North Sea islands of Borkum and Juist are suing against natural gas production in the Wadden Sea

MSeveral North Sea islands and an alliance around the German Environmental Aid are suing against the plans for the controversial natural gas production in the North Sea. On Friday they announced that they had filed corresponding complaints against the project near the island of Borkum with the administrative chamber of a court in The Hague in the Netherlands. The court itself did not initially provide any information on the lawsuits on Friday. The islands fear severe impacts from emissions, construction activities and growing natural gas platform infrastructure. Not only the underwater world, but also birds and valuable ecological habitats such as the gray dunes are threatened. In addition, there is a risk of earthquakes and subsidence due to the funding.

The city of Borkum said on Friday that the natural gas well should be drilled 19 to 29 kilometers away from the islands of Schiermonnikoog (Netherlands), Borkum and Juist. The region is surrounded by several nature reserves. They include the Unesco World Natural Heritage and Natura 2000 area, which has the highest European protection status.

Borkum majority against the project

The German Environmental Aid also announced on Friday that it would sue against natural gas production together with the Dutch environmental organization Mobilization for the Environment (MOB) and the citizens’ initiative Clean Air East Friesland.

The mood in Borkum is mostly against the plans of the Dutch company One-Dyas, said Borkum Mayor Jürgen Akkermann (independent). In view of the currently tense supply situation with natural gas, a lawsuit was carefully considered. However, a majority of the city’s management committee voted in favor of the lawsuit. Concerns about incalculable dangers for the environment and the islands outweigh the probable long period of gas production. “We ask ourselves why such environmental risks are cemented there for the next 20 to 30 years,” said Akkermann.

One-Dyas and its partners plan to set up a platform at sea and extract natural gas from a field between the islands of Schiermonnikoog (Netherlands) and Borkum. The platform is said to be located in the Dutch territorial sea, but only about 500 meters from German sovereign waters and about 20 kilometers off the coast of Borkum. The gas field is to have a recoverable total volume of up to 13 billion cubic meters of natural gas. Together with other surrounding areas, a total of up to 60 billion cubic meters is suspected – around half on German territory.

“The little gas will not help in the two upcoming winters”

On the Dutch side, the authorities gave the green light for funding at the beginning of June. According to the responsible Ministry of Economic Affairs in The Hague, the possible effects on the environment were examined. The submitted plans met all preconditions. Nevertheless, the conditions had been tightened because of the concerns of environmentalists, it was said at the time.

The Greens in the Lower Saxony state parliament support the lawsuits by environmental groups and the island of Borkum against the planned natural gas production in the North Sea. “The little gas from the mudflats will not help us in the two upcoming winters, but will permanently solidify a support structure for old fossil fuels,” said parliamentary group leader Christian Meyer in a statement on Friday. “We are also focusing on the massive expansion of climate-neutral offshore wind energy in the North Sea.”

In view of the complaints, the Greens also renewed their criticism of the red-black Lower Saxony state government. Economics Minister Bernd Althusmann (CDU) signed a declaration with the Dutch company One-Dyas on natural gas production just last week. The deputy prime minister had said the project should help secure the energy supply.

“The planned natural gas production definitely does not serve to ensure security of supply, since small amounts of gas, which can cover just 1 percent of consumption in Germany, are to be promoted at the earliest in 2024, more likely in 2025,” replied Meta Janssen-Kucz, Member of the Borkum Greens.