Status: 31.10.2022 09:38 a.m
The Ministry of the Environment has rejected Finance Minister Lindner’s proposal for fracking in Germany: the expansion of renewable energies is not only more environmentally friendly – it is also quicker. There was also criticism from the SPD and the Greens.
The Federal Environment Ministry has rejected the proposal by Finance Minister and FDP leader Christian Lindner to produce domestic shale gas using fracking technology. “Fracking gas is harmful to the climate and its promotion damages the environment,” a spokesman for the ministry led by Green politician Steffi Lemke told the editorial network Germany. “Therefore, funding in Germany is prohibited for good reason.”
It would also take “years” for a corresponding funding infrastructure to be set up in this country. “In the same time we are making a big step forward in expanding renewable energies,” said the spokesman. The energy industry also knows this and has long been focusing on energies that do not harm the environment and the climate.
“Anyone who calls for fracking is calling for bad investments”
Other politicians from the Greens and also from the SPD rejected Lindner’s initiative. “Anyone who calls for national fracking today is calling for expensive bad investments with serious competition for use,” SPD energy politician Nina Scheer told the “Handelsblatt”. “Fracking stands for a large number of boreholes and consequential risks for drinking water, earthquake hazards and climate damage and should therefore be rejected.”
Green economic politician Dieter Janecek told the “Handelsblatt”: “It would take years to apply the fracking deposits in Germany.” In the acute energy crisis, they were of no use to Germany, “and in the medium term we want to switch to green hydrogen anyway.”
Lindner: Ecologically responsible
Lindner had advocated rapid entry into the production of domestic shale gas through the controversial fracking. “We have significant gas deposits in Germany that can be extracted without endangering drinking water,” he told the newspapers of the Funke media group.
In his opinion, the promotion is also responsible under ecological conditions. “It would be rather irresponsible to refrain from fracking for ideological reasons,” said Lindner. In view of the energy crisis, the FDP and business representatives have repeatedly spoken out in favor of allowing large-scale fracking in Germany.
Fracking extracts natural gas from rock using chemicals and pressure. So-called unconventional fracking in natural gas production in shale and coal seams has been banned in Germany since 2017, among other things to protect drinking water.