Depends on tests

How the search for gas near Molln continues

This is what it looked like in the Jaidhaus valley during drilling, now almost all the equipment is gone(Bild: Haijes Jack)

Where trucks were still rolling along the gravel road to the drilling site until the end of March and there was a flurry of activity, calm has now returned and the equipment has been dismantled. The two-kilometre-deep deposit is to be analyzed in the autumn. Meanwhile, conservationists are disappointed by the long waiting times for verdicts.

Silence has returned to the Jaidhaustal valley near Molln. The drilling rig, tools and equipment have long since been dismantled and moved elsewhere in search of fossil fuels. The two-kilometer-deep borehole, cemented, cased and sealed, will not be reopened for analyses until after the nature conservation-related summer break in the autumn: "The consistency, volume and pressure of the deposit will then be examined for around six to eight weeks, which was no longer possible in the spring," says Wilfried Seywald, spokesman for ADX.

If the results of the analyses meet our expectations, we will submit applications to carry out further drilling. Otherwise, no projects are planned in this region for the time being.

Wilfried Seywald, Sprecher für ADX

Analyses need approval
"This test work also has to be approved again, but we assume that the applications will be granted because we have always adhered 100 percent to the specifications," says Seywald. Only if the test results are as good as expected will further drilling be considered in the area, but these would have to go through the approval process again, although according to spokesman Wilfried Seywald, they would not have any impact on nature.

One complaint was upheld and is now before the Constitutional Court. There are still no rulings in any of the other cases.

Franz Maier, Präsident des bundesweiten Umweltdachverbands

Still criticized
Conservationists do not subscribe to the fact that the drilling company has strictly adhered to the rules: several complaints have been lodged, for example because the drilling area was larger than planned and trucks were not washed to prevent the introduction of alien species. In addition, two appeals are still pending: one against the positive drilling decision and the other against the withdrawal of the suspensive effect.

The long wait
As the "Krone" reported, the latter had been upheld by the provincial administrative court, but: "Since then, the case has been before the Constitutional Court and we have heard nothing more about it," says Franz Maier, President of the Environmental Umbrella Association. "The same applies to the other complaint and the reports - we hope that something will happen soon!"