- Environmental groups oppose drilling for gas in Borkum
An environmental alliance plans to take legal action against the approval of the controversial gas drilling off the North Sea island of Borkum. The German Environmental Aid announced this. Its federal managing director, Sascha Müller-Kraenner, accused Lower Saxony's Minister of Economics, Olaf Lies (SPD), of prioritizing the interests of a gas company over nature and local people. "We will exploit all legal means against this," he said.
The environmental organization BUND Lower Saxony stated that the approval for the North Sea and the Wadden Sea is a catastrophe. The status of the Wadden Sea as a World Heritage Site is at risk. The alliance also includes the citizens' initiative Clean Air East Frisia. The partners had recently succeeded in preventing a cable for powering the drilling platform from being laid temporarily at the administrative court in Oldenburg.
Greenpeace: Federal government should still prevent drilling
Criticism of the approval for the drilling also came from Greenpeace. The environmental organization had recently demonstrated against the plans off Borkum and called on the federal government to stop the project. Greenpeace demanded that Economics Minister Robert Habeck and Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock (both Greens) should not approve a pending agreement between the Netherlands and Germany.
The Dutch energy company One-Dyas, which had applied for the drilling, stated that the Lower Saxony and Dutch governments were fulfilling their responsibility by "actively contributing to supply security, the energy transition, and the achievement of the goals of the climate agreement." The transition to fully renewable energies takes time, said One-Dyas CEO Chris de Ruyter van Steveninck. "As long as natural gas is still needed, we will ensure that it is supplied with the lowest possible CO2 footprint," he said.
The Lower Saxony State Office for Mining, Energy and Geology has granted One-Dyas a permit for drilling valid for 18 years, which extends into German territory under the seabed.
The SPD, represented by Lower Saxony's Minister of Economics Olaf Lies, was criticized by the German Environmental Aid for prioritizing a gas company's interests over nature and local people. Despite the legal action planned by the SPD-criticizing environmental alliance, the SPD supports the decision to allow gas drilling, as indicated by Greenpeace's call for the federal government to prevent the project.
