s previous plans to build a liquefied natural gas terminal about five kilometers off the coast of Rügen. However, she did not go as far as the environmental groups to question the project entirely.
Protest on the holiday island of Rügen
“I think that other alternatives have to be examined. For example, that you go very, very far where it doesn’t bother anyone at all – and then maybe build a longer line,” said Schwesig on NDR television. The country is ready to feed in the gas from Lubmin. The project sponsor must examine how this can be done technically, but take tourism and the population with them.
On the island of Rügen, which lives largely from vacationers, there are numerous protests against the project, for which an accelerated approval process is planned. A debate on this is planned for next week in the state parliament in Schwerin.
In Schwesig’s view, only the federal government can answer the question of whether additional terminals off Rügen are still necessary at all. The Federal Government and Bundestag would have to explain what is still needed for a secure gas supply and what it means for the supply and prices if the terminals in Rügen do not come.
According to previous plans, two floating liquefied natural gas terminals are to be installed in the Baltic Sea off Sellin in the south-east of Rügen. The liquid gas delivered by tankers is to be converted back into gas there and transported by pipeline to Lubmin on the mainland. As a former landing point for Russian natural gas from the Nord Stream 1 Baltic Sea pipeline, Lubmin is already connected to the European distribution grid. Deutsche Regas has been operating an LNG terminal there since mid-January.
