SHIP: German geologic survey criticizes government study on hydraulic fracturing risks

The German Federal Institute for Geosciences and Natural Resources (BGR) has recently responded to a study on the environmental impact of hydraulic fracturing, issued by the German Federal Ministry for the Environment (BMU) in September, 2012. As well as holding many other roles, BGR serves  as the national geologic survey, and in this role it comments mainly on the geoscientific aspects of the UBA study.

In general, the BGR statement criticizes the lack of geoscientific expertise for the deep underground in the BMU study and documents many instances of inconsistency and subjective argumentation. BGR states that the BMU study failed to outline and appreciate the existing broad knowledge base and the existing modern methods of geoscientific exploration and investigation. They say the BMU study suggests that there are large knowledge gaps on deep underground geology. This allegation of missing data on regional assessments is not in accordance with the facts, emphasize the BGR geoscientists.  MORE