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German brewers warn fracking could hurt beer industry
REUTERS ^
| MAY 23, 2013
| MADELINE CHAMBERS
Posted on 05/23/2013 1:35:09 PM PDT by 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.
TOPICS: Foreign Affairs; Germany
KEYWORDS: energy; hydrofrac; naturalgas; oil
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To: Red Badger
21
posted on
05/23/2013 1:50:52 PM PDT
by
IMR 4350
To: Red Badger
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.
22
posted on
05/23/2013 1:52:26 PM PDT
by
gov_bean_ counter
(Romans 1:22 Professing themselves to be wise, they became fools,)
To: gov_bean_ counter
23
posted on
05/23/2013 1:53:32 PM PDT
by
Red Badger
(Want to be surprised? Google your own name......Want to have fun? Google your friend's names........)
To: rickmichaels; martin_fierro; Charles Henrickson
24
posted on
05/23/2013 1:53:44 PM PDT
by
mikrofon
(Oktoberfest - nicht Fracktoberfest)
To: Red Badger
Sorry Wiesbaden...
25
posted on
05/23/2013 1:54:26 PM PDT
by
gov_bean_ counter
(Romans 1:22 Professing themselves to be wise, they became fools,)
To: rickmichaels
Fracking is an essential element of beer drinking...especially if you eat boiled eggs while drinking beer.
26
posted on
05/23/2013 1:55:01 PM PDT
by
moovova
To: Red Badger
Thanks.
Mrs. GBC is also big on water quality which was why she started drinking German beer.
27
posted on
05/23/2013 1:56:53 PM PDT
by
gov_bean_ counter
(Romans 1:22 Professing themselves to be wise, they became fools,)
To: gov_bean_ counter
28
posted on
05/23/2013 1:59:11 PM PDT
by
Red Badger
(Want to be surprised? Google your own name......Want to have fun? Google your friend's names........)
To: Red Badger
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.
29
posted on
05/23/2013 2:03:15 PM PDT
by
gov_bean_ counter
(Romans 1:22 Professing themselves to be wise, they became fools,)
To: rickmichaels
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.
30
posted on
05/23/2013 2:08:23 PM PDT
by
Milton Miteybad
(I am Jim Thompson. {Really.})
To: rickmichaels
(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.
To: molson209
“No problem . I really hate Beer , Blah”
Damned Infidel! Allah Snackbar!!!
32
posted on
05/23/2013 2:27:30 PM PDT
by
dljordan
(WhoVoltaire: "To find out who rules over you, simply find out who you are not allowed to criticize.")
To: Red Badger
“American beer really is Blah.
Try some gute German Beer!......”
Have you been to Colorado?
33
posted on
05/23/2013 2:28:15 PM PDT
by
dljordan
(WhoVoltaire: "To find out who rules over you, simply find out who you are not allowed to criticize.")
To: rickmichaels
I guess ignoring the fact that a cesspool system is an earth sewage injection system is ok?
34
posted on
05/23/2013 2:40:15 PM PDT
by
American in Israel
(A wise man's heart directs him to the right, but the foolish mans heart directs him toward the left.)
To: dljordan
35
posted on
05/23/2013 2:43:43 PM PDT
by
Red Badger
(Want to be surprised? Google your own name......Want to have fun? Google your friend's names........)
To: rickmichaels
Budweiser sucks. How did it become king of beers?
To: Hyman Roth
Beck’s-German for beer-Now made in St Louis.
To: rickmichaels
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.
38
posted on
05/23/2013 3:24:03 PM PDT
by
HenpeckedCon
(What pi$$es me off the most is that POS commie will get a State Funeral!)
To: rickmichaels
Ach mein Gott! Kein schmutzig bier!
39
posted on
05/23/2013 5:24:05 PM PDT
by
wvguy
To: Hyman Roth
Budweiser sucks. How did it become king of beers? Great advertising with a Goebbels flair. ;-)
40
posted on
05/23/2013 5:29:38 PM PDT
by
wvguy
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