German official: Yeah, don’t expect fracking in Germany any time soon
posted at 6:41 pm on February 11, 2013 by Erika Johnsen
Germany, which often prides itself on being a world leader in promoting (i.e., subsidizing) renewable energies and ‘sustainability,’ has been debating over whether or not they should open up their underground shale oil-and-gas reserves for hydraulic fracturing — with the necessarily accompanying ‘enlightened’-greenie protestations, of course. It’s not that Germany doesn’t use gas — they do, and they only produce 14 percent of the gas they use — but they’re averse to the idea of allowing the industry to more fully pursue their own domestic supplies if it should mean there’s any chance of the much-vaunted horrors of groundwater contamination. The German government is considering rules that would strictly regulate but ultimately allow the drilling practice that has led to boomtowns popping up across the United States, but the country’s environmental minister warned today that nobody should get too excited:
Germany’s environment minister says he doesn’t expect the extraction of natural gas by “fracking” will start any time soon in Europe’s biggest economy. …
Environment Minister Peter Altmaier told Deutschlandfunk radio Monday that Germany’s government is working to ensure the practice is subject to limits and he wouldn’t advise anyone to seek drilling licenses soon.
Altmaier said he “can’t see fracking being used anywhere in Germany in the foreseeable future.”
Why, why, why are so many people in these supposedly enlightened and eco-friendly nations so singlemindedly determined to shun the single best, mass-producible hope for substantively reducing carbon emissions in the near future? Keep pouring your money into the stubbornly-uncompetitive renewable ventures of your political fancy if you must, but why keep cutting your nose off to spite your face when you’re looking straight at a profitable and environmentally beneficial solution?
Further still, there are geopolitical implications to this decision — Germany could help Europe to lessen their dependence on Russia for fuel and erode their influence in the region, all the while boosting their own revenue streams. What’s not to like, exactly?
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Sixty percent youth unemployment in a godless European state…yeah, I don’t see anything bad happening as a result.
NotCoach on May 10, 2013 at 7:24 PM
When whoa is spelled woah it causes me woe.
viking01 on May 10, 2013 at 7:26 PM
The New Normal
Grunt on May 10, 2013 at 7:26 PM
rogerb on May 10, 2013 at 7:27 PM
Me thinks,this is gonna be ripe,for the Annul European
Burning of the Cars Open Season!
Let KAOS Reign!!!
(sarc)
canopfor on May 10, 2013 at 7:27 PM
Almost as though greater supply diminished relative value.
Guess not.
Teratoma.
Axe on May 10, 2013 at 7:29 PM
I haven’t done the economic research to prove this, but allow me to assert the following:
any society with that large a percentage of its young people unemployed is basically pre-revolutionary. The kindling is abundant, laying about, and already smoking, all that’s needed is charismatic hot air.
Robert_Paulson on May 10, 2013 at 7:34 PM
Pedant. :) The irony doesn’t survive because the underlying metaphor is broken. The talk would be strong if it were true. It’s weak only because it’s false. And the silliness of the structure being weak by definition should be clear now as well.
Axe on May 10, 2013 at 7:35 PM
One of the things that nobody in our biased media don’t tell us that socialist job protection laws have created a two tired system. You are either part time, or you have a job for life with all kinds of benefits and protections that make it very costly to get rid of a bad worker once they are hired in permanent.
http://www.npr.org/2012/02/08/146538406/labor-law-changes-may-offer-relief-for-spains-youth
http://www.npr.org/2012/06/09/154595408/the-young-and-the-jobless-hopes-on-hold-in-spain
The articles are about Spain, but Greece has a very similar system that also prevents its youth from getting decent jobs. A little icky laissez faire from the capitalist side of the fence could be just want the economy needs
Wood Dragon on May 10, 2013 at 7:37 PM
Racist.
Axe on May 10, 2013 at 7:37 PM
Nicely put.
rogerb on May 10, 2013 at 7:38 PM
And this is Ubama bin Barack O Crack’s vision for the US?
Our Great Idiot is a low information historically challenged ignoramus.
Mm-mm, gonna turn y’all all into corPseman and The Walking Dead.
Sherman1864 on May 10, 2013 at 7:41 PM
Soon, those lifetime jobs won’t mean squat if you are dead, if you get my drift….
redguy on May 10, 2013 at 7:42 PM
Hater!
Sherman1864 on May 10, 2013 at 7:42 PM
See my post above…..
redguy on May 10, 2013 at 7:43 PM
We live in interesting times.
tom daschle concerned on May 10, 2013 at 7:47 PM
Geez. People can’t even spell h8r correctly anymore.
And now I’m filled with woe. :)
Axe on May 10, 2013 at 7:49 PM
Keep in mind that all EU un/employment rates are padded by “make work” and disability programs that make USA look weirdly low.
ParisParamus on May 10, 2013 at 7:51 PM
Can’t we all just get along?
viking01 on May 10, 2013 at 7:52 PM
Communist.
Axe on May 10, 2013 at 7:53 PM
Pervert !!!!
viking01 on May 10, 2013 at 7:58 PM
We have to destroy the youth in order to subsidize them.
aquaviva on May 10, 2013 at 8:02 PM
Greek youths don’t want to work anyway, it takes time away from rioting in hoodies.
Daemonocracy on May 10, 2013 at 8:09 PM
. . . touché.
Axe on May 10, 2013 at 8:19 PM
Coming to America.
CW on May 10, 2013 at 8:23 PM
About the same as black youth in some American cities.
Happy Nomad on May 10, 2013 at 8:29 PM
Woah!!!!!!!!
KS Rex on May 10, 2013 at 8:31 PM
Greece has a minimum wage of $5/hour — more than half of the US’s, without nearly the GDP per capita. No wonder the youth unemployment is catastrophic.
Count to 10 on May 10, 2013 at 9:03 PM
Ssshhh. They are okay with it because the REB is their brother, or something.
slickwillie2001 on May 10, 2013 at 9:07 PM
Wow! 60% not working. No wonder Obama wants to be like Europe; he doesn’t like working either.
KW64 on May 10, 2013 at 9:21 PM
Hard to imagine how they could ensure civil order.
echosyst on May 10, 2013 at 11:04 PM
Every time you talk about jobs in Texas some lefty thinks they are making a witty comeback when they say, “Yeah there are jobs in Texas, but only if you want to work at Home Depot or Walmart!!!11″
This shows why those jobs are important to the overall health of the economy. Where else are people 16-24 with no job experience supposed to work? If you tax, regulate, and hike the minimum wage until the Home Depot and the Walmart jobs disappear, you end up with 60% youth unemployment. The reality is, when you are 17 and you don’t know your a$$ from your elbows, your labor probably isn’t worth $15-20/hr. It is probably worth $7.
bitsy on May 10, 2013 at 11:30 PM
The obvious solution is to raise the minimum wage.
Wino on May 10, 2013 at 11:38 PM
Any culture the world over has a vested interest in keeping the young men employed. Because they are the first group to go looking for alternative solutions to useless vote-casting when their personal situation gets bad enough…or even if it hasn’t.
Idle hands really are the devil’s workshop, just ask Communists trolling American colleges. Spoiled middle- and upper-class brats away from mommy and daddy are one of their prime recruitment groups.
MelonCollie on May 10, 2013 at 11:39 PM
So let’s import twenty million Mexicans to take those jobs! That’ll help yute unemployment!
slickwillie2001 on May 10, 2013 at 11:39 PM
I count myself unbelievably blessed to have a full-time job as an dial-up abuse receptacle for the great unwashed. No sarc, no snark. Better jobs simply are not to be had.
MelonCollie on May 10, 2013 at 11:41 PM
I’d agree that they’re basically in a pre-revolutionary situation. What do they revolt to, though? They’re already socialists and commies for the most part. Jeffersionian Democracy is most likely out. I guess your other choices are Pol Pot or Hitler. Pretty ugly stuff.
trigon on May 11, 2013 at 2:03 AM
Maybe, they should host the Olympics… Wait.
Fallon on May 11, 2013 at 9:55 AM
The only thing that is left to do is wait for the next Hitler to show up.
Dollayo on May 11, 2013 at 10:55 AM
We shouldn’t laugh-this is where Obama is taking us-a Freak Tragedy.
MaiDee on May 11, 2013 at 11:28 AM
The next one will have two main problems: putting some spine back into his fellow men, and taking on a religious group that actually fights back. I’m not sure right off which one will be harder…they’re BOTH tall orders!
MelonCollie on May 11, 2013 at 10:56 PM