German Parliament Votes to Allow Fracking

The German Parliament has decided to allow shale gas extraction by fracking to continue.

The vote in Berlin, on the same day that the British government said it would allow fracking (hydraulic fracturing) to resume under strict environmental controls, was won 309 against 259, with two abstentions.

Germany's Green Party had move a motion banning fracking, saying it would harm the environment. Fracking has actually taken place in Germany in small instances over the past 60 years, but was suspended recently on health and safety concerns.

“We need the technology and we need natural gas as a resource won domestically,” Andreas Laemmel of the ruling Christian Democratic Union said in parliament in Berlin. He noted that the government has commissioned studies on fracking to further evaluate the method and will adopt regulation if necessary.

Companies including Exxon Mobil Corp have drilled test wells into unconventional natural gas reservoirs in Germany in an attempt to emulate the US shale-gas boom,  Bloomberg says.