German lawmaker defends liquid natural gas terminal after protests

German lawmaker Saskia Esken has defended a planned terminal for liquefied natural gas (LNG) that is due to be built near the island of Rügen on the Baltic Coast, though she conceded that better communication was needed with local residents.
The facility is necessary, said Esken, a leader of the governing Social Democratic Party, in comments to public broadcaster ARD on Sunday. She pointed to the high demand for energy and the need for preparation for the coming winter.
At the same time, after people in Rügen protested against the terminal, Esken said that proactive and swift discussions were needed with local people, if infrastructure projects were to take place at high speed.
"We have to talk to people early," Esken said. In the case of Rügen, with a view to the interaction between the federal government and the state, it might be necessary to look again at "what went wrong there."
She was referring to protests in eastern Rügen. The government dropped plans to build an LNG terminal 5 kilometres off the coast of the Baltic Sea resort of Sellin and the Economy Ministry is now weighing other possible sites in the area, including the use of the port of Mukran.
However, communities in the south-east of Rügen had also opposed this. There has also been discussion of a site further out to sea.
Germany has hastily switched to alternative sources of energy after dropping inexpensive Russian gas after the Kremlin launched its full-scale invasion of Ukraine more than a year ago.