In a landmark decision, the Federal Administrative Court is set to announce on Thursday whether the legal objections raised by environmental protection associations against the Rügen liquefied natural gas (LNG) terminal and its connecting pipeline will hold. The German Environmental Aid and the Nature Conservation Association of Germany, known as Nabu, have demanded the annulment of the planning approval decision issued in August 2023, which authorized the construction of the connecting pipeline. However, their applications for an immediate halt to construction were unsuccessful last year before the Leipzig judges. The 50-kilometer-long pipeline, which carves its path through the Baltic Sea, establishes the connection between the terminal on Rügen and the mainland gas pipeline node in Lubmin. This expansion of the infrastructure for liquefied natural gas was undertaken against the backdrop of the Russian offensive war in Ukraine – under the premise of being allowed to suspend environmental compatibility assessments. A step that the environmental associations strongly criticize as unnecessary and harmful to nature and the environment from their point of view. The federal government, on the other hand, defends the terminal as an essential component for ensuring national energy supply security.