German Fracking Commission Issued First Report

The German `expert commission´, installed to monitor developments concerning fracking in Germany, recently issued its first annual report. So called ´unconventional fracking´ for oil and gas (fracking layers of shale-, argillite and marlstone rock strata, as well as in coal seams) is prohibited in Germany, whereas so called `conventional fracking´ (in sandstone at great depths) is allowed. By 2021 the German parliament will have to re-asses the prohibition of ´unconventional fracking´. Until then the `expert commission´, established in 2018, shall monitor the situation. In its now issued first report the commission states that no exceptional application for scientific research related to unconventional fracking trials has been made.

The laws prohibiting `unconventioanl fracking´in Germany feature an exception from the general prohibition on fracking in the four types of rock. According to § 13a (2) German Water Protection Act four exploratory trials for scientific purposes may be drilled, which are defined rather narrowly.[1] These trials need to be approved at national level, but also by the federal states where they are supposed to take place.[2] They will be supervised by an ´expert commission´, which assesses the trials, compiles annual reports on the progress and submits these reports to parliament and the public.[3] 

The ´expert commission´ has been criticized for its slow start to work, but now issued its first report. According to the report there have been no applications for `unconventional fracking´- trials received until end of June 2019 (p.7). The commission, thus, decided to slightly shift the focuss of its investigation during the next two years (until 2021) to the monitoring of the international `state of the art´, concerning `unconventional fracking´activities (p.8). According to this work programme, the issue of ´flowback´ (in other words: what to do with used fracking fluids and residues) will be central to the research of the commission alongside other points like monitoring strategies for aquifers, long-term integrity of depleted fields and an investigation into `microseismic events´, as the commission puts it (p.8). The next report of the commission is expected in June 2020.

[1] Drucksache 18/8916 (no 74) at 3 and 19.
[2] Drucksache 18/8916 (no 74) at  3 and 17
[3] § 13 a (6) Water Protection Act (WHG), according to Drucksache 18/8916 (no 74) at 4.

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