La coalition in government Germany has agreed to ban fracking for shale gas indefinitely a month ago, after years of unsuccessful talk about this problem, but what happens is that environmental groups said that the ban was not enough and they had to reach an agreement.
Drill tests would be allowed, but are with the permission of the state government. German industry is ready to keep the door open to fracking, which involves the use of chemicals for blasting and water on rocks to deploy the trapped gas, with the excuse that it could help reduce energy costs. What happens is that a powerful green lobby is found who have warned of the possible risks to drinking water.
If the law is approved by parliament, Germany will follow France, which has also banned fracking. A fracking that the British allow, but always subject to strict environmental and safety regulations.
Germany was about to vote similar legislation last year against fracking, but was met with disagreements between several of the political parties. So the thing is that the two parties agreed on an indefinite ban, but with the commitment to be able to look at that ban again in 2021.
This last proposal was highly criticized by Earth Germany (BUND) and they said that by putting a day to review it, it could allow fracking again in five years. So much so that Hubert Weiger, one of the leaders of the environmental group, said that the law should be stopped and replaced with a real ban against fracking. We will see how this transitional five-year law ends, which may be revised to allow fracking again in this country.