"The date of hearings in the administrative court is not yet foreseen and is not expected in the near future", the court said, adding that "these legal processes are often very complicated, which may result in the proceedings taking longer than usual."
The suit was filed on Monday by Berlin-based environmental NGO Nabu, which argued that the offshore gas link could damage the Baltic Sea's fragile marine ecosystem. The organisation built its claim on alleged procedural errors in how the German regulator handled objections to the Russian-led project. The NGO also invoked Berlin's climate goals.
The legal action targets an underwater section of the pipeline that will be built in Germany's exclusive economic zone, which Nabu director Joerg-Andreas Krueger asserts will destroy an area the size of 16 football fields and affect an area ten times larger.
Nord Stream 2 is a joint venture of the Russian energy company Gazprom and five European partners to construct a twin pipeline that will deliver up to 2 trillion cubic feet of Russian gas to Germany annually under the Baltic Sea. The United States is opposed to the project, seeking to export more of its liquefied natural gas to Europe.
The pipeline's construction was suspended in December 2019 after US sanctions forced Swiss pipelay company Allseas to withdraw from the project. The construction resumed last December and is 95% complete.
