Berlin is opposed to plans to use the controversial fracking process to extract natural gas in Germany, SPIEGEL has learned. Government ministers are “very skeptical” about the technology, which environmentalists claim can pollute groundwater.
Germany has put the brakes on plans to use hydraulic fracturing, commonly known as fracking, to extract natural gas in places where it is difficult to access, such as shale or coal beds. Environment Minister Norbert Röttgen and Economy Minister Philipp Rösler have agreed to oppose the controversial process for the time being, SPIEGEL has learned.
Sources in the German government said that the ministers were “very skeptical” about fracking, which injects chemicals as well as sand and water into the ground to release natural gas. “There are many open questions which we will first have to carefully examine,” Rösler told close associates.
With their stance, the two ministers are opposing plans by energy companies to use the fracking process to tap into deposits of natural gas in shale, especially in northern and eastern Germany. In order to access the gas, the shale needs to be fractured using a mixture of hot water, sand and chemical additives, some of which are poisonous. Environmental groups reject the use of the technology, saying that the chemicals used can contaminate drinking water.
“In order to access the gas, the shale needs to be fractured using a mixture of hot water, sand and chemical additives, some of which are poisonous.”
So what is poisonous, the Benzene they put in? I thought we get benzene from oil wells and shale deposits in the first place so we pump in chemicals which already exist down there.
I also find it funny how this stuff pumped deep below is suppose to contaminate wells and water thousands of feet above. If the ground in the area were that porous to begin with, all the natural gas would have seeped out long ago.
Oh well, lets fight the good fight in the USA, and then our companies can happily export to Germany.
Nine, Nine, Nine, Der Spiegal Dumkopf! If CNG…is used as the “water-agent”, CNG is liquid at first, –under pressure, it does its hydraulic-splitting of shales/other layers, and THEN becomes a VAPOR on reaching room temperature, contaminating NOTHING! Use the Canadian method, NOT the stupid USA version, or, keep wasting Euros on the high-priced Russian gas whose people might be BRIBING(–surely NOT!)…imo…Rusler and ROT-gin, but then its probably just Politics, because the Numbers of GREEN-Meanie-weenie voters in Germany IS substantial, if the Green-voter’s Minds…are Not. I will BET the Greens “ape” Russia’s finest wishes re: NIMBY-attitudes instructed from their Soviet Socialist Masters of Moscow. ANY FOOL KNOWS CNG is THE way to “frack”, and I THOUGHT the Brilliant Germans were seldom foolish… Here’s a little thought. Gr. Britain is going to end-up fracking, even if it has to use dirty water, which it wouldn’t need to, if it used CNG-injection. Germany is a huge exporter, and it NEEDS cheap gas to under-bid other nations, for the stuff it makes then sells. Shale-gas could be THE difference between a Great year and a tepid one, fraught with Green Navel-gazing, and toady-ing to Putin and His German Greens(imo). Also, re-activate your Nuclear reactors converting them into LFTRs (Liquid Floride Thorium Reactors) which will significantly reduce carbon in generating electricity, not that I care about carbon, –taxing/revenue-”scam” that that is.
We don’t need to worry about the German government much longer. The next cold Winter will convince even the diehard environmentalists that fracking, or even (gasp) nuclear energy is better than freezing to death.
This is great news for the US. Now we can sell gas to the Germans. They really, really don’t like having to buy it from the Russians. Send your letters of support to Röttgen and Rösler right away!