BSW on the environment and animal welfare

The BSW wants better funding for sewage connections in rural areas and a review of wastewater rules to ease the burden on those responsible for disposal. Rivers and lakes should also be brought into good condition under the EU Water Framework Directive.

The BSW wants more homes in the countryside linked to sewers. There should be more money for this. The rules for wastewater should be checked. Rivers and lakes should become cleaner and more natural. Less salt from mining should go into rivers.

According to the program, connecting the remaining residents in sparsely populated rural areas costs more than 10,000 euros per person. It names obstructions, blocked passage for fish and fish stocks heavily reduced by cormorants as the main problems for waterways; measures to implement the Water Framework Directive should follow. Salt discharges from mining should be reduced further. Using river water for cooling or heating must not harm aquatic life.

The BSW wants to preserve existing reservoirs and ponds and make it easier to build new ones, so water can be held back for dry summers. Together with local governments, it plans to expand funding for protection against heavy rainfall.

The BSW wants to store more water. Ponds and reservoirs should stay. New ones should be easier to build. This water helps in dry summers. The state should also do more against heavy rain.

New reservoirs and ponds are to be easier to approve and build. The BSW wants to increase funding for heavy-rain protection jointly with municipalities. The program sees angling associations as partners in protecting fish stocks and waters and pledges to support them. It treats water retention and erosion control as ways of adapting to climate change.

The BSW wants groundwater withdrawals limited to the amount that naturally recharges and wants groundwater protected from pollution. Using the state's compensation ordinance, Thuringia is to move toward the goal of zero net new land sealing. A pool of land freed up by demolishing unused buildings would let companies offset their projects quickly.

The BSW wants to protect groundwater. People should not pump out more than comes back. Less land should be covered with concrete. Old, unused buildings should be torn down. Companies can then use that land to make up for their own construction.

Groundwater suitable for drinking or industrial use should not be harmed by discharges or by mining. In waste management, the BSW backs avoiding waste and high-quality material recycling. The program defines soil protection mainly as preventing sealing and erosion. Demolishing buildings no longer needed is meant to create a compensation pool that companies can draw on to offset the impact of their investments. A package of anti-erosion measures for deforested steep slopes is to be developed with ThüringenForst, the state forestry agency.

The BSW wants a mining ordinance requiring mining companies to set aside insolvency-proof reserves to clean up after extraction ends. The reason given is renewed interest from mining firms in Thuringia's mineral deposits. Energy companies would also have to pay part of their profits into a restoration fund to compensate for the land they use.

Mining companies should save money in advance. That money pays to fix the damage later. The money should stay safe even if the company goes bankrupt. Energy companies should pay too. They use up land. The money goes into a fund for nature.

The reserves would be a condition for extraction and would fund remediation once a deposit is exhausted. They are meant to survive a company's insolvency. The program also calls for energy companies to pay a share of profits into a renaturation fund, modeled on mining practice. The BSW cites renewed interest in Thuringia's underground resources as the reason.

The BSW opposes a nuclear waste repository in Thuringia. It argues that the state never had a nuclear power plant and already bears above-average costs from past uranium mining. With federal help, uranium-mining legacy sites outside the remit of Wismut are to be cleaned up.

The BSW does not want a nuclear waste site in Thuringia. Thuringia never had a nuclear power plant. Uranium was mined here in the past. That caused a lot of damage. The federal government should help clean it up.

Rejecting a repository also appears in the program's list of goals. The BSW cites the absence of local nuclear plants and the heavy costs of uranium mining's aftermath. The federal government is to help remediate sites that fall outside the responsibility of Wismut, the federally owned company cleaning up former East German uranium mining. To protect people who are sensitive to electromagnetic fields, the BSW also wants to agree with network operators on rolling out 5G as gently as possible.

The BSW wants better funding for recognized conservation groups so they can contribute their expertise to public consultation procedures. The Natura 2000 stations are to be kept and given a project budget. Animal shelters would receive support not only for investments but also for running costs.

The BSW wants to give nature groups more support. They should have a say in plans. Certain nature stations should stay and get money for projects. Animal shelters should also get money for their daily costs.

Funding for the groups is meant to secure their participation in consultation procedures. In the program's view, the Natura 2000 stations, which look after sites in the EU-wide protected-area network, have proven their worth. Hainich National Park is to serve as a site for scientific study of climate change effects, and sustainable development is to be promoted in the national nature landscapes. The BSW also wants to establish an academy for environmental and nature protection.