Denmark holds public consultations for Nord Stream 2

The Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) report for the Danish section of the Nord Stream 2 AG natural gas offshore pipeline system has been made available for public display by the coordinating authority, the Danish Energy Agency. The EIA is based on detailed environmental studies conducted along the route where the pipeline is planned to be constructed. The public, including the Danish authorities and organisations, can now provide comments or raise their questions to the Danish EIA report through the Danish Energy Agency until 19 September 2017. Nord Stream 2 AG has also submitted the construction permit application as well as the Espoo report (a study on the transboundary impacts on the environment) to the Danish Energy Agency.The Danish public participation pertains to Nord Stream 2 AG&rsquo;s planned offshore pipelines that will stretch for approximately 139 km in Danish territorial waters and the exclusive economic zone. The planned pipelines will run broadly parallel to the existing Nord Stream pipelines.&ldquo;The start of national and international public consultations in Denmark and other countries around the Baltic Sea is an important milestone for the project. Interested stakeholders will be able to file their comments to Nord Stream 2 or take the opportunity to raise their questions during the various public hearings scheduled in different countries around the Baltic Sea,&rdquo; said Nord Stream 2&rsquo;s Head of Permitting, Simon Bonnell.Permit applicationNord Stream 2 AG submitted a permit application for the construction of a new pipeline system to the Danish Energy Agency, on 3 April, 2017. The permit application includes a comprehensive Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) report. This EIA describes the main characteristics and technical solutions of the planned pipeline system, as well as detailed assessments of potential impacts on physiochemical, biological and socio-economic environment in the Danish sector. The report also includes an assessment of potential transboundary impacts which may arise from activities to be carried out in Denmark, and identifies measures to prevent and mitigate potential adverse environmental impacts.Later, in 2019, Nord Stream 2 AG will apply for a separate permit for the operation of the pipelines on the Danish continental shelf.Minimal Environmental ImpactBased on the thorough assessment of potential impacts, as well as the experience gathered during the construction and operation of the Nord Stream pipelines (including the results of environmental monitoring), the planned pipeline system in Danish waters is assessed to have minimal environmental impacts. Nord Stream 2 AG has been fully committed to finding safe, as well as environmental-friendly solutions throughout the planning phase, and will continue to do so during the construction and operational phase of the planned pipeline system.As a project in a transboundary context, Nord Stream 2 needs permits and is subject to international conventions and national legislation in each of the countries through which it passes &ndash; Russia, Finland, Sweden, Denmark, and Germany. The permitting process progresses on schedule: Sweden was the first country where Nord Stream 2 has submitted permit applications already in autumn 2016. Finland, Germany and Denmark followed in April 2017. Four public hearings have already been held in Sweden and Finland. In summer 2017, Germany, Russia and Denmark will follow suit with their own hearings. International consultations on transboundary impacts will furthermore be carried out between the Parties of Origin (permitting countries) and the Affected Parties (neighbouring coastal states of the Baltic Sea, i.e. Latvia, Estonia, Lithuania and Poland). Following the submission of the Espoo Report at the beginning of April 2017, four consultation meetings have already been held in the Baltic States and Poland in May and June. The project is proceeding within the timeline and we expect to receive all permits by the end of 2017 or the beginning of 2018.