BERLIN (dpa-AFX) – The environmental association Nabu has warned the federal government against lowering nature conservation standards when expanding wind power. The Nabu referred to a draft by the Ministry of the Environment to amend the Federal Nature Conservation Act. Nabu criticized the draft plan for facilitations to make exceptions to species protection easier on Wednesday. “This means that the death of the individual animal is accepted.”
It is already the case today that the population must not deteriorate as a result. The new regulation provides that for the next few years it will be sufficient to look at the development of the affected population for the whole of Germany using the “Red List”. However, the data only included endangered species. According to EU law, however, all species are protected – regardless of whether they are already doing badly, according to Nabu: “This regulation will lead to legal uncertainty and slow down the necessary expansion of wind energy.”
In April, Economics and Climate Protection Minister Robert Habeck and Environment Minister Steffi Lemke (Greens) agreed on key points to settle the conflict between the expansion of wind power and species protection. The Ministry of the Environment presented a draft law on Wednesday.
Accordingly, in the future, protected landscape areas should also be able to be included to an “appropriate extent” in the search for areas for wind energy expansion, according to ministry circles. In order to simplify and speed up the approval process for wind turbines, there should be uniform national standards for examining the protection of species. A list of collision-threatened breeding bird species is to be established with staggered distance specifications. Species support programs are to be set up for the long-term protection of species affected by the expansion of renewable energies.
The planned changes are part of a legislative package intended to significantly accelerate the expansion of wind turbines./hoe/DP/jha