German Environment Ministers Institute De Facto Moratorium on Fracking

Washington, D.C. – Today, Food & Water Watch learned that German Environment Ministers have banded together to make changes to mining law that will effectively create a de facto moratorium on fracking in most areas of Germany. The law would ban fracking from important drinking water zones such as Lake Constance, areas surrounding dams and protected areas, as well as areas with private water wells or where water sources are used by breweries.

“Until these areas have been outlined, there is a de facto moratorium on fracking in Germany,” said Geert DeCock, Director of EU Affairs for Food & Water Europe, the European program of Food & Water Watch. “German environment ministers have clearly recognized the threats of large-scale fracking for the environment and public health.”

“We are pleased that Germany’s leaders have taken the threat of fracking seriously and instituted this de facto moratorium on this inherently unsafe practice,” said Wenonah Hauter, Executive Director of Food & Water Watch and Food & Water Europe. “Communities across the world that are fighting to stop fracking have one more example to look at to show that indeed it is possible.”

Contact: Kate Fried, kfried(at)fwwatch(dot)org, (202) 683-2500. 

Food & Water Europe is the European program of Food & Water Watch, a nonprofit consumer organization based in the United States that works to ensure the food, water and fish we consume is safe, accessible and sustainable. So we can all enjoy and trust in what we eat and drink, we help people take charge of where their food comes from, keep clean, affordable, public tap water flowing freely to our homes, protect the environmental quality of oceans, force government to do its job protecting citizens, and educate about the importance of keeping shared resources under public control.