E-Malt.com News article: Germany: German brewers win government backing to protect springs from fracking

German brewers have won government backing to protect the springs they use from fracking, which they say could taint the purity of their beer, Irish Independent reported on March 2.

The government plans to allow federal states to identify locations where fracking can't take place to preserve the quality of the ground water used by brewers and producers of bottled mineral water, the Environment Ministry said last week.

"We need clean water to produce our beer," said Friedrich Duell, president of the Bavarian Brewers Association.

"If our wells aren't protected our business is threatened.

"Fracking is a high-risk technology and we've seen water tainted in other countries often enough," said Mr Duell, whose 350-year-old brewery in Krautheim in the south German region of Franconia operates two wells.

The country's €8 bln brewing industry argues fracking for natural gas could endanger the quality of German beer, which is protected by the world's oldest food-safety regulation still in effect. Beer is ever-present at Germany's thousands of biergartens and at celebrations such as Munich's Oktoberfest.

Chancellor Angela Merkel was among politicians last week seen partaking of the beverage at the annual carnival festivities.

The Reinheitsgebot, or "purity law", was drafted in 1516 and states that only malted barley, hops and water may go into beer. Yeast, which had not yet been discovered at the time, was later added to the list.

While fracking is unpopular in Germany Mrs Merkel's government is keen to develop domestic energy sources as it closes nuclear plants by 2022.

While companies including Exxon Mobil have drilled test wells into unconventional gas reservoirs in Germany to emulate the US shale-gas boom, little headway has been made because of public opposition.

German industry lobbies, including the VCI chemical union, have in the past called on the government to allow fracking, pointing to a US boom that helped lower energy prices and lift the competitiveness of the US industry.

The government has left the door open to possibly using the technique in the future.

Fracking involves drilling hundreds of wells and cracking rocks with a high-pressure mixture of water, sand and chemicals to unlock gas or oil from impermeable stone.


04 March, 2015