- Fridays for Future demonstrates on Borkum against gas drilling
At a protest by Fridays for Future on Borkum, climate activist Luisa Neubauer criticized plans to extract natural gas off the North Sea island. "It's a project with an immense ecological and political cost, without any necessity for this gas," she said before the start of the demonstration, which had 50 registered participants and involved the German Environmental Aid, Greenpeace, and citizen initiatives.
The Dutch company One-Dyas plans to start extracting gas from a field between the two Wadden Sea islands of Borkum and Schiermonnikoog by the end of the year. A production platform will be built on Dutch territorial waters about 23 kilometers northwest of the island of Borkum. According to the plans, gas will be extracted in both Dutch and German territorial waters, near the Lower Saxony Wadden Sea National Park.
"Either you're on the side of this foreign gas company, which is the only winner in this," said Neubauer. "Or you're on the side of everyone else: the island of Borkum, the people, the climate goals, the coalition agreement, the ecosystems, the reefs, the seals, and Germany's international credibility in the energy transition."
Decision on drilling pending
Lower Saxony's state politics has done a U-turn on the issue due to Russia's invasion of Ukraine. However, whether drilling will be allowed is still uncertain, as permits from both the Netherlands and Germany are required for natural gas extraction.
On the German side, a decision is awaited from the Lower Saxony State Agency for Mining, Energy and Geology on whether to grant permission for the project. If the permit is granted, the German Environmental Aid plans to file a lawsuit. Furthermore, an agreement between Germany and the Netherlands is needed for the drilling. Therefore, the federal government has the final say.
In the 2021 coalition agreement, the SPD, Greens, and FDP agreed not to issue any new permits for oil and gas drilling beyond the existing framework permits for the German North and Baltic Seas.
Recently, a court ruling by the Administrative Court of Oldenburg temporarily halted the laying of a power cable. The German Environmental Aid had filed the urgent application.
The Netherlands, being the location of the Dutch company One-Dyas, is involved in the planned gas extraction between Borkum and Schiermonnikoog. Luisa Neubauer criticized this project, stating, "You're either on the side of this foreign gas company, which is the only winner in this, or you're on the side of everyone else."
