Route development and optimisation

In general, three criteria have been considered when selecting viable route alternatives for the NSP2 pipelines.

The first criterion involves environmental aspects and focuses on avoiding protected and/or sensi-tive designated areas and other areas with ecologically sensisensi-tive species of animals or plants. Min-imising any seabed intervention works that might cause local environmental impacts is also con-sidered.

The second criterion includes socio-economic factors to minimise any interference with shipping, fishing, dredging, the military, tourism and existing cables and wind turbines. Likewise, no impacts on present or future raw extraction activities in the area should take place. Avoiding areas with known discarded conventional and chemical munitions is also a priority in the route selection pro-cess.

The third criterion covers technical considerations regarding pipeline design, component manufac-ture, installation method, operation, integrity and risk assessment results. This includes consider-ations concerning water depth for pipeline stability, seabed roughness, minimum pipeline bend radii, installation, maintenance and repair, criteria for cable and pipeline crossings as well as dis-tance to and crossing of shipping lanes. Furthermore, minimising construction time, and associated disruptions, as well as reducing the technical complexity of the operation to keep the use of re-sources low have been considered.

A pipeline routing that considers engineering design as well as the biological, physical-chemical and socio-economic environment is one of the most important criteria in avoiding or minimising impacts. See section 15 for further information on mitigation measures.

Nord Stream 2 AG has implemented several measures (where reasonably feasible) with respect to route optimisation. Environmental and social considerations that are embedded in the process of identifying an optimal pipeline route include:

• The presence of protected and environmentally sensitive areas, including fishing banks and nursery and spawning areas;

• Maritime safety and shipping lanes;

• The presence of conventional and chemical munitions;

• Commercial fishery patterns and intensity;

• Existing and future infrastructure;

• Parallel routing to the NSP pipelines so that the combined footprint of the two pipeline systems is minimised;

• The presence of raw material extraction areas.

• The presence of military practice areas;

• Minimisation of overall pipeline length.

Routing considerations also include avoiding sea bottom conditions that could give rise to freespans or larger requirements for seabed intervention works (including trenching and rock placement), which could potentially have environmental impacts.

Of specific concern in the waters around Bornholm is the avoidance of chemical munitions and their degradation products as well as the proximity to conventional munitions. In preparation for the construction of the NSP pipelines, Nord Stream AG initiated an exchange of information within various fields of munitions expertise. Munitions screening surveys were performed to establish the locations of potentially unexploded munitions that could constitute a danger for the pipeline or the environment during pipeline installation works. Experience from NSP has thus shown that whilst the presence of both conventional and chemical munitions on the seabed continues to pose a haz-ard in the Baltic Sea region, the potential risk can be safely managed. Nord Stream 2 AG is fully aware of the risks posed to humans and the environment owing to the potential presence of both conventional and chemical munitions in the route corridor and is conducting equivalent surveys and activities to manage associated risks. As with NSP, munitions screening surveys have been performed to establish the location of conventional and chemical munitions that could constitute a danger for the pipeline or the environment during pipeline installation works.

Maritime cultural heritage is protected by legislation, and national authorities have developed pro-cedures to avoid impacts on cultural heritage from construction projects. Specific surveys allow Nord Stream 2 AG to precisely locate cultural heritage sites and to locally reroute, in close consul-tation with national authorities, to avoid potential impact.

Based on the experience gained from NSP and available data on the existing pipelines, and taking the selection criteria described above into account, a thorough desk study corridor assessment has been performed, which identified a number of possible route corridors as a basis for further plan-ning.

Based on the above considerations, experience and existing data, the route originally applied for (the base case route) is shown in Figure 5-1. A construction permit application for the base case route, including environmental impact assessments /73/ as well as Espoo documentation /74/, was sent to the relevant authorities for all involved countries in 2017. Since January 2018, the decision on the base case route has been pending a recommendation from the Minister for For-eign Affairs on whether a construction permit for a route in Danish TW is compatible with national foreign, security and defence policy interests, cf. section 3a(2) of the Act on the Continental Shelf and Certain Pipeline Installations in the Territorial Waters. It is not clear when a recommendation by the Minister for Foreign Affairs will be given. Consequently, Nord Stream 2 AG decided to de-velop a route in the Danish EEZ outside of Danish TW. In November 2017, the DEA confirmed that the Danish EEZ south of Bornholm between Denmark and Poland was not available for the laying of pipelines due to the unclarified EEZ border between the two states /80/.

A route to the north and west of Bornholm (NW route) was evaluated and was applied for by a separate permit application in August 2018. The NW route was assessed as feasible and viable

based on environmental and socio-economic challenges and potential impacts. The authorities’

permitting procedure of the NW route is nearing its finalisation. Permits for NSP2 have been granted in Germany, Sweden, Finland and Russia and more than 800 km of the pipelines (Lines A and B) have been installed as of early April 2019.

On 1 November 2018, the Danish Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the Polish Ministry of Foreign Affairs announced that Denmark and Poland had agreed on a maritime boundary that, once it enters into force, will delimit the continental shelves and the EEZs of the two countries in the Baltic Sea, south of Bornholm /81//82/. Denmark and Poland signed a treaty on the EEZ border delimi-tation between Demark and Poland south of Bornholm on 19 November 2018, which enters into force 30 days after the parties have notified each other in writing that the necessary procedures for bringing the treaty into force have been finalised /83/.

On 26 March 2019, the DEA made the decision to request Nord Stream 2 AG to submit an environ-mental impact assessment with a permit application for a route in the Danish continental shelf/EEZ area south of Bornholm. The DEA has based its decision on that a route south of Bornholm is a better route for NSP2 in Danish waters than the NW route /84/.

The NSP2 route proposed in this EIA, the south-eastern route alternative (SE route), is included in Figure 5-1 as an alternative to the base case route and the NW route in Danish waters. The eastern part of the SE route in Danish waters splits into two potential route variants, the SE route V1 and the SE route V2, respectively. Both SE route variants are described and assessed in this EIA on the same level.

On the basis of environmental and technical considerations, and given the fact that permits for NSP2 have been issued in all of the other jurisdictions, including in Sweden and Germany, both the southern fix point of the SE route and the northern fix points of the SE route V1 and the SE route V2 correspond to the fix points for the base case route and the NW route. In Sweden, one of the NSP2 pipelines has been installed 6 km from the Danish/Swedish EEZ border, and in Ger-many, both NSP2 pipelines have been installed 16.5 km from the Danish/German EEZ border.

Nord Stream 2 AG is planning to start pipe-lay in the Danish EEZ in Q1 of 2020.

Figure 5-1 Route corridor options developed for the NSP2 project.