Environmental outrage at the Kramer tunnel: according to the Bund Naturschutz, the risk of forest fires has increased significantly - "very bad thing"
Created: 11/22/2022, 12:41 p.m
By: Josef Hornsteiner
Worries about water ingress: the construction work for the Kramer tunnel, here at the north portal.
© FOTOPRESS THOMAS VERY
Environmental outrage at the Kramer Tunnel: The Bund Naturschutz sees major problems at the construction site.
District chairman Axel Doering sees this as a “very bad thing”.
Garmisch-Partenkirchen – For Axel Doering it's a "very bad thing".
The chairman of the district group Garmisch-Partenkirchen of the Bund Naturschutz (BN) turns his stomach at the “numbers game”, as he calls it, of the Weilheim State Building Authority.
"Six weeks ago it was 75 million euros, now we're suddenly at 100 million euros." Doering is aiming for the injections that the building authority would have to carry out in order to close the current Kramer tunnel construction site.
The statement of costs for this on the part of the authority are moon figures, says Doering.
In detail, it is about repairing the damage to which the Free State of Bavaria was recently sentenced by the Administrative Court.
The building authority is now forced to develop a rehabilitation concept.
However, not to plug the holes through which water currently enters the tunnel by injecting synthetic resin.
The costs would explode as a result, says the building authority.
As is well known, the groundwater level dropped as a result of the drilling of the pipes.
According to BN by over 190 meters deep.
Numerous springs around the Kramer plateau have dried up.
Biotopes and spring moors have dried up.
"It's horrible," says Doering.
Bund Naturschutz: Problem and cost explosion could have been prevented by reacting early
For him, the problem and the cost explosion could have been prevented by reacting early.
But the office didn't do anything at the time - but now it has to because the administrative court has issued a clear verdict.
But making injections now would go beyond the budget, which is why the judiciary is now advising against this solution.
The authorities have now installed artificial irrigation with pipes.
But that's just a drop in the ocean - literally.
Because Doering now fears dust-dry areas on the Kramer, which increases the risk of forest fires exorbitantly.
In addition, alpine farming would suffer.
"The animals have no more water in the summer."
Josef Glatz, chairman of the Garmisch pasture cooperative, can at least refute this fear.
"The animals continue to get enough water," he told the daily newspaper.
Eleven years ago, when it became known that the Kramer tunnel was going to be built, the farmers made provisions with an underground irrigation system, the construction of which was subsidized by the state.
"Since then, more water has been flowing up there than before," says Glatz.
It is reminiscent of the dry summer of 2003, when even the grass on the Kramer plateau withered away from the drought.
"When the tunnel is finished, nothing will seep away anyway," he looks to the future with ease.
State building authority not yet ready to comment
The State Building Authority is still not prepared to comment as long as the written reasoning of the Administrative Court is not available.
"This is still to be seen before further steps can be coordinated with our superior authorities," said the office when asked by the daily newspaper.
"After that, we decide in consultation with our superior authorities what further steps are to be taken." That is why the state institution currently "does not want to make a reliable statement".
The judgment of the Administrative Court does not allow for an appeal.
The parties involved can therefore only raise a non-admission complaint.
"We don't hope, we now expect a renovation plan from the building authority," says Doering combatively.
He is pleased that the judiciary can now also be held accountable for environmental damage caused by a construction project by the government.
That was not possible until recently.
