2023-06-30 13:53:00
The Groningen field should not be dismantled next year, but already this year. This is stated by the State Supervision of Mines (SodM) in an advice to the cabinet. The enormous delay in reinforcing houses in the gas extraction area and compensation for earthquake damage lead to damage to the health of residents of the area. State Secretary Hans Vijlbrief (mining) must therefore remove the uncertainty, according to the regulator.
The province of Groningen also thinks the same. The municipalities and water boards in the province also support this position.
‘Uncertain international situation’
The cabinet announced last week that gas extraction from Groningen will stop this autumn. “We are really turning off the tap: zero is being won,” said Vijlbrief in an explanation. But the State Secretary will also keep open the possibility for another year to still extract gas from the Groningen field, because of the ‘uncertain international situation’.
Vijlbrief took this decision despite advice from Groningen and the regulator. According to the SodM, the State Secretary must ‘weigh different interests once morest each other’. In its advice, the SodM points out that research shows that “some of the residents develop stress-related health problems, from which people can die prematurely”.
Bad blood
The relationship between the government and the regulator was extensively discussed last summer during the parliamentary inquiry into gas extraction and its consequences. After the worst earthquake ever in the gas area, near Huizinge in August 2012, the SodM strongly advised the government to reduce production ‘as much as is realistically possible’.
However, then Minister Henk Kamp (economic affairs) allowed the Dutch Petroleum Company to pump up a record amount of gas in 2013. This caused a lot of bad blood in Groningen.
During the parliamentary inquiry, Kamp said that he might not reduce gas production because in a cold winter there would not be enough gas for heating “in the hospitals, in the nursing homes, in the offices and especially in the homes, both in the Netherlands as in Germany as in Belgium and in France”.
The decision of State Secretary Vijlbrief to hold back the Groningen field for another year will be available for inspection in the next six weeks. Anyone who wants to can submit an opinion.
Read also:
Groningen wants gas extraction to stop completely, this year
According to the province, the final closure of the Groningen gas field is the only option for the government: only in this way can it show that the safety of the inhabitants is paramount. Gasunie thinks it is still too early for that step.
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