The gas crisis requires a number of alternative proposals for a secure energy supply in winter. Bavaria's Prime Minister Söder is making a name for himself with the next proposal: This time it's about the use of fracking technology in the north. Colleague Weil reacts immediately.
Lower Saxony's Prime Minister Stephan Weil reacted angrily to the advice of his Bavarian counterpart Markus Söder to examine the use of fracking gas in northern Germany. "Is it still okay?!" Asked the SPD politician via Twitter after the CSU leader had made relevant statements. "Dear Markus Söder, how about finally wind power in Bavaria?" Weil added in the direction of the Bavarian Prime Minister.
In the "Süddeutsche Zeitung", Söder had raised the question of using domestic gas reserves in view of the energy shortage as a result of the Russian war of aggression against Ukraine. "Nobody wants yesterday's fracking. But it makes sense to check whether there are new and environmentally friendly methods," said the CSU leader. "According to experts, there are large natural gas fields in Lower Saxony in particular," added Söder.
Lower Saxony's Economics Minister and CDU top candidate for the state elections on October 9, Bernd Althusmann, had expressed his opposition to fracking a few days ago and referred to the current legal ban. Fracking, which is currently banned in Germany, uses pressure and chemicals to extract gas or oil from rock layers, which poses environmental risks.
Green boss Omid Nouripour also attacked Söder: "Markus Söder is the problem bear of the energy supply in Germany and has severely slowed down the expansion of renewables in Bavaria. In 2020, just three new wind turbines were approved in Bavaria. That's not going to happen with the energy transition." , he told the Bayern media group.
At the same time, according to Nouripour, the nuclear debate is being pushed by those who have always been against the nuclear phase-out and thus against the pacification of a decades-long dispute. "But when it gets concrete, the CSU ducks away on the question of final storage, but at the same time wants to accept new nuclear waste with the continued operation of the nuclear power plants. Another reason why there should be no extension of the service life. By the way, it's the Union in particular that has led us into this fatal dependence on (Kremlin chief Vladimir) Putin."
On the question of gas production from the German North Sea, he said: "It would be a big mistake to throw yourself back into using fossil fuels. In the short term, it's about getting through the next one or two winters well until we hear from Putin become independent. The same applies to fracking. We wouldn't get relevant production volumes for five years at the earliest. So that won't help for the next two winters. That's another bogus debate alongside the one about extending the life of nuclear power plants."
Like Economics Minister Robert Habeck, Nouripour referred to a second, far-reaching stress test currently underway to check whether there could be a power shortage in winter. "If there is a need for improvement, we will use the facts to discuss further measures." The stress test is mainly necessary because the situation in Bavaria is so tense.
