Germany shuts door to fracking

German lawmakers Friday approved a law that essentially bans fracking, ending years of dispute over the controversial technology to release oil and gas locked deep underground. The text does not outlaw conventional drilling for oil and gas, but leaves it up to state governments to decide on individual cases.
But fracking, or hydraulic fracturing, which is carried out by blasting a mixture of water, sand and chemicals underground to release shale oil and gas, will be banned. Only a handful of projects for scientific or non-commercial purposes are likely to meet the conditions. Fracking has been largely unregulated in Germany until now, and the current coalition government under Angela Merkel has been working for months to draw up the proposed rules. The coalition had put forward a draft law on the issue in April 2015, but the text was mothballed due to strong divisions over the subject.