Dispute over the construction of liquefied gas terminals in Germany
When Reinhard Knof is standing on the dike in Brunsbatel, many problems add up to a big one for him. From the ten metres high sea dike in the south of Schleswig-Holstein, the activist can look at the Brunsbatel nuclear power plant, which was shut down eight years ago. A nuclear intermediate storage site is right next to it, and a few kilometres away is the plant of the chemical company Covestro.
A special waste incineration plant and another storage site for radioactive substances are nearby. "If a liquid gas tanker blows up here, there is nothing left of Brunsbatel. This would be an ecological disaster,"says Knof, the chairman of the"Citizens'Initiative against end-of-life CO2 camps".
If it is the German-Dutch consortium German LNG, liquid gas tankers will soon continue to operate there. Gasunie LNG, Oiltanking and Vopak LNG are planning a terminal to land liquefied natural gas.
Some in the industry want LNG for better security of supply and the location is logistically convenient. The Elbe and the nearby North-Baltic canal are highly frequented waterways, the port of Hamburg, Germany's largest, is not far.
But for Knof, the situation is part of the problem. "There are always incidents with LNG tankers. To do this, the crane at Brunsbatel is just 400 meters wide and tankers have to cross the crane before landing,"says the president of the citizens'initiative.
Germany is to become "location for LNG infrastructure"
The federal government wants German LNG terminals. The Union and SPD coalition treaty states that it wants to make Germany the location for LNG infrastructure. In German industry, this is seen as a signal to Washington that the blockade fire against Nord Stream 2 should be stopped there. A miscalculation: The United States has just adopted sanctions for the pipeline Nord Stream 2 under construction.
Brunsbatel, Stade and Wilhelmshaven are competing for an LNG terminal which, in any case, does not make any sense from the point of view of the German Industry Association.
Amendments and subsidies
Construction on the German coast is to be supported by legislative simplifications and subsidies. For example, the 450-million euro project in Brunsball would be subsidised by fifty million euros each from Berlin and Kiel. The government in Schleswig-Holstein, with its green minister for the environment Jan Philipp Albrecht, supports the project, unlike the Greens in the Federal Republic and the county.
German LNG argues, on request of Daily Mirror Background, that there are economic advantages for the location of Brunsbatel or the port of Hamburg, as well as the benefits of LNG as a fuel in shipping or for the diversification of the German natural gas market.
The Federal Government wants to further develop the natural gas infrastructure "in order to open up the diversified sources and routes for pipeline gas and LNG". This is what the report of the Federal Ministry of Economy's Gas 2030 Dialogue Process last October says. Can environmental activists disrupt the project or perhaps even prevent it?
Environmental associations and Greens oppose LNG expansion
Knof is not alone. Environmental organisations and the Greens in the Federation reject the LNG plans. Knofs Initiative and 24 other groups and environmental associations joined forces a long time ago on the "Climate Alliance against LNG". Among them are the Federation for Environment and Nature Conservation and the German Environmental Aid (DUH).
Already in the spring, the Alliance published an open letter expressing its full rejection of the project. The LNG terminal counters the energy shift, was read there. The fossil gas is expensive, neither climate-friendly nor green, and contributes "significantly to climate warming".
In view of the expected low utilization of the expensive terminals, the alliance referred to an "investment ruin". "We don't want new fossil infrastructures, we don't want a new log-in in fossil energies," said Constantin Zerger, head of energy and environmental protection at DUH, the daily mirror Background.
Boris Steuer sits on the board of the "Angry Environmental Protection Haseldorfer Marsch". The members live right where a 60-kilometre long route is to connect the terminal to the gas network. This is a problem for the fifty members of the Hetlingen Environmental Association.
Debate on the import of fracking gas
"The gas pipeline would run through the middle of the marshland and cut through waterways that are also important for agriculture," says Tax. The soil structure could change in the long term, to the detriment of the inhabitants and farmers. "Terminal and gas pipeline are extremely undesirable in the population," says Tax. "Fracking cannot be refused in this country and then imported from the USA."
The consortium in Brunsbatel cannot ignore the resistance of environmental associations and local groups. The protest could affect the planning and approval procedures of the consortia. The DUH initiated a legal opinion that agreed to the terminal in May.
It is precisely the proximity to nuclear installations and the chemical park that is a problem. The legal conditions for the establishment of an incident facility such as the terminal did not exist.
In Schleswig-Holstein, planners now need to improve
In the context of the participatory procedure, DUH may even have had an impact. The approval authority in Schleswig-Holstein has meanwhile instructed the planners to make improvements in around 80's. "This will certainly slow down the approval process," said DUH division leader Zerger.
The application for a plan statement, originally planned for the first half of 2019, is still pending, as is the investment decision in general. German LNG writes that the final approval documents are currently being prepared.
The terminal was "a chance for Brunsbatel"
The mayor of Brunsbutttel also wishes the terminal. "We see a strategic decision of the federal government per LNG, and a chance for Brunsbatel," says Martin Schmedtje. The aim is to create jobs and generate tax revenue. He was aware of the rejection of the various initiatives, but the majority of the population of Brunsbietel were behind the terminal.
"We say goodbye to nuclear power, we get out of coal and lignite. Germany cannot get out everywhere, we need the gas as an energy source, at least until 2050,"the mayor believes. "Otherwise, people would also have to be told that our prosperity cannot be maintained in this way."
Legal opinions: the terminal in Wilhelmshaven is not authorised
It has long been clear that the attitudes of local groups and environmental organisations could influence LNG projects. Plans for landing sites in Stade or Wilhelmshaven are less advanced than in Brunsbatel. But the DUH has already commissioned a legal opinion for the project planned by Uniper Group in Wilhelmshaven.(徳囯ASK电容器)