German brewers warn fracking could hurt beer industry

REUTERS ^ | MAY 23, 2013 | MADELINE CHAMBERS

[rickmichaels]

BERLIN - German brewers have warned Chancellor Angela Merkel's government that any law allowing the controversial drilling technique known as fracking could damage the country's cherished beer industry.

The Brauer-Bund beer association is worried that fracking for shale gas, which involves pumping water and chemicals at high pressure into the ground, could pollute water used for brewing and break a 500-year-old industry rule on water purity.

Germany, home to Munich's annual Oktoberfest - the world's biggest folk festival which attracts around 7 million visitors - has a proud tradition of brewing and beer drinking.

Under the "Reinheitsgebot", or German purity law, brewers have to produce beer using only malt, hops, yeast and water.

"The water has to be pure and more than half Germany's brewers have their own wells which are situated outside areas that could be protected under the government's current planned legislation on fracking," said a Brauer-Bund spokesman.

"You cannot be sure that the water won't be polluted by chemicals so we have urged the government to carry out more research before it goes ahead with a fracking law," he added.

Germany is Europe's biggest producer of beer and has the third-largest per-capita consumption after the Czech Republic and Austria.

It is home to more than 1,300 breweries which produce about 5,000 different beers, enough for a drinker to try a new beer for 13.5 years, according to the Brauer-Bund.

With pressure mounting from German industry to at least look into the option of tapping its shale gas reserves, Merkel's center-right coalition is working on a law setting out the conditions for exploration that would protect certain areas.

Given resistance from opposition parties which could block the law in the upper house of parliament, it is unlikely that a law on fracking will be passed before an election in September.

[IMR 4350]

I know, I’m half German.

[gov_bean_ counter]

Tried my darndest to get an assigment to Weisbaden for several years. Couldn't make it work...

Wanted to see what a real Oktoberfest looked like.

[Red Badger]

http://www.halftimebeverage.com/browse.cfm/german-beer-club-/4,2026.html

[mikrofon]

Ich bin ein Bierlieber

[gov_bean_ counter]

Sorry Wiesbaden...

[moovova]

Fracking is an essential element of beer drinking...especially if you eat boiled eggs while drinking beer.

[gov_bean_ counter]

Thanks.

Mrs. GBC is also big on water quality which was why she started drinking German beer.

[Red Badger]

That’s Baden-Baden......

[gov_bean_ counter]

Wiesbaden is where my organization has an office. Wanted to explore from there.

When I was in Iraq I tried to talk Mrs. GBC into meeting me in Germany for a two week holiday. No go. :(

I am quarter German, btw.

[Milton Miteybad]

Problem: Risk of contamination of groundwater supplies during drilling operations.



Solution: Run surface casing in each well drilled to a depth sufficient to protect water-bearing strata.



Result: Problem solved in 100% of cases.























This handy solution was brought to you by the American petroleum industry, which permanently solved this problem back in the 1940s, when hydraulic fracturing, (more properly described as a well stimulation method rather than a "drilling technique) first came into common use.

[Buckeye McFrog]

(sigh).....the shale they need to frack is at least 1000 FEET below the deepest part of the water table.

Not that they let facts get in the way or anything.

[dljordan]

“No problem . I really hate Beer , Blah”

Damned Infidel! Allah Snackbar!!!

[dljordan]

“American beer really is Blah.
Try some gute German Beer!......”

Have you been to Colorado?

[American in Israel]

I guess ignoring the fact that a cesspool system is an earth sewage injection system is ok?

[Red Badger]

Yes......

[Hyman Roth]

Budweiser sucks. How did it become king of beers?

[o-n-money]

Beck’s-German for beer-Now made in St Louis.

[HenpeckedCon]

German tap water is terrible. When I was stationed there, I would not drink it unless I absolutely had to. Water is the least important part of beer. This is just Watermelon nonsense.

[wvguy]

Ach mein Gott! Kein schmutzig bier!

[wvguy]

Budweiser sucks. How did it become king of beers?

Great advertising with a Goebbels flair. ;-)