In the dispute over air pollution and diesel driving bans in cities, the Federal Environment Ministry has the locations of the nitrogen oxide measuring points checked. The plan was an independent and Germany-wide assessment of the relevant measuring points by the TÜV, for which the Ministry assumes the costs, said Environment Secretary of State Florian Pronold (SPD) in the Bundestag.

For some months, there was "propaganda" according to which the relevant for the reporting of Germany to the EU relevant measuring points for nitrogen dioxide (NO2) are wrong, said Pronold. This was a "ghost debate" that stir suspicion. The Ministry of the Environment would now like to counteract this with "clear facts". He assumes that no state has something to object. The environmental authorities of the federal states are responsible for the NO2 measurement. The review is expected to take several months, according to Pronold.

Countries demanded review

A check of the measuring points had demanded twice among other things the Landesverkehrsminister. In North Rhine-Westphalia has already been tested. There was only one wrong measuring point in Aachen, which does not belong to the EU measuring network. The Ministry of the Environment came before with the advance of a debate on the subject in the Bundestag. The FDP and AfD had submitted applications that questioned, among other things, the EU limit and called for standardization and comparability of the measurements.

Wherever measuring points should be, EU Directive 2008/50 / EC sets out - in places with the "highest concentrations" as well as in places where the load is lower. It is true that there is some leeway for the position, for example: "at least 25 meters from the edge of busy intersections and at most 10 meters from the edge of the road", and "at a height between 1.5 meters (breathing zone) and 4 meters above the floor". This should be considered "as far as possible".

Load at intersections lower than at the roadside

The AFD politician Marc Bernhard said in the Bundestag, measuring stations would be set up at will, the manipulation is open to the wall: "Measuring stations are set up in Germany so that there are inevitably driving restrictions."

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The Ministry of Transport of Baden-Wuerttemberg, on the other hand, stated that the distance regulations apply above all "to ensure that loads that are not too low are measured". Measurements from Hesse showed that the air at the roadside is on average more heavily loaded than directly at an intersection.