Revocation of right to take salt at the Gorleben salt mine

The Federal mining law does not provide for any legal basis that would allow the revocation of the right to take salt at the Gorleben site earmarked to serve as a radwaste repository, nor is there any other Federal German law offering a legal basis for this purpose, even the Atomic Energy Act does not. This is a loophole in the system of statutory regulation. There actually is no statutory provision in the law of the Laender or in Federal law that would meet the specifications given by the Federal Constitutional Court in a judgement concerning Art. 14 of the German Constitution, and which could be taken as the legal basis for revocation of existing rights to take salt for the purpose of allowing exploratory work for preparation of a salt mine as a radwaste repository. (orig.)