Overview
- On January 31, the environmental group submitted a Normenkontrollantrag to the Higher Administrative Court Berlin‑Brandenburg and sought to provisionally suspend the municipal zoning plan, with the court review now pending.
- The case targets zoning that enables a new beverage can plant and expanded production by Red Bull and Rauch in Baruth/Mark following their acquisition of Urstromquelle, with staffing projected to rise from about 240 to around 600.
- Grüne Liga warns the companies could draw on an existing entitlement of roughly 2.5 million cubic meters of water per year, raising concerns about drinking‑water supplies and citing deficits in species protection and compensation measures.
- Red Bull and Rauch state water use will not exceed Urstromquelle’s previous levels and will remain within existing permits.
- The municipal water supplier points to drinking‑water priority in contracts and decades of groundwater monitoring, and the federal environment ministry has signaled the state will closely examine projected consumption.