EU regulators have referred Germany to the EU Court of Justice over a failure to look into alternative cooling processes at a coal-fired plant in Hamburg, operated by Vattenfall [VATN.UL], in order to protect wildlife, the European Commission said.
The first of two blocks at the Moorburg power station on the river Elbe started up commercial power production earlier this month, marking the end of seven years of political controversy over the project.
Moorburg risked having a negative impact on a number of protected fish species passing near the power plant when migrating from the North Sea which is 100 kilometres away from the port of Hamburg to spawning grounds in the Czech Republic some 800 km further upstream, the Commission said.
"The species are harmed by the water abstraction process used to cool the power plant," the EU executive noted in a statement, adding when authorizing the plant, Germany failed to carry out assessments required by the Habitats Directive, a nature legislation adopted in 1992.
A spokesman for the environment agency of the Hamburg state government said the Commission had signaled its intention last autumn.
"We see our chances (of winning) as good as we think we have good arguments on our side," he said.
Hamburg had stipulated that Vattenfall build a cooling tower at the 1,635 megawatt (MW) plant and fish steps at Geesthacht south-east of Hamburg, which had proven to be successful - more fish than expected used them, he said.
Formally, the Hamburg agency comes under the Berlin environment ministry which is targeted by the EU action. Berlin and Hamburg would consult over the process where likely timing could not be gauged, the spokesman said.
A spokeswoman for Vattenfall said, "We are not the subject of this process. We have a valid operating license."
Faced with opposition over carbon emissions from the plant and the fish issue, the Swedish utility in 2010 agreed to environmental measures which it has said will eat into the profitability of the 3 billion euro ($3.28 billion) project.
The European Court has the power to hand out steep fines if it finds in favor of the Commission.
