- Protest against protest - Greenpeace trees cut down
Just yesterday, Greenpeace activists planted ten trees in Reichling, Upper Bavaria, as a protest against planned gas exploration drilling - now, unknown individuals have sawed or snapped several of these trees.
The Bavarian Police Headquarters North reported that two of the freshly planted trees were deliberately damaged by unknown individuals early on Sunday morning.
Due to the "local peculiarity," the Criminal Police Fürstenfeldbruck has taken over the case and is now investigating on suspicion of vandalism.
According to Greenpeace, which reported three snapped trees, this also constitutes a violation of the Federal Nature Conservation Act, which prohibits the felling of trees from March 1 to September 30.
"I am deeply shocked and appalled. This is a completely incomprehensible action that we condemn in the strongest terms," said Saskia Reinbeck of Greenpeace Bavaria. "The trees stand for resistance against the exploitation of fossil gas. But this felling will not stop the protest - quite the contrary."
The company Genexco plans to build a 40-meter-high drilling tower on the site in the municipality of Reichling (district of Landsberg am Lech) near Lake Ammersee 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.
"Trees instead of drilling tower"
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 at dawn. "Trees instead of drilling tower, a real forest instead of climate-damaging gas," Reinbeck explained last week.
Specifically, they addressed this demand to Bavaria's Minister of Economics Hubert Aiwanger (Free Voters). He must finally understand, "that we must no longer tap into any more gas sources - neither here nor anywhere else." There is also criticism of the project from citizens.
Last year, the company had already felled trees on the drilling site, and in the coming weeks, it is to be cleared and prepared for the works. On June 26, 2024, the Bavarian State Office for Mining, Energy and Geology granted the company permission for the exploratory drilling. According to Greenpeace, the company suspects up to 500 million cubic meters of natural gas there, which corresponds to about four percent of Bavaria's annual natural gas consumption. However, permission for extraction is still pending.
The drilling site is not far from residential houses and around 150 meters from a European protected area for animals and plants near the municipality's drinking water sources.
The criminal investigation into the vandalism of the Greenpeace-planted trees is being handled by the Criminal Police Fürstenfeldbruck, based in Germany.
This act of vandalism against the Greenpeace-planted trees is a violation of the Federal Nature Conservation Act, a law that is applicable in Germany.
