State government promises islands aid: dialogue planned
Created: 03/31/2022Updated: 03/31/2022 18:36
Olaf Lies (l, SPD), Minister for the Environment, and Berend Lindner, State Secretary in the Lower Saxony Ministry of Economic Affairs.
© Hauke-Christian Dittrich/dpa
Whether coastal protection or energy transition - the East Frisian Islands face many challenges.
At a conference, the government and the heads of the town hall agree to coordinate closely.
When it comes to storm surge damage, the country is already getting concrete.
Aurich - Lower Saxony's state government and the East Frisian Islands want to stay in close contact with challenges such as coastal protection and the energy transition.
Environment Minister Olaf Lies (SPD), State Secretary in the Ministry of Economic Affairs, Berend Lindner (CDU), and the Mayor of Langeoog Heike Horn (independent) made this clear on Thursday after a joint island conference in Aurich on behalf of her counterparts.
The islands are not only a "bulwark" in coastal protection, said Lies.
The islands are also the priority for upcoming projects in the Wadden Sea - for example the expansion of offshore energy and the cable routes, some of which have to be laid under the North Sea islands, said the minister.
In addition, there would be gas production projects near the Wadden Sea.
In the future, it must therefore be a question of conducting a close dialogue in order to find solutions together.
The conference showed that the islands are present in the state government, said Horn.
Questions and effects of the energy transition, for example, would affect all islands in the medium term.
"It's something I'm sure we all would rather not talk about, but we have to."
The conference focused on repairing the damage caused by the sometimes severe storm surges this winter.
As is well known, the Ministry of the Environment wants to spend an additional five million euros on coastal protection on the islands to repair damage to protective dunes and sand loss.
The country is able to ensure the protection of the islands in the long term, emphasized Lies.
The effort to do this will increase in the coming years.
In the future, coastal protection will need more funds overall.
In order to compensate for damage in tourism, such as the loss of bathing beaches on Wangerooge, the Ministry of Economic Affairs is also providing up to 2.5 million euros.
"It is clear to us on the state side that the affected islands will not be able to compensate for this damage on their own," said State Secretary Lindner.
Therefore, funding of measures via the N-Bank is made possible.
"We intend to replace up to 90 percent of the damage reported to us within the scope of our possibilities."
The planned natural gas production project of the Dutch company One-Dyas near the Wadden Sea off the island of Borkum was also a topic of the meeting.
Several islands, including Borkum, reject the project because they fear the gas production will have consequences for the environment.
The red-black state government initially opposed the project last summer, but then spoke out in favor of a reassessment in view of the uncertainties in the energy supply caused by the war in Ukraine.
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Lindner emphasized that no decision for or against the project had been made in the current talks with One-Dyas.
"We're trying to find out what concessions the company is willing to make." In addition to nature conservation, security of supply is also a concern.
"It would be important for us to ensure, in the event of approval, that a significant contribution from this gas reserve can then also flow to Germany, to the German market." Before a decision is made, the state government wants the neighboring countries, i.e. the islands, include.
dpa