New builder protests against gas drilling in Borkum
Actually, the coalition agreement stipulates that no new gas drilling permits should be granted in the North and Baltic Seas. However, a Dutch company wants to build a production platform off the German island of Borkum. There is resistance to this.
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 such 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 was also joined by the German Environmental Aid, Greenpeace, and citizen initiatives, according to Fridays for Future.
The Dutch company One-Dyas plans to start extracting gas from a field between the two Wadden Sea islands of Borkum and Schiermonnikoog at 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 from 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 whole thing," 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 the Russian 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.
A decision is currently 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 against it. Furthermore, an agreement between Germany and the Netherlands is required for the drilling. Therefore, the federal government has the final say in this matter.
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. A recently approved power cable may not be laid for the time being, according to a ruling by the Administrative Court of Oldenburg. The German Environmental Aid had filed the urgent application.
The Commission has expressed its concern over the potential environmental impacts of the gas extraction project in the North Sea, given the coalition agreement's stance against new gas drilling permits. The Dutch company One-Dyas is yet to receive approval from both the Lower Saxony State Agency and the German government for their drilling plans.
