Hamburg – On 13 March 2024, the Federal Administrative Court dismissed the lawsuit brought by a gravel mining company against the planning approval granted by Lower Saxony’s Regional Authority for Roads and Transport on 22 December 2022 for the construction and operation of the St­ade-Landes­ber­gen 380kV power line.A CMS team headed by Dr Neele Christiansen and Dr Christiane Kappes represented the proponent, TenneT TSO GmbH (TenneT), as summoned party in the proceedings before the Federal Administrative Court. The CMS team previously advised TenneT on all aspects of the planning approval procedure. The planning approval relates to the project to build the seventh section of the 155 kilometre-long line between Stade and Landesbergen. The court of first instance in this case, the Federal Administrative Court, ruled that the planning approval is lawful. The planning approval is compatible with regional planning law and the relevant interests were properly weighed up. All aspects of the gravel mining company’s concerns had been duly taken into account. Notably, custom design of the pylons, which would be costly to develop, construct, maintain and operate, is not required. The ruling is one of the first from the Federal Administrative Court’s new 11th Energy Senate. The Senate deals with energy law cases in which speed is of the essence. The Federal Administrative Court’s case reference is 11 A 6/23. CMS Germany Dr Neele Christiansen, Partner Dr Christiane Kappes, Part­ner Se­basti­an Belz, Counsel Jan Gröschel, Senior Associate Dr Nico Schröter, Associate, all PublicPress Con­tact presse@cms-hs. com

Hamburg – On 25 January 2024, Germany’s Federal Administrative Court dismissed the fast-track actions brought by environmental groups Deutsche Umwelthilfe (DUH) and NABU against the amended planning approval granted by Stralsund Department of Mining on 8 January 2024 for the construction and operation of the first marine section of the Baltic Connector Pipeline (Ostsee An­bindungslei­tung – OAL).A CMS team headed by Dr Christiane Kappes and Dr Neele Christiansen represented the proponent, GASCADE Gastransport GmbH (GASCADE), as summoned party in the proceedings before the Federal Administrative Court. GASCADE operates a natural gas pipeline system in Germany with a total length of around 3,700 kilometres. The team previously advised GASCADE on all aspects of the planning approval procedure for the OAL. At around 50 kilometres long, the OAL offshore pipeline connects the LNG terminal planned by Deutsche ReGas (Floating Storage and Regasification Unit – FSRU) for Mukran on the island of Rügen to the existing long-distance gas grid in Lubmin. This LNG project is set to feed at least ten billion cubic metres of natural gas a year from the OAL into the German gas grid, replacing some of the previous gas imports from Russia and making a significant contribution to energy security. The Federal Administrative Court had previously rejected the fast-track actions brought by DUH and NABU against the original planning resolution of 21 August 2023 in its decisions of 12 and 15 September 2023 (BVerwG 7 VR 4.23 and BVerwG 7 VR 6.23). The amended planning approval granted on 8 January 2024 lifts the current end date for construction of 31 December 2023 and enables work on the marine side to be continued until 29 February 2024. The Federal Administrative Court has now rejected the fast-track actions against this amended planning approval, which were directed at halting construction. The summary review required by fast-track proceedings concluded that the amended planning approval is justified in assuming an ongoing gas supply crisis. The court found no procedural inadequacies at this point in time in connection with the lack of a preliminary environmental impact assessment and the non-involvement of the nature conservation groups. The extension of the construction period is also not likely to be in breach of conservation law, because the amended planning approval includes appropriate provisions to ensure that biotopes, habitats and species are not damaged to any substantial extent. The Federal Administrative Court’s case references are 7 VR 1/24 and 7 VR 2/24. CMS Germany Dr Christiane Kappes, Partner Dr Neele Christiansen, Part­ner Se­basti­an Belz, Counsel Knut Göring-Tisch, Associate, all Real Estate & PublicPress Con­tact presse@cms-hs. com

Hamburg – On 12 September 2023, the Federal Administrative Court dismissed the fast-track action brought by environmental group Deutsche Umwelthilfe against the planning resolution of Stralsund Department...

Hamburg – On 22 June 2023, the Federal Administrative Court dismissed the action brought by environmental group Deutsche Umwelthilfe against the planning resolution of the Department of Mining, Energy...

Hamburg – On 14 December 2022, the Federal Administrative Court dismissed the lawsuits brought by two environmental associations against the amended planning approval of 1 September 2021 relating to...

Berlin – Commercial law firm CMS Germany has appointed eleven new partners as of the start of 2022. These appointments strengthen the partnership in the Corporate/M&A, Employment, Real Estate & Public...

On 3 November 2020, the Federal Administrative Court dismissed the lawsuits brought against the planning approval for construction of the Fehmarn Belt Fixed Link. In one of the biggest environmental cases...

Hamburg – On 31 January 2019, the Schleswig-Hol­stein Ministry of Economic Affairs, Labour, Transport and Technology issued planning approval for construction of the Fehmarn Belt Fixed Link. Extensive...

Hamburg – On 6 April 2017, the Federal Administrative Court dismissed the lawsuits brought against the planning approval for construction and operation of the extra-high voltage link between the Ganderkesee...