In Reichling am Lech, there are plans to start drilling for natural gas soon. The approval is in place, and the political support from the Bavarian Minister of Economic Affairs, Aiwanger, is also there. However, there is resistance locally. The CSU district administrator is protesting against Aiwanger.
New natural gas drilling in Bavaria is set to begin in just a few weeks on the edge of the Alps – the first in more than a decade. But opposition is growing. In addition to environmentalists and residents, the district administrator of the Landsberg am Lech district, Thomas Eichinger of the CSU, and the entire council of the affected municipality of Reichling are also opposed.
In June, the South Bavarian Mining Office granted Genexco Gas permission for the test drilling. The concession area „Lech East“ covers over 100 square kilometers and extends to Lake Ammersee. Drilling could start in September. However, the extraction permit is still pending. According to Greenpeace, the drilling is only about 150 meters away from a European protected area for endangered animals and plants and 200 meters from the drinking water protection area, as well as in the catchment area of the community’s drinking water source. The exact amount of gas that can be extracted is unclear. Greenpeace speculates that there is a gas field of 500 million cubic meters that could be exploited for 15 years.
District Administrator Eichinger plans to send a letter of protest to Minister of Economic Affairs Hubert Aiwanger in Munich in the coming days regarding concerns about the environment, traffic, health, and climate protection. While the drilling has been approved, the extraction permit is still pending.
Reichling’s Mayor Johannes Hintersberger confirms that „this letter legally does not influence the approval process, but the municipal council hopes for a political turnaround in the state regarding the exploration of hydrocarbons in our municipality.“
Since the 1950s, almost 60 gas fields have been discovered in the Bavarian Alps, with many deposits already depleted. In the 1970s, Bavaria covered about 30% of its gas needs from domestic deposits, but now it’s only about 0.1%. Despite the decrease in the importance of gas in energy supply due to the energy transition and the move away from Russian gas imports, gas is still the most important fossil fuel in the state, accounting for nearly one-fifth of primary energy consumption. Gas in Germany is mainly used in industry and for heating purposes, with over 90% being imported via gas pipelines.
In the Munich Ministry of Economic Affairs, new gas drilling in Bavaria is reportedly being viewed favorably. Despite high prices, the government supports the search for domestic natural gas. Aiwanger often refers to gas as a climate-friendly bridging technology compared to oil or coal combustion. However, experts argue that this perception is outdated as gas contributes to climate change through methane emissions during extraction, storage, and transport, as well as CO2 emissions during combustion. The green deputy president of the Bavarian Parliament, Ludwig Hartmann, criticized Aiwanger for focusing on developing new dirty gas sources instead of prioritizing the necessary expansion of wind power. While wind power operators have to pay high fees to install facilities in state forests, the company Genexco Gas in Reichling can extract gas almost for free.
