Münster (dpa / lnw) - A dispute over exhaust gases from the Trianel coal-fired power plant in Lünen will again occupy the North Rhine-Westphalia Higher Administrative Court from January. According to the announcement on Monday, the court has initially scheduled three oral hearings between January 16 and February 3. Because of the large number of participants and experts, the Higher Administrative Court chose a hotel in Münster and the hall of the court.
The plaintiff is the Federation for the Environment and Nature Conservation Germany (BUND). He attacks the immission control preliminary decision for the approximately 1.4 billion euro investment as well as the first and seventh partial approval from November 2013. The earlier preliminary decision and a partial approval from 2008 were revoked by the OVG in 2011. In 2016, the court gave the green light. This decision was then reversed by the Federal Administrative Court in May 2019 and referred back to the OVG.
The OVG must now clarify whether the nitrogen and sulfur components in the exhaust gases from the coal-fired power plant affect the protected areas "Lippeaue" and "Wälder bei Cappenberg" in the area. The BUND considers the documentation on the impact assessment updated by the operator, the Trianel public utilities association, to be inadequate.
