Economy Minister Katherina Reiche should revoke the operating license for the gas pipeline, according to Deutsche Umwelthilfe – also for climate protection.
The German Environmental Aid (DUH) is pressing the federal government to close the backdoors for a possible commissioning of the Baltic Sea Nord Stream 2 gas pipeline. Economy Minister Katherina Reiche (CDU) should revoke the operating permit for the gas pipeline, demands the organization.
The Nord Stream 1 and Nord Stream 2 gas pipelines run through the Baltic Sea from Russia to Germany. They consist of two underwater tubes each. Nord Stream 1 went into operation in 2011. Nord Stream 2 was completed almost ten years later, but has never been used.
As is usual with such projects, both the construction and the operating permit had been granted. The pipeline can only be operated once a certification process is completed. This process was halted in February 2022. Seven months later, Nord Stream 1 was completely destroyed in an attack; one of the two Nord Stream 2 lines is reportedly still intact. Recently, US investor and Trump supporter Stephen Lynch signaled an interest in taking over Nord Stream 2.
“We are wondering what scenarios are being considered in the ministry in case the political situation changes,” says Constantin Zerger, head of Energy and Climate Protection at the DUH. “Nord Stream 2 is still the largest fossil fuel project in Europe.” For climate protection reasons and in solidarity with Ukraine, no Russian gas should be delivered to Germany through it.
DUH Publishes Draft Report
Whether the certification procedure will be resumed depends on a so-called supply security report. The DUH wanted to see the draft for it; the ministry refused and wrote that a “resumption of the dormant procedure” for the pipeline’s certification was “not excluded.” In the meantime, the DUH was provided with the draft, and she published it. “It shows that the project has always been a danger for Germany and Europe, and will remain so,” says Zerger.
According to the Federal Ministry for Economic Affairs and Climate Action, it is not the operating license for Nord Stream 2, but the certification that is decisive. Minister Reiche continues, in line with the federal government, to be unequivocally against a commissioning, according to a spokesperson. In the statements in the notice to the DUH, it concerns pure procedural law, not the question of authorization. There is a duty to accept and examine applications. Implementing these requirements does not mean that the government is open to commissioning the pipeline. “The opposite is the case,” she said.
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