German Beer Industry Takes On Fracking

[steve2470]

http://www.newsweek.com/2014/08/08/fracking-finds-unlikely-new-opponent-262572.html



Shortly before opening time at Foersters Feine Biere in Berlin, the owner, Sven Foerster, is busy checking the pressure on the pumps and the temperature of the refrigerated cabinets where liquid gold is stored. Foerster is a qualified beer sommelier, a man devoted to the preservation of humankind’s favourite alcoholic brew, proud in the knowledge that he’s a small part of a vast German brewing industry. Yet something is clouding that security. He and thousands of others are concerned the country’s energy needs and the introduction of fracking will collide with the business of producing some of the best beers in the world.

“Don’t talk to me about fracking,” he says, surrounded by a treasure trove of boutique Bavarian, Franconian and Düsseldorf beverages. “Beer is a craft that we Germans have learned well, but it relies on nature to provide the products. Hops, barley malt, yeast and, most important of all, water. Poison the well and you poison the product. Our beer is part of our life, our national soul.”

Despite German environment minister Barbara Hendricks’ recent reassurances that most forms of hydraulic fracking will be prohibited until 2021, Germany’s 1,300 brewers worry a long campaign lies ahead of them. Hendricks’ declaration came after pressure from the German Brewers Federation – representing both craft breweries and global players including Becks and Warsteiner – had applied pressure on the government, concerned about the toxic chemicals used in the process of fracking.

Energy experts, including the German EU energy commissioner Günther Oettinger, argue that Germany should keep its options open on fracking when EU states such as Britain and Poland appear willing to exploit shale gas, estimating that the process could secure a tenth of the country’s needs and reduce energy imports, particularly from Russia.

[Skink]

1. it would be cool to light a beer on fire

[Glassunion]

2. What a wimp...

How cool would it be to have a beer with an octane rating?

[hifiguy]

3. You do not want to come between

a German and his or her bier. Nothing good will come of it.

[mountain grammy]

4. Yeah right, I can imagine Joe Coors going against his fracking buddies.

Not in America.