The protest in Reichling is huge. The Nature Conservation Association is demonstrating, Greenpeace, Fridays for Future, a citizens’ initiative has been formed, the CSU district administrator is writing a warning letter, and representatives of the Greens are also railing against the planned gas drilling near the town near Landsberg am Lech. The mayor of Reichling, on the other hand, supports the project, in contrast to a majority of his local council, and that is why it was obviously important to him to protest himself.
He complained in a press release that he would only give information about the gas drilling to the regional press. He boycotted the program “Now red i” on Bayerischer Rundfunk (BR) on the topic. The mayor criticizes one-sided reporting that leads to sympathy for climate groups, which he quite bluntly accuses of “climate terrorism”. The community leader didn’t even want to make a hall in the community available for the broadcast.
In fact, nothing was heard of climate terrorism in Reichling; in fact, the BR also had a representative of the gas company speak in detail on television, as well as Economics Minister Hubert Aiwanger (Free Voters), who supports gas production in Bavaria. There can be no question of one-sided reporting, but the mayor’s nerves are unlikely to be spared in the near future. The company Genexco Gas announced that the South Bavaria Mining Authority gave approval for the start of construction on the drilling site this week; the area should be set up from mid-October. The targeted exploratory drilling is scheduled to take place in the first quarter of 2025. The protests certainly won’t appease this news.
The exploratory drilling is expected to last about four weeks, after which a decision will be made as to whether Genexco will be allowed to exploit the gas deposits. Opponents of the project complain that the total production volume assumed under Reichling would only cover around 0.5 percent of Germany’s current annual gas needs, meaning that it is not worth producing gas at all. The Bamberg Bundestag member of the Green Party, Lisa Badum, recently visited Reichling. The chairwoman of the Committee for Climate Protection and Energy in the Bundestag complains that domestic gas production is not compatible with the goal of becoming climate neutral by 2040. The German gas supply is now firmly secured again, and the production volume in Reichling is therefore insignificant. Especially since the Greens also criticize the fact that, unlike other federal states, Bavaria does not even charge a funding levy.
On Thursday, in response to an emergency request from the Greens, the state parliament’s economic committee decided against reintroducing such a levy, which, according to Greenpeace, would make the production of natural gas less profitable. Economics Minister Aiwanger is essentially inviting international corporations to exploit Bavarian natural gas reserves for free.
Local citizens also fear damage to nature; the drilling area is close to a European protected area for rare animals and plants. Above all, it is only 200 meters away from the municipality’s drinking water protection area. In Reichling, residents fear that their drinking water will be contaminated, although Genexco describes such a risk as negligible. The test drilling takes place in an existing borehole with a pipe that is still in the ground from the 1980s, when the oil multinational Mobil explored there, but then did not produce anything due to a lack of economic efficiency.
Genexco reports that on-site measurements showed that contamination would only reach the groundwater extraction point two years later given the flow rate of the groundwater. Time enough to take protective measures. In order to still supply the Reichling community with fresh water in an emergency, Genexco has developed an emergency concept with alternative options for using other wells or even redeveloping the community’s water supply.
There could soon be many more drilling fields
The fact that the community of Dießen am Ammersee, among others, recently refused to help Genexco with the water supply for Reichling in an emergency by resolution of the local council does not set the company back. There is resistance not only in Reichling, but in many surrounding communities, as Genexco, which is partly backed by the Canadian group MCF Energy, also holds the right to drill for gas through a sister company in an area of around 100 square kilometers up to Lake Ammersee to be allowed. The Federal Nature Conservation Union and Greenpeace, among others, therefore consider gas drilling in Reichling to be a fatal signal that would be followed by even more funding.
In the 1970s, Bavaria still covered around 30 percent of its needs from domestic natural gas deposits. The Ministry of Economic Affairs estimates that there could still be gas underground, especially between Lech, Isar, Inn and Salzach. Although the occurrence at Reichling is likely to be low, Genexco advertises a “good climate balance” through domestic production and a gentle method of extraction compared to imports. Economics Minister Aiwanger is also promoting natural gas as a bridging technology. However, he no longer wants to campaign for drilling as aggressively as he did in 2022, when his ministry said that everything should be done to reduce Bavaria’s dependence on imports.
Apparently in view of the massive citizen protest there, Aiwanger now prefers to smugly point out that his hands are tied as the economics minister of a federal state. As long as the requirements of a federal law are met, there is a legal right to the granting of a drilling permit – only Federal Minister of Economics Robert Habeck, i.e. the Greens themselves, can stop the funding.