Environmental Agency okays start of LNG terminal on German island

DPA
·2 min read
The almost 300-metre-long "Energos Power" enters the port of Mukran accompanied by tugboats. Environmental Agency approves the commissioning of the Mukran LNG terminal on Ruegen. Stefan Sauer/dpa
The almost 300-metre-long "Energos Power" enters the port of Mukran accompanied by tugboats. Environmental Agency approves the commissioning of the Mukran LNG terminal on Ruegen. Stefan Sauer/dpa

Liquefied natural gas (LNG) can be landed on the German Baltic Sea island of Rügen and fed into the national distribution network after being converted into gas.

The local Environmental Agency authorized the regular operation of the terminal in the port of Mukran on Tuesday, the Ministry of the Environment for the state of Mecklenburg-Vorpommern said in the state capital Schwerin.

A spokesman for the ministry said that the authorization will take effect when it is handed over to the operator Deutsche ReGas on Wednesday.

The controversial terminal on the east coast of the Baltic Sea island is already in trial operation. In future, two regasification ships are to take on LNG there, convert it and transport it via a pipeline around 50 kilometres in the Baltic Sea to the feed-in point in Lubmin on the mainland near the city of Greifswald.

According to the authorization documents, the terminal in Mukran is important for security of supply in Germany. This also justifies the widely criticized decision not to carry out an environmental impact assessment, according to a note from the Mecklenburg-Vorpommern State Office for Agriculture and the Environment.

Critics such as Environmental Action Germany (DUH) doubt that this terminal is necessary to supply Germany with sufficient gas. Like tourism experts and local politicians, they see the danger that ecosystems off the coast of and on Rügen proper will be unnecessarily burdened.

Sascha Müller-Kraenner, DUH's federal managing director, announced that he would take legal action against the authorization if necessary to stop it. The seaside resort of Binz a few kilometres along the bay from the LNG terminal has also affirmed its intention to take legal action.