Environmentalists bring Nord Stream 2 permit to court

German environmental group Deutsche Umwelthilfe (DUH) has taken legal action against the country's Stralsund Mining Authority, requesting that it reconsider its decision to issue a permit for Russian state-controlled Gazprom's 55bn m³/yr Nord Stream 2 gas pipeline, otherwise it will ask for a court-issued suspension of the permit.

The group has asked the authority to review the permit, taking into account a broader view of related methane emissions. The permit — issued in January 2018 — authorised the pipeline's construction and operation in German territorial waters.

The mining authority had rejected a previous application by DUH for a review. The environmental group submitted its request to the Greifswald higher administrative court on 27 July.

If the authority does not agree to reconsider the permit, DUH is requesting that the German court suspend the permit and refer the case to the European Court of Justice (ECJ). The suspension would remain in effect until the ECJ makes a preliminary decision on whether the permit should require the determination and evaluation of additional operational emissions within its environmental impact assessment, or until the ECJ decides whether the pipeline's operation is compatible with the EU's precautionary approach to environmental risks, taking into consideration new scientific insights.

A review is required because of a "significant" upward revision of estimated methane emissions from gas production than in the mining authority's earlier environmental impact assessment, DUH said. The initial assessment — a prerequisite for the permit's approval — had only taken into account possible methane links from the pipeline itself, assessing them as non-existent along the line's German underwater route. But this does not include methane leaks from extraction, transportation and processing that are "inextricably linked" to the operation of Nord Stream 2, DUH said. The section of the pipeline located within Germany is non-operational without considering additional infrastructure, DUH said.

Related projects should be taken into account as a whole to avoid the circumvention of EU rules by splitting projects that have a significant aggregate effect on the environment into different jurisdictions, the group said.

Independent and verifiable measurement data on methane leaks for related Russian infrastructure are not available, the group said. But methane emissions from gas infrastructure are significantly higher than previously estimated, it said. Peer-reviewed studies have found that leakage from the US oil and gas production chain is 60pc higher than estimated by industry and the US Environmental Protection Agency, DUH said.

Nord Stream 2 has taken note of and will evaluate DUH's lawsuit against the mining authority, the pipeline project developer told Argus. The developer does not comment on ongoing proceedings, it said.

Construction of Nord Stream 2 is mostly complete, with little work remaining in German waters. But Switzerland-based pipelaying firm Allseas suspended works on the Danish section after the US imposed sanctions targeting firms providing pipelaying vessels for the project. Russian president Vladimir Putin said earlier this year that the pipeline could be delayed until the first quarter of 2021.

And the US has threatened further sanctions against Nord Stream's European partners that could jeopardise a timely restart to construction.

Construction in Germany has been conducted in line with permit conditions and planned environmental mitigation measures, Nord Stream 2's developer has said. The line could reduce the EU's CO2 emissions from power generation by about 14pc if its gas supplies replace coal-fired power production, it has said.

By Jacob Mandel