A health, safety, environmental and social management system (HSES MS) has been developed by Nord Stream 2 AG to enable identification and management of all relevant HSES risks associated with the project. The HSES MS also covers the management of security where it may impact the safety of personnel and affected communities, the integrity of project assets and the reputation of Nord Stream 2 AG.
The current HSES MS is applicable to the planning and construction phases of NSP2. It will be adjusted once the pipeline system is commissioned so as to manage HSES issues for the operational phase. Throughout all phases of the project, Nord Stream 2 AG will ensure that HSES information is proactively communicated both internally and externally, and that all staff and contractors ad-here to the standards and requirements in the HSES MS.
0.15 Summary
In summary, the construction and operation of NSP2 may result in mainly negligible to a few minor impacts on the environment. No impacts, either individually or in combination, are assessed to be significant.
A summary of the potential impacts on all resources and receptors assessed in the EIA is provided in Table 0-6 (physical-chemical and biological) and Table 0-7 (socio-economic), based on the as-sessment of potential impacts (see section 0.6).
Table 0-6 Summary of the overall impacts caused by the NSP2 project on physical-chemical and biological resources or receptors.
Source of potential impact Physical-chemical Biological
Bathymetry Sediment quality Hydrography Water quality Climate and air quality Plankton Benthic flora and fauna Fish Marine mammals Seabirds Protected areas*** Natura 2000 Biodiversity
Construction phase
Generation of underwater noise **
Physical disturbance above
* E.g. from presence of vessels, airborne noise and light.
** Impact on marine mammals from underwater noise is assessed to be “Negligible” for PTS/TTS and “Minor” for behavioural response and masking.
*** Protected areas include Ramsar sites and HELCOM MPAs.
**** This impact refers to the noise of the gas flowing through the pipeline.
Negligible
im-pact Minor impact
Table 0-7 Summary of the overall impacts caused by the NSP2 project on socio-economic resources or receptors.
Source of potential impact Socio-economic
Shipping and shipping lanes Commercial fishery Cultural heritage People and health Tourism and recreational areas Existing and planned installations Raw material extraction sites Military practice areas Environmental moni- toring stations
Construction phase
Physical disturbance on the seabed Release of sediments into the water col-umn
Release of contaminants into the water column
Physical disturbance above water Imposition of safety zones around vessels Sedimentation on the seabed
Operational phase
Physical presence of pipelines and struc-tures on the seabed
Physical disturbance above water Imposition of safety zones around vessels
Negligible impact Minor impact
1 INTRODUCTION
Nord Stream 2 is a planned twin pipeline system that can transport natural gas from the world's largest reserves in northern Russia to supply homes and businesses across Europe. Nord Stream 2 will build capacity into the supply system to add flexibility and safeguard Europe’s long-term energy security.
Supported by leading international energy companies, the project builds on the success and expe-rience of Nord Stream, twin pipelines through the Baltic Sea put into operation in 2011 and 2012.
The new pipelines will increase the capacity to Europe via the Baltic Sea route from Russia to Germany.
The route through the Baltic Sea is the most direct connection between gas reserves in Russia and markets in the European Union. The pipelines will cross the territorial waters (TW) and/or exclusive economic zones (EEZs) of Russia, Finland, Sweden, Denmark, and Germany.
The Nord Stream 2 Pipeline project is subject to national legislation in each of the countries through which it crosses. In accordance with the requirements of country-specific national legislation, na-tional permit applications for construction and operation and documentation for the environmental impact assessment (EIA) have been submitted in all five countries. In addition, international con-sultation has been undertaken according to the Espoo Convention so that all countries possibly affected by the Nord Stream 2 Pipeline project have the opportunity to review the transboundary impacts that the pipelines could potentially have on the environment.
In Denmark, an EIA is an integrated part of the permitting procedure for a pipeline, and must be prepared in accordance with the Danish EIA Act.
This EIA has been prepared specifically for the Danish section of the Nord Stream 2 Pipeline. The EIA provides information on the current environment in the project area and the different existing and planned interests. It describes how the route corridor for the pipelines has been chosen, and the anticipated environmental impacts from the construction and operation of the pipeline system.
A construction permit application for the base case Nord Stream 2 Pipeline route, including EIAs and Espoo documentation, was sent to the relevant authorities for all involved countries in April 2017. Permits have been granted in Germany, Sweden, Finland and Russia. In Denmark, the NSP2 base case route application is being evaluated by the Minister of Foreign Affairs, as a con-struction permit for a route in Danish TW can only be granted if the activity is compatible with national foreign, security and defence policy interests, cf. section 3a(2) of the Act on the Conti-nental Shelf and Certain Pipeline Installations in the Territorial Waters.
As it is not clear when a recommendation by the Minister of Foreign Affairs will be made, Nord Stream 2 AG decided to develop a route outside of Danish TW to the north and west of Bornholm (NW route). The EIA and permit application were submitted to the DEA in August 2018.
Given the recent delimitation of the EEZ borders between Denmark and Poland, Nord Stream 2 AG has now decided to develop a route outside of Danish TW to the south and east of Bornholm and the base case route. It is noted that the positioning of the proposed NSP2 route at the Dan-ish/Swedish and Danish/German EEZ borders is considered fixed, on the basis of environmental and technical reasons together with the issuance of the German and the Swedish permits and the start of pipeline installation in German and Swedish waters.