Germany Likely to be Tough on Fracking

The German government looks likey to impose strict conditions on explorers using hydraulic fracturing, after comments made by the Environment Minister.

The minister, Peter Altmaier, said Germany's environment minister has said he does not want to make it easy for companies to start hydraulic fracturing operations, according to newsagencies. And he suggested it would not be a good idea to make an early application for permission to mine with fracking.

"The message is we want to limit ‘fracking’, we don't want to facilitate it," he said Monday on public broadcaster Deutschlandfunk. "And anyway I don't see in the foreseeable future that ‘fracking’ will be employed anywhere within Germany," Altmaier added.

He said pending rules for fracking would likely be tightened.

 Altmaier said he would recommend that interested parties refrain from applying for exploration licences. So far, only a few small initiatives are under way in the absence of clear-cut rules. Fracking has actually taken place in Germany in small instances over the past 60 years, but was suspended last year on health and safety concerns.

The upper house of parliament, where Angela Merkel's governing coalition no longer has a majority, earlier this month passed a resolution urging the cabinet to tighten rules for hydraulic fracturing. 

A motion to ban the technique outright was defeated in the lower house of parliament in late December. In Germany the individual states decide on granting licences for exploration and mining.

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