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A new environmental permit for Baltic Pipe takes several months
Author:Mariusz Dasiewicz
The Danish Environmental Protection Agency (Miljostyrelsen) estimates that it will take 7-8 months to obtain a new environmental decision for a land-based section of Baltic Pipe in Denmark – informed Niels Bjorkbom of the Agency.
As he explained, Energinet – the Danish gas transmission operator and investor – and the Agency will have to make a new environmental impact assessment of the construction of the pipeline.
"Part of this process is a public hearing lasting eight weeks. We estimate that we have about 7-8 months of work ahead of us before we get a new permit," Bjorkbom said. As he pointed out, this new permit can also be contested.
The Danish Environmental and Food Board of Appeal repealed the Environmental Authorisation of 12 July 2019 issued by the Danish Environmental Protection Agency on 31 May 2019. The case was re-examined by that office.
For this reason, the Energinet plans to temporarily halt the construction of the land segment, which cannot be done immediately. The operator is working on a plan for a controlled temporary cessation of construction work, and is conducting a close dialogue with a number of different contractors working on Baltic Pipe to ensure safe closure of construction sites, pending the resumption of work after re-authorisation.
Energinet is responsible for the construction of part of Baltic Pipe from the connection to the Europipe II pipeline in the North Sea, through the Danish mainland: Jutland, the island of Fiona, to the coast of the dump of Zealand. From this point the Polish operator Gaz-System is responsible for the construction, including the location of the pipe at the bottom of the Baltic. The offshore pipeline between Europipe II and the coast of Denmark has been located in recent weeks. The Danes have also built a large part of the gas pipeline on land. In total, their land stretch is 210 km.
As assured by the Gaz-System on Friday, on the sections for which it is responsible, the construction works carried out both on land and in the Baltic Sea are conducted without disruption and are carried out according to the timetable. The installation of the gas-System contractor – Saipem – is expected to start in the summer. According to the schedule, the entire Baltic Pipe system would start on 1 October 2022.
Source: PAP
