- Greenpeace trees cut down in gas drilling dispute
Just yesterday, Greenpeace activists planted ten trees in Reichling, Upper Bavaria, as a protest against planned gas exploration drilling - now, unknown individuals have sawed down two of those trees.
Two of the newly planted trees were deliberately damaged early on Sunday morning by unknown individuals, the Bavarian North Police Headquarters reported.
"Local peculiarity"
Due to the "local peculiarity", the Criminal Police in Fürstenfeldbruck have taken over the case and are now investigating under suspicion of vandalism.
According to the environmental organization, this also constitutes a violation of the Federal Nature Conservation Act, which prohibits the felling of trees from March 1st to September 30th.
Call for project halt
"I am deeply shocked and appalled. This is a completely incomprehensible action that we condemn in the strongest terms," says Saskia Reinbeck, energy expert from Greenpeace Bavaria. "The trees represent resistance against the exploitation of fossil gas. But this felling will not stop the protest - quite the contrary."
On the site in the municipality of Reichling (district of Landsberg am Lech) near the Ammersee, the company Genexco plans to build a 40-meter-high drilling tower and begin exploratory drilling for natural gas as early as September. The company suspects gas deposits at a depth of around 3,000 meters under the site, which could be profitable due to rising prices.
The Greenpeace activists demand that the plans for the exploratory drilling be stopped immediately. In protest, they planted ten trees on the site of the planned exploratory drilling last Thursday. There is also criticism of the project from citizens.
The destruction of the two trees by unknown individuals is being investigated as a case of vandalism by the Criminal Police due to the "local peculiarity". This incident is also considered a violation of the Federal Nature Conservation Act, as tree felling is prohibited during certain periods.
