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German Government Agrees To Ban Fracking Indefinitely (reuters.com)
An anonymous reader writes: On Tuesday, the German coalition government agreed to ban fracking for shale gas indefinitely. Reuters reports: "Test drilling will be allowed but only with the permission of the respective state government, officials said. German industry is keen to keep the door open to fracking -- which involves blasting chemicals and water into rocks to release trapped gas -- arguing it could help lower energy costs, but opposition is strong in the country, where a powerful green lobby has warned about possible risks to drinking water. If the law is approved by parliament, Germany will follow France, which has banned fracking, whereas Britain allows it subject to strict environmental and safety guidelines. The two parties agreed on Tuesday to an indefinite ban, but the compromise legislation calls for the German parliament to reassess whether the decision is still valid in 2021, said Thomas Oppermann, who heads the SPD's parliamentary group. CDU officials confirmed that a compromise had been reached. Friends of the Earth Germany (BUND) criticized the proposal and said that by setting a date for a fresh look, the coalition had essentially agreed to allow fracking in five years." Last year, Bloomberg published an article making the case that the U.S. must consider the earthquake situation in Oklahoma a national security threat.
At least that's what the government publishes.
Luckily we have the exact numbers ready, so we don't need to speculate. Germany generated in 2015 a total of 630.1 TWh of electric energy, and in the same time imported 12.1 TWh from France, while exporting 83.1 TWh to other countries. Just to put the numbers in perspective.
Funny how the story changes completely across the Atlantic.
Here in local news (I live in Germany), the decision is largely painted as allowing fracking and the coalition partners are slammed for not having enough guts to outlaw it, which apparently was the original proposal before it was watered down.
The "if the states allow it" is the federal government cop-out if they can't find a solution. Because we have two houses as well, one elected by the people directly and one with representatives from all states, and because people sometimes vote differently in local vs. federal elections and because of different coalitions, holding a majority in one doesn't automatically mean holding one in the other, much like it is in the USA.
So when the coalition could push something through the Bundestag, but not through the Bundesrat, their solution is "leave it up to the states". Spineless cowards, all of them. Always change your opinion so you find a majority.
The important thing is that a lot of NGOs and opposition parties wanted a ban on fracking, and they didn't have the spine to do it. This is not a ban, it's basically a permission with the added bureaucracy that you need a local permission.
Assorted stuff I do sometimes: Lemuria.org
The alternative to fracking is buying more gas from Russia's Gazprom.
Germany is reducing its gas usage year by year, so how should we need to "buy more gas"?
On the other hand Germany is world wide leader in techniques that are similar to fracking, we do that since the 1950s.
The ban is about "shale gases", which is a different kind of fracking. So if there are engineers who know about the problems regarding "frackings" it is the german ones.
If we would do shale gas fracking we would do it for export, likely. Not to use it. Actually the german gas market is rather small.
Does Germany believe, Putin will be satisfied with Ukraine and the Baltic states?
No we don't believe that. But political problems have to be solved with political solutions. Not by stepping back from a 50 year old contract about gas deliveries that is to our favour!
Cost free eBook I read (by iBook/Kobo/Amazon/ObookO/Gutenberg etc.): "The Green Odyssey" by Philip Jose Farmer.