‘Do more damage’

There is strong opposition to a plan to build an undersea LNG pipeline on the German peninsula of Rügen. In addition to the damage to the environment, the people of the area are afraid that the tourists will stay away. “The beach and the ocean are part of our living room.”

Two long rows of white beach chairs line the 60-kilometer-long Rügen beach. In front of seats with striped awnings, the dark blue sea water gently bobs up and down, waiting for the million or so tourists who hope to welcome the Baltic Peninsula this season.

But that apparent calm can be deceiving: this tourist destination in northeastern Germany has been plagued by unrest for months. Residents and climate activists are pushing back against the rapid expansion of LNG infrastructure on the peninsula. “New cycle routes are twenty years away. Approval of LNG terminals in weeks? That’s illegal,” says Mike Peltzer.

Peltzer, in his forties, was born and raised in Rügen, where he works as a physiotherapist. One of the spokespeople for Zukunft Sellin, an action group fighting against environmental degradation around the peninsula. “In the Baltic Sea, the herring used to have a wonderful spawning area with sea grass beds. But the herring has almost completely disappeared due to the degradation of the fields. The Atlantic herring is coming back, but it’s not a Baltic sea fish.

The German emerges from the welding room of the Haus des Costes in the neighboring village of Pape. Five police officers stand guard in front of the cultural center as top executives from gas companies Regas and Cascade speak. They talk about plans to import liquefied natural gas into Germany, including the United States, Norway and Qatar.

Loud noise

“German companies like yours are getting natural gas from America that is making people sick and destroying the environment,” says one islander. “Fracking (extraction of gas by hydraulic cracking of formations, Ed.) is banned in Germany. Don’t you know how much you bought?” Stefan Knabe, chairman of the supervisory board of Deutsche ReGas, doesn’t seem to have the figures ready. “Germany needs a lot of gas, it’s our revenue model,” counters Knabe. He gets loud.

Together with gas importer Cascade, Rigas, as a pipeline builder, is one of the first implementers of the federal government’s ambitious LNG projects in the state of Mecklenburg-Vorpommern. Initially, Germany wanted to install a floating LNG terminal off the coast of Celle after Russian natural gas stopped flowing from the Nord Stream gas pipeline in neighboring Lubmin. But after protests, the government watered down plans for Rügen.

Protests were loud in Pins, a fashionable seaside resort on the peninsula. If you take a stroll along the city’s beach promenade, you’ll understand why: it’s packed with tourists, and the high season hasn’t even started yet.

Dutch tourists

“The beach and the sea are part of our living room and shouldn’t be affected,” says Guy Karteja, director of tourism at Binns, which receives around 11,000 Dutch tourists each year. In the city, Chancellor Olaf Scholes and Economy Minister Robert Habeck were recently greeted with a whistle concert. The struggle bore some fruit. Because even though the LNG terminal in Rügen is closed, the 51-kilometer gas pipeline seems to be on its way. It is planned between the port of Mukran in Rügen and the coastal town of Lubmin, where Nord Stream 1 came ashore.

Last week, German gas importer Cascade began work on the bottom of a pipeline in the Baltic Sea. Deutsche Umwelthilfe (DUH), comparable to the Association of Nature Moments, warns that the work could have a disruptive effect on the marine climate. According to DUH, Cascade should work ‘very quickly’. Zukunft Sellin’s Peltzer was also critical. “Due to the industrialization of Mukran, the biotope of the Baltic Sea has already suffered a lot. A new pipeline causes more damage.

In a damp room in Baabe, Reinhard Liedtke, the mayor of Celle, defends the German decision. Energiewende (Transition to Renewable Energy) – to focus on LNG. “Do you remember the gas crisis: Russian natural gas was very comfortable, but suddenly fell. We were shocked, we could not pull emergency generators, the gas supply was rarely filled. The situation will not be better this year,” he said.

More capacity after 2026

Tourism director Karteja laughs off the arguments and points to a recently leaked report from the German Ministry of Economy and Climate (where Habeck is in charge). This shows that the planned LNG terminals are not needed. “We started a petition to remove the acceleration law for floating gas terminals. At least 80 percent of the residents of Rügen are against this law,” he says.

Hannes Damm, spokesman for the Greens in the state, agrees: “After 2026, the supply of liquefied gas will exceed demand. Excess capacity is unnecessary. According to the politician, the residents of Rügen and Greens in Mecklenburg-Vorpommern have already won important victories. The protests have reduced the number of LNG vessels from four to two, The floating terminal has been decommissioned and the construction of the gas pipeline has been postponed for a month.