Fracking next to a kindergarten, stench and unclear health risks: liquefied natural gas, or LNG for short, is being mined in the small Texas town of Arlington. The local people are suffering. Their dissatisfaction is also directed against Germany.
This text is from the stern archive. It was first published on January 16, 2023. On the occasion of Robert Habeck’s trip to the USA, we are publishing it again here. The Federal Minister of Economics wants to meet business representatives and politicians in Washington, New York and Chicago by Saturday. German Environmental Aid called on Habeck to agree to limit liquefied gas imports from the USA to what is absolutely necessary and to initially stop the construction of import terminals in Germany. Germany recently purchased more than 80 percent of its liquefied natural gas (LNG) from the USA, with remaining uncertainties about the exact origin and composition of the gas. This report shows what this means for the local people.
Germany must find alternatives to energy from Russia and rely on liquid gas. How the saving material is produced can be seen in places far away from Europe – for example behind Wanda Vincent’s garden fence. Vincent’s house is in Arlington, a small town in Texas. She runs the “Mother’s Heart” kindergarten on the ground floor. In front of it, boys and girls romp around in a small playground. And just a few meters away, natural gas is being pressed out of the ground using “hydraulic fracking”. Cooled to minus 162 degrees, it turns into liquid LNG (Liquefied Natural Gas), which is then mixed with other gas supplies and finally shipped – also to Germany.
Wanda Vincent and the kids can smell the fracking. A heavy smell of rotten eggs hangs in the air. “Vent gases,” the burly woman says casually. Her voice sounds rough, she coughs constantly. A few days ago a small tumor was removed from her thyroid. She looks towards the borehole and asks: “Who came up with the terrible idea of building a fracking plant next to a kindergarten playground?”