ENDS Europe | 25 April 2017
EU court: German coal plant breaches EU nature law
by José Rojo
Germany breached the EU Habitats Directive by authorising a coal plant without ensuring its water demands would not impact on protected fish, the EU court ruled on Wednesday.
The European Court of Justice supported the European Commission’s view that the Moorburg plant, operated by Vattenfall outside Hamburg, was cleared for construction by local authorities without guaranteeing that it would not pose a risk to several Natura 2000 sites as required by EU law.
The ruling also found that the German evaluation failed to consider potential cumulative impacts with the nearby Geesthacht pumping station.
Read also: Vattenfall vs. Germany I: Coal-fired electric plant
However, the court dismissed other claims by the Commission, including that Hamburg authorities should have sought less water-demanding alternatives for the coal plant’s cooling systems. It ordered both Germany and the Commission to pay for their own legal costs.
The project was authorised in 2008 with a ‘fishway’ to help ease the passage of salmon and lamprey as they migrate past the facility along the Elbe river towards the Natura 2000 sites.
While the infrastructure was meant to compensate for the extraction of water for Moorburg’s cooling units, it was approved without a guarantee that it would accomplish this, the EU court said.
The ruling marks the end of the legal process dating back to 2014. The Commission announced it would refer Germany to the EU court over the case in March 2015.
The European Court of Auditors warned just two months ago of shortcomings in how member states monitor project impacts on Natura 2000 sites. The auditors' report found that 34 of all 47 surveyed EU projects had been assessed incompletely, with Germany falling short in 5 out of 10 projects.
