Federal Finance Minister Christian Lindner (FDP) is pushing for rapid entry into the production of domestic shale gas using fracking.
"We have significant gas deposits in Germany that can be extracted without endangering drinking water," said the FDP chairman to the newspapers of the Funke media group.
The funding is "responsible even under ecological conditions," explained Lindner accordingly.
"It would be rather irresponsible to refrain from fracking for ideological reasons."
The Funke newspapers quote Lindner as saying that environmentally friendly fracking is possible “at several locations in Germany”.
"We need to move quickly to the promotion.
I am confident that in a few years we will be able to cover a relatively large demand from domestic gas sources.
It is wise to do that when you look at the development in the world.”
Fracking uses chemicals and pressure to extract natural gas contained in layers of the earth.
Since 2017, the exploitation of gas deposits in slate and coal seam layers has been banned in Germany because this is considered a threat to the groundwater, among other things.
The economy and the parties FDP, CDU/CSU and AfD have recently repeatedly called for this ban to be lifted.